Nanchizi Museum, a slice of Suzhou hidden in a Beijing alleyway

Located next to the Donghua Gate of the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Nanchizi Museum is a Beijing-style garden museum that takes on the quadrangular courtyard as its structure and a Suzhou-style garden as its form. 

Officially opening to the public in November 2021, this private non-profit art museum boasts a long history. Its location – Nanchizi – was a part of the imperial city during ancient China's Ming Dynasty. 

The Nanchizi Museum now serves as an art space in the Chinese capital. Its 10th exhibition "Dian Xi Yi Ben – Shadow Puppetry and Contemporary Art Exhibition" is currently being held. The event has invited more than 10 intangible cultural inheritors and contemporary artists to display their shadow puppetry and paper-cutting art works. Using the traditional architecture and garden design of the Nanchizi Museum, these creations are deeply integrated into the space.