Beijing Auto Museum 北京汽车博物馆

We left at 10am and driving directions said it would take about 30 minutes to get to the museum. Instead it took 50. It was only appropriate that the drive to the Beijing Auto Museum would be delayed by three car accidents. Maybe the cars in the museum didn’t see their presence as one of honor but rather one of being in a cemetery.

我们上午10点出发，导航说到博物馆大约需要30分钟，结果却花了50分钟。去北京汽车博物馆的路上，竟被三起车祸耽搁了，倒也算应景。也许馆里的汽车并不觉得自己是在这里接受礼遇，反而觉得自己进了汽车墓地。

The Auto Museum choice was in part because we had our 3.5 year old daughter in tow along with her aunt and cousin. The museum seemed suitable for a family outing, especially a family outing that had to deal with the crowds of Golden Week. When we arrived at the museum parking lot, it was already full and they were doing the “one car out, one car in” protocol. We skipped the line and parked in an office park across the street which had plenty of parking in part because of the same holiday.

选择汽车博物馆，部分原因是这次我们带着三岁半的女儿，还有她的阿姨和表亲同行。这里似乎适合全家出游，尤其是在需要应付黄金周人潮的时候。到了博物馆停车场，里面已经满了，实行“一辆出、一辆进”。我们没有排队，转而把车停在街对面的办公园区。同样因为是假期，那边倒有不少空车位。

This is the first large, “modern” museum we’ve visited as evidenced by the building itself, all shiny glass and metal.

这是我们目前参观过的第一家大型“现代”博物馆，建筑本身就说明了这一点：满眼都是亮闪闪的玻璃和金属。

We did not prepurchase tickets, and that was fine. Our toddler was free and I was told anyone under 18 or 60+ is free. 30 RMB a ticket otherwise, which can be purchased by scanning a QR code and filling out the requisite information. It felt like the museum entrance/exit takes up most of the first floor with the exhibitions on floors two through five.

我们没有提前买票，也没遇到什么问题。女儿免费入馆，工作人员告诉我，18岁以下和60岁及以上的游客都免费。其他游客每张票30元，扫描二维码、填写所需信息就能购买。感觉一层的大部分空间都用于进出馆，展览则主要在二至五层。

We made our way around each floor and up to the next like climbing Everest. Our toddler was engaged as there were plenty of exhibits that caught her eye, especially the interactive exhibits of the fourth floor and the race car exhibits. I discovered she is interested in cars.

我们一层层逛过去，再往上一层爬，像在攀登珠穆朗玛峰。女儿倒是一直兴致勃勃，许多展项都能吸引她的目光，尤其是四层的互动展项和赛车展示。我这才发现，她对汽车挺感兴趣。

The second floor had a series of classic Chinese automobiles which themselves were interesting to look at. The Soviet-era cars were fascinating as well. The original Chinese government sedan, the Hongqi, stood out. I went hunting for a Santana wagon, which was one of the early passenger vehicles I had once dreamed of owning (later settling for a Santana Sedan). I did not find it. I did find a vintage Beijing Jeep which has an illustrative story of early joint ventures in China (see the book “Beijing Jeep”).

二层有一系列中国经典汽车，单是看看就很有意思。苏联时期的汽车也令人着迷。中国早期的公务轿车红旗尤其引人注目。我四处寻找桑塔纳旅行车——那是我曾经梦想拥有的早期乘用车之一，后来我买的是桑塔纳轿车。不过，馆里没找到旅行车。我倒是看到了一辆老北京吉普，它让我想到中国早期合资企业那段很有代表性的故事（可参见《北京吉普》一书）。

When we emerged onto the 3F from the open stairway, we were faced with a large exhibit of auto parts. I gathered the point of the exhibit was the complexity of cars and the challenge of how to recycle the parts. There are some cute industrial art made from used car parts.

沿着开放式楼梯走上三层，迎面是一个大型汽车零部件展项。我理解它想表达的是汽车结构有多复杂，以及回收这些零部件有多困难。这里还有一些用废旧汽车零件做成的工业艺术作品，挺可爱的。

The museum spent a fair amount of space on the Model T. It actually showed up on two floors, the first was an exhibit about automobile construction and the innovation that was the assembly line. The second was an actual Model T itself (5F) and its successor the Model A. I was naturally drawn to the American cars; besides the Model T there was a military jeep and a classic Cadillac Eldorado amongst others.

博物馆为福特T型车留出了不少空间，两个楼层都有它的身影。一处展项介绍汽车制造，以及流水线这项创新。另一处在五层，展示了T型车实车和它的后继车型A型车。我自然更容易被美国汽车吸引；除了T型车，还有军用吉普、经典的凯迪拉克Eldorado等。

English support was “ok” with most exhibits including an English explanation. The language itself could be a bit museum-ish (stilted). Showing ambition, each floor had metallic history plates that wrapped around the entire floor. It was a bit hard to read because of the lighting and harder for me since it was all in Chinese.

英文支持算是“还行”，大多数展项都有英文说明。不过，语言有时颇有“博物馆腔”，读起来有点生硬。各层还设置了环绕整层的金属历史说明板，看得出馆方的雄心。只是灯光让它们不太容易读清，对我来说更难，因为内容全是中文。

Here’s an AI generated map of the museum exhibits; it looks mostly correct based on our visit. Your mileage may vary.

下面是一张由AI生成的博物馆展览地图；根据我们的参观经历，看起来大体正确。不过，你的实际体验可能有所不同。

I found the museum a study in contrasts. On one hand, it was modern, large, well organized, with ambitious exhibitions. On the other hand, several intriguing exhibits (for example, a small airflow exhibit) were closed and the lighting was dim in spots. One exhibit on the fifth floor summed it up for me. It was a 1982 Porsche 944, which at one time was my dream car. However, the car felt a bit isolated, like it was unsure why it was there. Ultimately, I found the museum worth the time spent climbing stairs, waiting in traffic, and lingering over the exhibits. The museum took chances and delivered on enough of its ambition.

这座博物馆给我的感觉是充满反差。一方面，它现代、宽敞、布局有序，展览也很有雄心。另一方面，几个令人感兴趣的展项没有开放，例如一个小型气流展项，有些地方的灯光也偏暗。五层的一件展品恰好概括了我的感受：一辆1982年的保时捷944，曾经是我的梦想座驾。可是，它显得有点孤零零的，仿佛自己也不太明白为什么会在这里。归根结底，我觉得这趟博物馆之行值得——爬楼梯、在路上堵车，以及在展品前流连的时间，都没有白费。博物馆敢于尝试，也实现了它雄心中足够多的一部分。

We descended from the 5F to 1F by taking the escalators at the back of the museum and grabbed some much needed drinks from a machine in the 1F lobby. Outside the exit there was a go kart track my toddler will enjoy once she’s a bit older. We skipped the outdoor train exhibit in favor of answering our stomach’s yelps for lunch. For lunch, we found a nearly deserted yet convenient place in the office park and I stuck with my theme of having noodles. The menu said the noodles were hand pulled and they were sure good enough for me to almost believe that was true.

我们乘着博物馆后侧的自动扶梯，从五层下到一层，在大厅的售货机买了些急需的饮料。出口外有一条卡丁车赛道，等女儿再大一点，应该会喜欢。肚子已经在叫着要吃午饭，我们就略过了室外的火车展品。午饭在办公园区一家几乎没什么人、但很方便的店里解决，我继续坚持吃面条这个主题。菜单说是手工拉面，味道确实不错，好到让我差点相信那是真的。

The drive home was accident free.

回家的路上没有遇到车祸。