A Guide to Beijing's Free Museums

This museum, opened in 2005 to celebrate the centennial of Chinese cinema, is the world's largest film museum. Movie aficionados will go gaga over its gigantic movie collecton.

The building's design, by US-based RTKL International and Beijing Construction Design Institution, reflects the concept of finding a balance between film and architecture. The grand exterior features an image of a gant screen and a series of slanted structures resembling a film clipboard.

The interior of the four-story museum is divided into four halls colored red, green, blue and yellow.

The exhibition area covers the second and third floors and has 10 halls. Through multimedia presentations of Chinese films, visitors can follow the development of the local movie industry.
Five halls on the second floor focus on the history of Chinese cinema, from birth in 1905 of its first film Dingjunshan, or Conquering the Jun Mountain, to million-yuan modern blockbusters. The achievements of certain Chinese filmmakers are also documented.

On the third floor, another five halls show different types of films: animated, children's, science and educational, news and documentaries, even foreign films. They also introduce movies from HongKong, Macau and Taiwan.

The expo area on the top floor encompasses 10 halls, which focus on demystifying filmmaking. The exhibits present the various aspects of filmmaking: shooting, editing, musical scoring, special effects and developing.