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Museum of central Shaanxi folk culture

By Du Wenjuan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-04-04 14:17

The entrance of Wang Yongchao's museum of central Shaanxi folk culture. [chinadaily.com.cn/Du Wenjuan]

Having spent nearly 300 million yuan ($43.9 million) over the past 20 years, neither for a private venture nor investment speculation, only has he built his own kingdom of stones.

The king's name is Wang Yongchao, 52, a veteran collector of folk culture relics.

In Wang's 570-mu (38-hectare) museum located in Wutai town in southern Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, over 8,600 hitching posts, the stone poles for tying up horses, have arrived in droves since 1986.

Among others are 40 distinctive courtyard dwellings in the northwestern Chinese province, 6,000 stone relics including mangers, gate piers, animal sculptures, tablets and utensils, all of at least a century old. The earliest can be traced back to Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), when Xi'an, then called Chang'an, was the captial of China.

Adding to other folk cultural relics he collected, the first privately-owned museum in Shaanxi took its shape in 2002. Now his museum receives tourists and folk arts lovers and researchers everyday.

Compared to the terra cottas underground guarding the Qinshihuang, or the first emperor in China who lived over 2,000 years ago, the vast territory of stone art dedicated to the people is more than just wonder.

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