Shanghai Museum

Why the Shanghai Museum is special
The Shanghai Museum is China's finest and one of the world's greatest museums. The ancient cultural masterpieces are superbly presented using state of the art lighting and display cases.

Shanghai Museum tips and insights
The collection
The museum's collection has Chinese cultural treasures from prehistoric times through the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). In addition, special exhibits featuring modern art are sometimes presented.

Galleries
The Shanghai Museum has ten permanent specialized galleries (bronze, calligraphy, ceramics, coins, furniture, jades, minority art, paintings, sculpture and seals) plus several special exhibition halls.

Gallery of Chinese Bronze
This is the museum's most celebrated gallery. The bronze objects include ceremonial food and beverage vessels, musical instruments and armor. The 2,500 year old bronze wine warmer (see photo) in the form of an ox is a museum goers' favorite.

Ceramics Gallery
It is highly praised by experts. Exquisite is the best word to describe this collection.

Growth
The museum began operations in an old, former bank building (where I first saw the collection). It moved into its well planned modern building in 1996. The collection grew from 13,000 items in 1952 to well over 100,000 today (but only a fraction is on display at any given time).

Audio tour
The museum rents a digital audio tour guide that intelligently describes various fine works on art. I highly recommend it. The narration is in various languages, including English.

Length of visit
Reserve ample hours for the museum. Most first time visitors exit it wishing that they had allocated more time for it. The Shanghai Museum is that good.