Currently, the Courtyard of Family Qiao serves as the local customs museum. Located in Qiaojiabao village, Qixian County of central Shanxi province, it is one of the most famous customs museums in Shanxi. Absorbing the customs of the Han people and displaying the works featuring the customs that prevail in the central Shanxi region, the Customs Museum of Qiaojiabao Village was built in the former site of the “Zaizhong Hall”(also called the courtyard of family Qiao), that was owned by the outstanding merchant, Qiao Zhiyong in ancient times. In the museum there are a myriad of cultural relics that demonstrate local customs and traditions. These traditions include childbirth ceremony, one month anniversary of a child’ birth, engagement, wedding and funerals are all shown in the museum.
The Courtyard of Family Qiao is a typical North-China dwelling house of the late Qing Dynasty. Crowned as a rare pearl in the history of Northern dwelling architectures, the Courtyard of Family Qiao is the first customs museum in Northern China. In recent years, it is open to the public as a customs museum. It has attracted countless visitors with its unique architecture and rare items on display. Just like many people put it, “If you want to see the house of the royalty, you should go to the Forbidden City; if you want to see the house of the ordinary, you should go to the Courtyard of Family Qiao.” Altogether, 6 parts constitute the Courtyard of Family Qiao. The first part is the history of family Qiao that offers a brief introduction to its business life, development as well as architectures. The second part is the rare and precious items. Most of the items vary between woodcarvings, paintings, porcelains and hardwood furniture. Among them, the Xiniu Wangyu Mirror and Wanren Ball are the most precious. The third part is the tradition of doing business, displaying the ancient business men, weight and measures, money and bills as well as good dealers. The fourth part is the local customs, including such occasions as children’s one-month ceremony, wedding, funeral and birthday celebration. The local traditional wedding is displayed in detail there. The fifth part is the folk handcraftsmanship, including such customs featuring the local lifestyle as paper-cutting, embroidery, clay sculpture and shadow play. The sixth part is the farming customs that offer a brief introduction to the farmers’ activities in the fields all the year round. Besides, more than 1110 items are on display in the museum. Among them, there are 500 ancient scrolls of calligraphy and paintings that were created in the Tang, Five, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. They have their own styles and most are rare and precious. Works of such famous scholars and calligraphers are there including that of Guan Daosheng of the Southern Song Dynasty, Tang Yin, Jiu Ying, Lan Ying and Dong Qichang of the Ming Dynasty, Fu Shan, He Shaoji and Qian Zai of the Qing Dynasty.
