On May 8, the Chinese Museum Association released the list of the 5th batch of national first-level museums. There are 13 museums in Jiangsu Province which have been rated as national first-level museums. The Suzhou Silk Museum and the Suzhou Wuzhong District Museum (the Museum of Wu) made the list.
The Suzhou Silk Museum, opened in 1991, is the ICH preservation unit of the two traditional silk weaving techniques of Song brocade and Zhang satin. Its China Silk Embroidery Cultural Relics Reproduction Center, established with the approval of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, hold qualifications for repairing national-level movable cultural relics (embroidery) and have made remarkable achievements in reproducing silk embroidery cultural relics.
The Suzhou Wuzhong District Museum (the Museum of Wu), which opened to the public in 2020, is the first comprehensive museum in China to study and display the Wu culture. From 2021 to 2023, the museum organized 774 educational activities and compiled and published 17 academic books.
The Suzhou Museum and the Changshu Museum were designated as national first-level museums in 2008 and 2020 respectively. Currently, there are four national first-level museums in Suzhou.