Museums you shouldn't miss

A shooting gallery, animatronic dinosaurs, and a scale model city can be found at these lesser-known attractions

The Beijing Police Museum can be found in a small lane just east of Tiananmen Square. On the first floor visitors get to inspect post-liberation police uniforms and brothel licenses issued under the Kuomintang, as well as the mug shots and signed confessions of former warlords and counterrevolutionaries.

The rest of the museum showcases forensic equipment, tactical gear and the exploits of the PSB. Photos abound of bad guys being brought to justice and more than one murder weapon is on display. The top floor is devoted almost entirely to police ordnance including riot gear, sniper rifles and machine guns and there’s even a video shooting gallery to test your skills.

For something a little more sensible but no less interesting, seek out the Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall that sits on the southeast corner of Tiananmen Square, where you’ll discover everything you ever wanted to know about Beijing’s urban planning.

Though many of the exhibits are in Chinese, picking the location of your hotel or favourite haunt on the sprawling, to-scale model of the city is certainly one of the highlights of this museum, and the 3D and 4D movies shown throughout the day on the fourth floor aren’t half bad either.

After that, it’s only a short taxi ride to the Natural History Museum on the west side of the Temple of Heaven, where animatronic dinosaurs still roam the earth feeding indiscriminately upon each other and young paleontologists can unearth pterodactyl bones in a sandbox.

The wildlife dioramas display a fine taxidermy collection and the Hall of Human Bodies, housed in a separate building, lets you get up close and personal with a cross-sectioned cadaver. The interactive displays are great fun, but sadly English explanations are few and far between.

Finally, the Geological Museum of China near Fuchengmen offers a glimpse of the inner workings of the planet. The first floor highlights China’s geography and the geological forces that have shaped it and it’s a great place for kids to learn about earthquakes and earthquake safety as well as glaciers and karst caves.

The collection of minerals, rocks, geodes and gemstones on the second floor is staggeringly beautiful, artfully arranged, and interspersed with hands-on activities to stimulate those with short attention spans, but the fossil collection on the third floor is not to be missed.

The Beijing Police Museum 36 Dongjiaominxiang, Dongcheng District (tel 8522 2223). Open 9am-4pm, Tue-Sun. 5RMB.

The Beijing Urban Planning Exhibition Centre 20 Qianmendongdajie, Chongwen Disrict (tel 6702 4559). Open 9am-4pm, Tue-Sun. 30RMB.

Beijing Museum of Natural History 26 Tianqiao Nan Lu, Chongwen district (tel 67024331). Open 8.30-5pm daily. 30RMB.

Geological Museum of China 15 Yangrou Hutong, Xicheng District (tel 6655 7858). Open 9am-4pm, Tue-Sun. 30RMB.

Clayton Norman