Nanyue King Wen's Mausoleum — Attraction in Guangzhou City

Entrance fee: ¥10. Glad to still grab one so last minute. This is only entry to the main exhibit hall and does not include the tomb itself. It's free to enter the tomb but one needed to grab a separate ticket for it, which I missed. Thankfully it's included in the 1.5 hrs guided tour which I paid ¥150 for.

They have a tour running every 15-20 mins, complete with ear pieces and I like that it runs as scheduled regardless of the number of people and our group this morning was just 6.

This is the tomb of the 2nd King of the Nanyue Kingdom, whose grandfather used to be a general of Emperor Qin and was sent to Lingnan to defend this region. There are 7 chambers in this tomb, including remains of 15 persons, evidence of the inhumane practice of burying accompanying persons; 4 concubines, a young musician estimated to be in his late teens/early 20s and the cook and servers.

This is also one thing about big countries with no lack of space, where they can just build the museum directly above and around the actual archaeological site. On the opposite side of the tomb is the museum showcasing the artefacts found in the tomb. Massive use of jade which they believed was key in communicating with the Gods and helps the soul move into afterlife. So much so the King's body was wrapped in a jade costume (丝线玉衣), many small pieces of jade tied together by silk threads, lying on jade plates and the surroundings stuffed with more jade pieces.

After the tour ended, I went round again to take photos and go thru some of the exhibits that the guide skipped. 2.5 hrs well spent here! There's also a 南越王王宫 a short distance away which I guess I'll have to leave for...

The museum is not really friendly for non Chinese people. From the beginning I face difficultly. I went to the ticket counter and I asked one of the 2 ladies for ticket for the museum. She told me no english and she ignored me. I asked her again "ticket museum" 2 very easy words for her position but she ignored me again and she told me no no and she made signal to leave. I asked a man who was waiting in the line to translate on behalf of me and he helped me to buy the ticket (10cny) from the same lady who was telling me to leave. After these I entered the museum. I asked something in the lady in the entrance, she couldn't speak english but tried to help with few words. In the floor where the entrance is there are 2 rooms playing video 1for locals and one for foreign. I went to the 2nd for foreign but I had to wait until somebody to come to activate the video. Most of the exhibists have only full description of what you see in chinese and only the title of the object in english. I felt not welcome. If you are Chinese I think you will enjoy the museum more. The...

Mismanaged to hell. Typical "chabudou" national disgrace. The entire place is confusingly arranged. You are greeted with multiple sections of the museum that are, first of all, purely in Chinese, second of all, is not the part of the museum. The tomb was small, you can only view it from the top and you cannot go down for some reason. The layout was confusion, the signs were all wrong, the entrance was mislabeled as exit and vice versa. The correct path to the tomb is actually the longer route. Did I mention that at least 4-5 sections of the museum are purely in Chinese? Funny enough, they have a video about the whole burial procedure but the volume is turned so low I'm sure even the Chinese speakers couldn't hear it.

This place should only have a capacity for about 500 people, yet whoever manages the place is in love with money and invites 5000 people in at the same time.

Is it worth going? Yes, but...go straight to the tomb section. You can cover the rest on...