The Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution (Chinese Military Museum) is China’s first comprehensive military museum, located at No.9 Fuxing Road, Beijing. Started in October 1958, the construction of the exhibition building was completed in July 1959. Atop the building is a huge emblem of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) with a diameter of six meters. It is one of the ten major buildings marking the tenth founding anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. After internal trial operation, the first-generation permanent display opened to the public on August 1, 1960. The exhibition building’s reinforcement and renovation started in September 2012 and was completed in July 2017. Today the exhibition building has a floor space of 153,000 square meters and an exhibition space of about 60,000 square meters. The main building is 94.7 meters high, with four floors on both southern and northern sides. The Museum has altogether 43 exhibition halls (sections). After 2018, in addition to the main museum at No.9 Fuxing Road, Chinese Military Museum has two more branches in Tongzhou and Huairou, which are now under construction.

The Museum is primarily dedicated to collecting, studying and displaying cultural relics, objects, documents and literature on the revolution and achievements in the building of People’s Liberation Army under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and those on the 5,000-year military history of the Chinese nation as well as the world. In addition, the Museum also holds various exhibitions on certain themes, current events and memorial issues around the key tasks assigned by the CPC, the Central Government and the PLA, receives Chinese and foreign visitors, organizes related academic research and art creation activities, and conducts cooperation and exchanges with other museums both at home and abroad

The main museum currently houses over 180,000 pieces/sets of cultural relics, including 1,793 pieces/sets of first-class relics; the Tongzhou Branch collects 6,057 pieces/sets of cultural relics excluding ammunition. The collections are mainly about the PLA military history, the military history of ancient and modern China, and the military history of the modern and contemporary world. The featured cultural relics cover the weaponry, military uniforms, certificates and badges, publications on revolutions, and military works of art. The cultural relics include but are not limited to aircraft, artillery, fleets, missiles, tanks and armored vehicles, guns, ammunition, cold weapons, medals, badges, seals, coins, pottery, porcelain, utensils, clothing, flags, documents and notes.

Among them the representative ones include Qin Terracotta Warriors, Western Han Iron Lances, Han Hook Set, Brass Tiger-shaped Tally of Sui, Brass Blunderbuss of the eleventh year of Zhizheng in Yuan (1351), Bowl-Mouthed Brass Blunderbuss of the fifth year of Hongwu in Ming (1372), Brass Blunderbuss of the tenth year of Hongwu in Ming (1377), Ming Dongsifang Jin Ivory Waist Tag, Ivory Waist Tag of Wang Yu in Ming, Qing Cannon, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Iron Cannon, Zuo Zongtang’s Seal, Ding Ruchang’s Coat of Armor, Iron Anchor of Ship Zhenyuan, Copper Gun from Jinling Machine Manufacturing Bureau, Gatling Gun, Ye Ting’s Sword in the Northern Expedition, Zhu De’s Pistol in Nanchang Uprising, the Puttees Gifted by Mao Zedong to Yuan Wencai, He Long’s Seal with a Lion-shaped Knob, the First Transceiver of the Red Army, the Seal of the CPC Central Revolutionary Military Commission, the Order of the Red Star for Zhou Enlai, Brocade Scroll with the Inscription of “For the Prosperity of Ethnic Minorities” by He Long, Yang Jingyu’s Seal, Zuo Quan’s Revolver, Type 81 Carbine from the Military Engineering Department of the Eighth Route Army, Samurai Sword Handed in by Yasuji Okamura, Commander-In-chief of the Japanese Army Invading China on the Surrender Ceremony, Tank “Merit” of the PLA, Keys to City Gates of Beiping (Today’s Beijing), DPRK Goldstar Medal for Huang Jiguang, MiG-15 Fighter Piloted by Wang Hai, Gunboat of Toumenshan Sea Battle, Wreckage of U-2 Spy Plane, the “Two Tombs and One Satellite” Merit Medal and the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal for Shen Liangliang and other Chinese soldiers killed in peacekeeping.

The Museum systematically collects cultural relics of ancient, modern and contemporary China and in particular those about Chinese military history together with the cultural relics on the modern and contemporary world military relics through the transfer from the major PLA departments and purchasing plus the donation and transfer from individuals and organizations, so it enjoys a prominent status as a distinctive large military (red) museum.

The Museum’s exhibition system featuring military history mainly includes：

In addition to the permanent exhibitions, the Museum also holds large themed ones. In recent years, it has held such exhibitions as “Directing Military Operations with Miraculous Skill: Mao Zedong’s Superb Military Command,” “Indelible History: Exhibition of Chinese Resistance against Japanese Aggression since Modern Times,” “Gutian Congress: A Milestone in the History of Party Building and Army Building,” “The Backbone: Themed Exhibition on the CPC and the CPC-Led People’s Army Fighting against Japanese Aggression” and “Immortal Monument of Heroic Epic: Commemorating the Eightieth Anniversary of the Victory of the Long March of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army,” which have been widely acclaimed by the CPC Central Committee leadership and the visitors from all sectors of society, exerting tremendous social impact. The 2017 exhibition themed on “Commemorating the Glorious History and Building a Strong Army: Themed Exhibition to Mark the PLA’s Ninetieth Founding Anniversary,” took place both indoors and outdoors, covering an exhibition space of 7,300 square meters including the exhibition hall of 5,000 square meters. It was the first time for the reinforced and expanded exhibition building to be put into use. The exhibition featured over 1,100 pictures, more than 1,300 cultural relics, 18 installations, 22 pieces of single-soldier equipment, 13 works of art, 7 landscapes, and 61 models, offering a panoramic view of the remarkable achievements of the people’s army, and highlighting the glorious traditions of Chinese army and in particular the attainments made in national defense and army building since the Eighteenth National Congress of the CPC.