The Ethnological Museum in Nanning is innovative and interesting. As I have previous stated, China has a lot of ethnic minorities and the biggest, the Zhuang, is heavily represented at this institution. From the first photo that I have posted below, you can see that the drum motif is dramatically embodied in the architecture. Drums are omnipresent and clearly served a central cultural, political and economic purpose in Zhuang life. At the rear of the museum is a reconstructed village and should you be so inclined, you can gong a large drum. I was content to watch the kids do it.

I must disclose though that the most exciting room was in a smallish nook which explored cultural artifacts of the past century. In amongst the ancient transistor radios and bicycles was a small display of Cultural Revolution paraphenalia, including some Big Character posters (dàzìbào). This was a very unhappy time for many Chinese though my stumbling upon them was both unexpected and exciting.