Nantong Museum, founded by the national industrialist Zhang Qian on January 14, 1905 in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), is a local comprehensive museum of China. The Museum, located at Nantong City of Jiangsu Province, is the extant earliest museum so far founded by the Chinese.

　　The relics and samples collected in the Museum were donated or sold by personages or Buddhist temples all over China. According to the List of Collections of Nantong Museum published in 1914, the relics and samples collected by the Museum amounted to 2,973 items. The figure increased to 3,605 in 1933. By the end of 1989, Nantong Museum had collected 40,115 items, of which 6,126 are natural samples and 55 are Class One relics. The collections feature the local characteristics such as the stone artifacts, pottery, jade objects and bone objects unearthed at the former site of the Neolithic Age,the tools for making salt by boiling seawater from the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD), and the celadon pot in the shape of leather bag (a copy of the leather bag used by the nomadic tribes for holding water) from the late Tang Dynasty (827-907) unearthed in 1973 in Nantong City. The porcelain mortar with the inscription of Chen Ruoxu, used for pounding medicine, belonged to the renowned medical doctor Chen Ruoxu of Nantong during 1573-1620 in the Ming Dynasty. Among the artworks of painting, calligraphy and embroidery are the paintings of Li Fangying, a native of Nantong and one of the well-known Yangzhou Eight Schools, and the embroideries of Shen Shou, a famous modern embroidery handicraftsman. Among the revolutionary relics are documents, manuscript, weapons and the things left behind by the martyrs during the Anti-Japanese War. The Museum covers an area of 450 square meters divided into three basic exhibitions: the historical relics, the revolutionary relics and natural samples.

　　The exhibits of historical relics on display cover the period from the primitive society to the end of the Qing Dynasty, including the earlier collections of the Museum, such as Chunyu (an ancient bronze musical instrument) from the Warring States Period (475-221BC), the bronze drum from the Han Dynasty, the celadon stove of the Longquan kiln from the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the white porcelain pillow of the Cizhou kiln from the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), and the cotton fabric unearthed from the tomb of the Ming Dynasty. Among the modern relics are Zhang Qian's original handwriting, documents, objects and pictures related to his founding of Dasheng Cotton Mill, salt reclamation, and the cultural and educational undertakings. The last part of the exhibition of historical relics is the life story of Bai Yayu (a native of Nantong and teacher of Li Dazhao), a martyr of the 1911 Revolution holding the post of Chief of Staff of the Northern Revolutionary Army. The revolutionary relics on display reflect the process of the revolutionary struggles of the Nantong people during the various historical periods from the May 4th Movement in 1919 to the December 9th Movement, the Anti-Japanese War and the Liberation War. Among the revolutionary relics are the newspaper Populace Voice founded by Wu Yalu, who joined the CPC in 1922, the flag of the CPC during the period of Agrarian Revolution, the historical documents, certificates and weapons during the struggle of Anti-Japanese War. Among the natural samples on display are the fossil of the baleen whale, the skeleton of the modern whale, and the samples of the local rare birds and insects.

　　Nantong Museum, the science park with culture, traveling and entertainment in a body, is the nation key cultural relic preservation organ.