Qianxinan Museum: A Money Tree, Listening to a Thousand Years of Echoes

In the morning light of Xingyi City, the Qianxinan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Museum stands quietly. There is no noise here, only the whispered conversations between relics and time. Among them, the most captivating story comes from the stunning Eastern Han Dynasty bronze Money Tree that has amazed for a thousand years.

As you enter the exhibition hall, your eyes will be irresistibly drawn to it—a nearly two-meter-tall bronze Money Tree. On the ceramic base, mythical beasts are perched, symbolizing the legendary Kunlun Mountain; the bronze trunk stands tall, intricately cast with the image of Buddha, witnessing the fusion of cultures; most striking are the branches spreading in all directions, densely covered with Han Dynasty wuzhu coin patterns, adorned with phoenixes, divine deer, and jade discs, forming an ideal world on the tree’s branches.

It is not only the museum’s treasure but also a three-dimensional celestial book. Standing before it, you can feel the craftsmanship of Han artisans who fused their entire cosmology into it, and sense the ancient people's magnificent imagination of heaven, earth, wealth, and eternity. Every bronze leaf tells the faith and wisdom from two thousand years ago.

Besides the Money Tree, the museum also preserves many other moving stories: the Buyi’s delicate batik and homespun cloth narrate the legend of "High Mountains and Flowing Water," the Miao’s dazzling silver crowns carry memories of migration, and fossils of tree ferns and dinosaur footprints take you back hundreds of millions of years to Qianxinan. These relics together outline the footsteps of this land from ancient times, weaving a colorful tapestry of civilization.

Come to the Qianxinan Prefecture Museum and let the Money Tree brush away the dust of time for you. Here, history is no longer just words in textbooks but a presence you can gaze upon and feel. That Money Tree swaying for a thousand years is waiting to tell you the legends of this land.

Post by Benjamin.Bell@47 | Oct 25, 2025