A museum themed around salt culture opens in Gangzha district, Nantong. [Photo/ntjoy.com] 

A museum themed around salt culture recently opened in Gangzha district, Nantong. 

The salt industry and salt culture have a long history in Nantong. Many things in the city have salt-related names, suggesting that the city had many salterns and stoves for boiling salt in ancient times. Qinzao Street in Gangzha district is one of the oldest salterns in the city.

During the late Tang Dynasty (618-907), a salt merchant surnamed Qin built stoves for making salt, which later came to be known as "Qinzao", thus leading to the name "Qinzao Street". 

Gangzha district took advantage of the unique features of Qinzao Street to create a miniature salt culture museum, the first of its kind in Nantong. 

The museum uses traditional Chinese architecture and is divided into five sections. The first section focuses on Chinese salt culture and the character yan (meaning "salt"), the second section is about the history of the Nantong salt industry, the third section revolves around a distribution map of salterns in Nantong, the fourth section provides information about salt and Qinzao, and the fifth section is themed around salt and art. 

Related cultural relics excavated from Qinzao Street, including remains of items that belonged to saltern workers, are also on display in the museum.