Shanghai Museum

The Shanghai Museum (上海博物馆, Shànghǎi Bówùguǎn) at 201 Renmin Avenue is the city’s main museum of ancient Chinese art, and it sits in the middle of People’s Square. Go for the bronzes, ceramics, painting and calligraphy, and for the building itself. Normally it is open from 9:00 to 17:00, with last entry at 16:00, and closed on Mondays except national holidays; individual visitors do not need to book. Until 14 November 2027, though, the whole building is given over to an exhibition on the ancient civilisations of the Americas, and every visitor needs a ticket. During the exhibition, last entry is at 15:00 on most days, and the museum stays open until 21:00 on Fridays and Saturdays. The museum publishes these hours month by month, so check before you set out.

The museum was founded in 1952. English Wikipedia says it first opened in the former racecourse club house on West Nanjing Road and moved in 1959 to the Zhonghui Building on South Henan Road. The present building went up between August 1993 and its inauguration on 12 October 1996. English Wikipedia credits the local architect Xing Tonghe (邢同和) with the design.

The form is the main thing to notice from outside. English Wikipedia describes a building shaped like a ding (鼎), an ancient bronze cooking vessel, with a round top on a square base, an echo of the old idea of a round sky above a square earth. It is 29.5 metres high, on five floors, with 39,200 square metres of floor space. Chinese Wikipedia adds that the museum has been free to enter since 10 March 2008, though the official site’s current notice about tickets shows that special exhibitions can change this.

Inside, the collection is large. Chinese Wikipedia puts it at more than 1.02 million objects, of which over 145,000 are rated as precious, and names bronzes, ceramics, paintings and calligraphy as the strongest. English Wikipedia lists permanent galleries for bronze, sculpture, ceramics, jade, painting, calligraphy, seals and coins, plus Ming and Qing furniture and the crafts of China’s minority peoples. It singles out the Da Ke ding (大克鼎), a late Western Zhou bronze, as a showpiece.

A note on what is shown where. Chinese Wikipedia says the museum now works as two venues. After Shanghai Museum East (see the separate entry in Pudong) opened, the specialist galleries for bronze, sculpture, ceramics, painting and the like are listed there, and this venue keeps the Ming and Qing furniture gallery, the minority crafts gallery and three rooms for loans and temporary shows. English Wikipedia still lists the older gallery layout, so the two sources differ. If a particular bronze or painting is the reason for your visit, check the official site for which venue shows it.

English Wikipedia lists People’s Square station, on Metro Lines 1, 2 and 8, as the nearest stop. Show the Chinese address on this page to a taxi driver.