10 Weird and Quirky Beijing Museums You Have to Visit

The museum is tucked into the former Yokohama Specie Bank on a corner of Dongjiaomin Xiang, an area packed with former embassies. The museum offers a history of jurisprudence in China from imperial times to the present day. There are notable sections featuring Chinese fallen officials, as well as famous legal cases from both in and outside of China.

Free (ID or passports required)

Tue-Sun 9am-4pm. 4 Zhengyi Lu, Dongcheng District
东城区正义路4号

(010) 6755 7825

As the weather heats up, what is better than a museum that helps you know everything about watermelons? Located near a group of Beijing's largest watermelon plantations, this juicy museum (which is even shaped like a watermelon) features a wide range of exhibits including paintings, statues, and videos, and will teach you more than you ever dreamed of knowing about these luscious summer plants.

RMB 20

Tue-Sun 10am-4.30pm

Panggezhuang Town, Daxing District
大兴区庞各庄镇政府院内

(010) 8928 1181

Xuannan, or "south of Xuanwumen," refers to the area southwest of the Forbidden City, including historical blocks such as Tianqiao, Niujie, Dashila, and Liulichang, an area fostering a unique cultural atmosphere that still thrives to this day, making Xuannan culture famous throughout China. The museum houses eight exhibition halls, each featuring on a specific aspect of Xuannan culture, including those performing art forms like crosstalk, acrobatics, and temple fairs. Read more about via the QR code above.

Free (ID card or passport required)

Tue-Sun 9am-4.30pm

9 Changchun Jie, Xicheng District
西城区长椿街9号

Dongsi Hutong Museum is located in an old, renovated siheyuan, and consists of five exhibition areas and exhibits centuries-long history and culture flourished at Dongsi area through art installations, interactive presentations, and old everyday items, all of which give visitors a vivid impression of a side of Beijing life that is rapidly disappearing.

Free

Tue-Sat 10am-5pm

77 Dongsisitiao Hutong, Dongcheng District
东城区东四四条77条

(010) 6402 7581

Beijing's Maotai museum is hosted in a traditional palace building close to the Forbidden City. It is home to five exhibition sections devoted to explaining the process by which China's most famous brand of baijiu is made, its nearly two-century development, and the underlying culture of baijiu. The collections include rare bottles produced between 1967 to 1982, a period in which China witnessed great domestic turbulence, which are now valued at up to RMB 350,000 each.

RMB 20

Tue-Sun 10am-5pm

7 Changpuheyan, Dongcheng District
东城区菖蒲河沿7号

A similar museum featuring another venerable and time-honored baijiu brand is the Red Star Erguotou Museum. Located in one of the businesses' old factories, here you'll find scenes dedicated to one of the country's most famous erguotou producers, one known for its "stronger" flavor and bang-for-your-buck strength when compared to baijiu.

RMB 20

Daily 9am-4pm

1 Hongxing Lu, Huairou District
怀柔区红星路1号红星酒厂内

(010) 5120 2902

Moving away from Chinese spirits to Western drinks now, cola lovers will get a real kick out of the Coca-Cola Museum. Coca-Cola was the first foreign brand welcomed back to the PRC in 1978, (even beating the US to the punch, entering China two days before the announcement of Sino-American normalization) and has remained firm ever since. This museum not only teaches you everything you could possibly want to know about this popular soft drink brand but also provides you with refills as you go.

Free

Mon-Fri 10-11am, 2-3pm

9 Rongjingdongjie, Yizhuang, Daxing District
大兴区荣京东街9号

(010) 6781 3399

This vintage car museum is actually a private museum with a limited but very impressive collection of rides, including from old Red Star series, to internationally distinguished vehicle brands such as Rolls-Royce and Mercedes-Benz. While you don't see many of these beauties rolling around the streets these days, we think that Beijing's nouveau-riche, with their Peppa Pig-stickered, matte-pink Lamborghini's could learn a thing or two about style by cruising through this museum.

RMB 50, RMB 25 (children)

Daily 8.30am-5.30pm (April-October), 9am-4.30pm (November-March)

19 Fengxiangyiyuan, Yangsong Town, Huairou District
怀柔区杨宋镇凤翔一园19号

(010) 6167 7039

This fascinating museum is home to the cemetery of Tian Yi, an influential eunuch who lived during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The museum is divided into three main sections which explain the history of the practice of castrating males to create the eunuch class, the reasons this practice flourished and was eventually outlawed, and a collection of delicate statues and stone carvings.

RMB 8

Tue-Sun 9am-4.30pm

80 Moshikou Avenue, Shijingshan District
石景山区模式口大街80号

(010) 8872 4148

You know all about the Bell Tower, but have you been to the Dazhong Temple Ancient Bell Museum? While the temple is one of the city's most famous, the museum is also home to over 400 types of old bells, including those that were used as instruments.   

RMB 20, free (children under 1.4m)

Tue-Sun 9am-430pm

31 A, North Third Ring Road, Haidian District
 海淀区北三环西路甲31号

(010) 8213 2630

If you're feeling frustrated by the fact that you can't drink the tap water here in Beijing, perhaps a visit to this museum would do you some good. This museum, located near Dongzhimen, taps into (har har) the city's history of indoor plumbing and may help you understand a little better the many challenges that plumbers face in getting clean water into the homes of more than 20 million Beijingers.

RMB 5

Wed-Sun 9am-4pm

Courtyard 6, Qingshuiyuan, Dongzhimen Waidajie, Dongcheng District
东城区东直门外香河园街3号

Located on the west side of the Botanical Garden in the Fragrant Hills, this quaint little museum is devoted to all things apian: sample different varieties of honey, see bee-keeping accouterments and spend your afternoon engrossed in apicultural studies.

Free

Daily 8.30am-4.30pm

Fragrant Hills Botanical Garden, Haidian District
海淀区香山卧佛寺西侧

(010) 8259 0094