The exhibition in the capital museum impressed me a lot when I started my college life in Beijing. There are so many interesting stories behind the exhibits. Perhaps, it is the place where old Beijing really exists. Set off your China Tours and enjoy your journey of Beijing Tours in this museum.
The Capital Museum is located in No.16, Fuxingmenwai Main Street, Xicheng District. It is free to visit the museum but you have to book in advance.It has seven floors in all, one basement is included. It consists five main halls: Reception Hall, Exhibition Halls, Cultural Heritages Storehouse, Conference Hall and Digital Movie Hall. What fascinates me most is the fifth floor, in the square exhibition hall, the Stories of the Capital City – Old Beijing Folk-customs Exhibition. Let me tell you what I have seen.
1. The Custom Map of Beijing
The first thing that you can see when you step into the hall of the fifth floor is the custom map of Beijing. It shows the custom Beijingers have when they celebrate their festivals. It has collected custom in Beijing since 1936. And this kind of map is on sale: ten yuan each.
2. Handicraft Works
Several minutes after gazing at the custom map of Beijing, we were soon attracted by the handicraft works in the museum. Such as the bulaohu, it means tigers made of cloth. It is not only the toy of kids, but also the symbol of peace and lucky in Chinese culture. In traditional Chinese festivals, some people draw tiger’s face on their children’s face(boys only) for the wish of good luck.
3. Trotting Horse Lanterns
There are many traditional Chinese festivals in China: Spring festival, Middle autumn festival, Festival of lanterns and so on. In the festival of lanterns, people in china celebrate it with various kinds of beautiful lanterns. They make use of their concerted wisdom for an innovative lantern, the trotting horse lanterns. As you can see in the picture, they usually put a candle in the middle of the lantern. With the rise of the smoke, the rotation shaft starts to turn around. In this way, the shadows on the surface seem to move. Therefore, it is called trotting horse lanterns.
4. 
Birthday Greeting
Filial piety plays an important role in China and it never changes as time go by. As a result, birthday greeting is also an essential part of Chinese culture. In short, birthday greeting means congratulate an elderly person on his birthday. Have you notice the embroidery on the wall? It is embroidered with peony and they form one Chinese character: shou, which stands for longevity.
5. 
Zhenxia
Have you find out what on earth they are? Let me tell you the truth: they are pillows. But why they are in square? Is it comofrtable? We are told that in ancient times, houses are made of wood usually. So you should learn to run away as quick as possible, but what about the treasures? In order to solve this problem, people try to make their pillow as a small drawer so that they can put money and valuables in it and easily run away with it. It seems funny today, but it is an useful invention at that time.
I would like to introduce the capital museum to you in since there are so many things to say.
If you choose to Travel to Beijing, the Capital Museum will not let you down. By the way, do not forget to book the admission ticket in advance. Hope you enjoy a nice trip.
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