Shanghai Meseum (People's Square), Shanghai

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The most visited section of the City's Museum seems to be this area, with a very rich display.

I was particularly attracted by a demonstration of the successive operations used to build a bronze cup in the old days.

Since most Chinese museums seem to share the problems of Portuguese ones (a cold exhibition of "dead" artifacts) this display was a fresh and useful variation

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A modern building in the noble area of Shanghai holds the city museum.

Its modern conception, separating the collections by themes, allows a clever distribution of the displays, easing the choice of the visitors, that may decide between a general observation or a detailed visit to any special area or subjet.

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This is one of Chinas top museums. It has collections spanning more than 5000 years of art and history, from Neolithic times to the 19th Century. There are collections in Bronze, Stone, Jade, porcelin, etc.
Admission is free and there is an extensive book shop and gift shop on the premises. In addition, you can rent a set of audio recorders in your language that describes some of the museums hilights.

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The Shanghai Museum is one of China's top museums, with collections of artistic, cultural, and historic items from all over China. Its collections, which are spead over four floors, include paintings, ceramics, bronzes, coins, jewelry and furniture from many of China's dynastic periods. In addition, the museum has a fascinating collection of costumes, masks, and other items from China's ethnic minorities. Some of our favorite sections were the Ming Dynasty landscape paintings, the ethnic cosumes, the Ming and Qing dynasty furniture, and the ancient coins and currency, which inluded paper money from the 1200s.

Admission is free, but is limited to 5000 people per day. Exect to wait in line for at least 30 minutes for tickets. Senior citizens, tour groups, and handicapped individuals do not have to wait in the line.

From this museum you can learn about China's past from wondeful bronzes, ceramics, jade, Ming and Qing furniture. My favorite was the section on China's ethnic minorities or hilltribes on the fourth floor. Amazing clothes!

This is the largest museum in Shanghai and houses a collection of 120,000 pieces of cultural and historical relics in 10 exhibition halls over four floors.

There are English explanations and detailed notes in displays that you can take and read at your leisure about Chinese ceramics, Ancient Chinese Sculpture, paintings, bronze and coins.

Ticket cost: 20 Yuan

Open from 9:00am -17:00pm. After 4:00pm no entry.

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The Shanghai Museum is often regarded as the finest museum in China. I think that it probably has few true rivals as museums is not a strong point about the country. For certain, the Shanghai Museum is the cultural highlight of the city and a must see for anyone desiring an insight into Chinese culture.
The Shanghai Museum is divided according to theme rather the more common method of sectioning off each gallery as according to dynasty. The advantage of this for most travelers, is that you can easily skip a section of the museum if a certain cultural aspect does not interests you (I just cannot get into calligraphy). However each gallery is extremely well displayed and it is worth taking the time to visit them all. I personally enjoyed the Gallery of Ancient Chinese Ceramics. I also found the Gallery of Arts and Crafts by Chinese Minorities to be quite fascinating especially in light of the fact that I had almost finished my journey through China and this gallery offered a great cultural overview of my experiences. The Gallery of Ancient Chinese Paintings is the best collection of Chinese painting that I saw in the country. The galleries feature sculpture and bronze works are also held in very high regard.
A visit to the Shanghai Museum will cost you Y20 which is a very low price considering the size of the collection. The museum is open from 9am to 5pm from Sunday to Friday. On Saturdays it is open until 8pm.

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This wide and modern square marks the centre of Shanghai. Surrounded by skyscrapers (and a few historical buildings), it is dominated by the museum, and the crowds circulating from mall to mall, in a style of life that no one could guess in China a couple of years ago.