As the Three Gorges Project approaches its completion, China Three Gorges Museum in Chongqing was opened to the public in June 2005. The museum faces the Chongqing People's Assembly Hall with the People Square in between, both symbolic architectural features in the city of Chongqing.

Occupying a floor area of 4,200 square meters (1 acre), China Three Gorges Museum exhibits cultural relics, numbering up to 30,000 items which excavated in around Three Gorges region. Adopting modern techniques by integrating sound, light and electricity, the museum enables people to understand the culture and history in a more interactive way.

First is its lovely collection of Tang and Song heads carved out of stone. Most are of Buddha, Guanyin, and various bodhisattvas, but what distinguishes them are their human rather than heavenly miens. A fine collection of terra-cotta sculptures from an Eastern Han tomb is also on the display. Discovered in Chongqing north of the Yangzi, they are small, whimsical figurines of musicians, dancers, singers, and storytellers -- a lively group to spend eternity with. The museum also boasts collections that go back in time as far as the Shang dynasty (ca. 1600-1045 B.C.). Of particular interest are the paulownia-wood "boat coffins" of the ancient Ba culture.

The museum is a part of the huge project of the Three Gorges Dam, where there are 1087 relic sites will be submerged in water. China's 68 scientific institutions have been excavating and researching the sites in the Three Gorges area for ten years. They have successfully completed 338 archeological projects and made a lot of discoveries. All the invaluable relics are carefully moved to the exhibition halls in the Three Gorges Museum. The staffs in the museum compiled and categorized these archeological discoveries, and then made volumes of catalogue for the convenience of scientific research and easy access to the general public.

Besides, the museum has the Round - Screen Cinema that shows the natural scenery and daily life of the Three Gorges area before the construction of Three Gorges Dam , the Semi-Scene Picture of "Big Bombing in Chongqing" which represents the five years' continuing bombing in Chongqing as the temporary capital during World War II. The museum also equips an International Academic Hall , an Audience Activities Center and 3 temporary Exhibition Halls that enriching the functions for society service

Leaving the valued items and articles aside, the building itself forms a striking sight, which deserves appreciating. The building in a whole takes on an arc form of a traditional dam. The sandstone walls represent mountains and the huge blue veil wall represents water, which fully reveal the features of Chongqing—a city with mountains and water. The Chinese name of the museum is stamped in the upper right-hand corner, which is not usually seen in other places.