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Origins and Development
Golden Sea International Lighting Museum originates from “The Power of Light” Stage Lighting Museum in Israel. Golden Sea introduced the collection to China and opened the museum to the public in 2016. In 2026, the museum relocated to Golden Sea’s brand-new headquarters in Guangzhou with fully upgraded exhibition space, housing more than 500 precious lighting cultural relics.
As the world’s first professional thematic museum integrating Eastern and Western stage lighting cultures, the museum follows five core evolutionary eras: the Era of Firelight, the Era of Gaslight, the Dawn of Electric Light, the Era of Expressive Illumination and the Era of Intelligent Lighting. It consists of six exhibition zones: Introductory Hall, International Hall, China Hall, Golden Sea Hall, Knowledge Hall and Future Hall.
The museum systematically traces the global evolution of stage lighting technology, records the growth journey of China’s lighting industry from traditional inheritance and reference to independent innovation, and showcases decades of R&D achievements of the Chinese brand Golden Sea. Equipped with interactive science exhibits to interpret optical principles, it also demonstrates the diversified value of lighting technology empowering performances, cultural tourism and urban light displays.
The brand-new museum operates as an integrated platform for light culture exchange, popular science education and industry exhibition. It continuously expands exhibition content and optimizes visitor experience, striving to build a lighting-themed exhibition venue with profound cultural heritage and distinctive technological features. -
Founder and Honorary Curators
The core collection of the museum comes from Israel’s “The Power of Light” Stage Lighting Museum, founded by renowned stage lighting designer and author of Stage Lighting, Dan Redler, who spent decades gathering exhibits worldwide. In 2016, Jiang Weikai, Chairman of Golden Sea, introduced the entire collection to China. The museum has since enriched its collection with historical exhibits and documents on Eastern and Chinese stage lighting, evolving into today’s international museum that combines Chinese and Western light culture.
To boost the long-term development of the industry, Cao Lin, President of China Stage Art Society, and Professor Michael Ramsaur, former President of OISTAT and scholar from Stanford University, were appointed honorary curators of the museum in February 2017. The two top industry experts deeply participate in museum planning and construction, building a bridge for global cooperation among stage art institutions, strengthening collaborative links between Golden Sea and domestic & international professional organizations. They help pass down the historical context of Chinese and foreign stage lighting and advance the deep integration of lighting technology and stage art.
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International Hall
The International Hall preserves the complete collection inherited from Israel’s The Power of Light. Centered on classic Western lighting fixtures, it recreates technological breakthroughs, equipment iterations and artistic transformations across the five evolutionary eras of stage lighting. The hall houses antique lighting relics, restored ancient stage models and professional books on light control, color tuning and beam distribution, guiding visitors to trace the global history of light dating back to the Renaissance.
In the Era of Firelight, humans first gained control over artificial light, with oil lamps and candles forming the basic lighting setup of early stages. The Era of Gaslight brought a revolution in illumination: gas lamps and limelight enabled high-brightness focused stage lighting, and limelight became the first dedicated stage followspot. The Dawn of Electric Light marked a landmark shift as carbon-filament incandescent lamps entered theatres, alongside the birth of modern theatre infrastructure including lighting battens and power distribution systems.
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China Hall
Adopting a virtual-and-physical integrated exhibition layout, the China Hall displays traditional Chinese lamps, domestically-developed lighting equipment and early imported fixtures. Following the five evolutionary eras, it presents the full journey of Chinese stage lighting: from traditional heritage and Sino-Western integration to technological breakthroughs and partial global leadership. The hall features a multimedia zone, where visitors can watch a special documentary about the museum.
The Firelight Era section showcases exquisite palace celadon lamps, carved bronze candlesticks and civilian kerosene lamps, embodying ancient Chinese wisdom in light creation. The eras of gaslight and early electric light record the introduction of Western lighting equipment to Chinese theatres and early attempts to integrate foreign technology with local practices. In the Expressive Illumination Era, manual followspots were widely used in classic operas, while domestic color wash lamps completed localized upgrades.
Entering the Era of Intelligent Lighting, Chinese LED and beam lights dominate the global market, and laser lighting has been featured at landmark events including the Winter Olympics and CCTV Spring Festival Gala. Lighting control systems have achieved full independent R&D after phasing out foreign imports. Physical exhibits and historical documents in the hall fully document how China’s lighting industry absorbs global technology while preserving unique Eastern aesthetics.
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Golden Sea Hall
Arranged with a chronological timeline and physical exhibits, the Golden Sea Hall narrates Golden Sea’s growth as a Chinese national brand: from startup exploration and technological breakthroughs to global layout, showcasing its development from follower to peer and finally industry leader on the international stage.
The enterprise developed China’s first moving head light and the first LED color wash moving head light, opening the door to overseas markets. In the Era of Intelligent Lighting, the brand launched a series of landmark lighting devices including wireless intelligent lighting systems and ultra-high-brightness beam lights, which have been showcased at major domestic and international events and won multiple global industry awards.
With stage lighting core technologies, Golden Sea has built a complete industrial chain. By acquiring renowned international lighting brands, the company integrates global technical resources, embodying the course of independent innovation and technological catch-up of China’s stage lighting industry.
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Knowledge Hall
As the core interactive science popularization zone of the museum, the Knowledge Hall dissects the mechanical, optical, electronic and chemical principles behind lighting equipment. Most interactive installations are upgraded from the original International Hall collection, balancing professional depth and visitor engagement.
Visitors may operate vintage dimming equipment at optical experiment stations to intuitively learn the laws of light refraction and color adjustment. Miniature stage models demonstrate complete professional lighting layouts, paired with explanations of moving head light structures, lighting design workflows, lens technology and optical metrology. The exhibition zone displays award-winning works by distinguished domestic stage designers to illustrate the integration of lighting technology and stage art, supplemented by video footage of real-world lighting projects to popularize the science behind light. -
Future Hall
Taking the Era of Intelligent Lighting – the final chapter of the five-stage timeline – as its starting point, the Future Hall explores the infinite development potential of lighting technology. All exhibits are self-developed Golden Sea products, demonstrating innovative applications of light in performances, cultural tourism and urban life. The hall launches an open co-creation initiative for lighting creators nationwide, calling for outstanding light artworks to unlock unlimited possibilities for light creation.
