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Shanghai Museum

Reputed as one the top museums in China (Other two are Beijing Museum and Nanjing Museum), the Shanghai Museum is a museum of Chinese ancient art with a collection of 120,000 precious Chinese works of art and archaeological findings. Shanghai Museum has 11 state-of-the-art galleries and 3 special exhibition halls, all encircling a spacious cylindrical atrium.

(Note: Visit appointment is required due to the visitor number control (8000 visitors/day) of the Shanghai Museum. At peak seasons or peak hours, visitors with appointment may also have to wait for 5-10 minutes.)

Shanghai Museum enjoys a nice surrounding of the People Square.	Shanghai Museum, a vast showstage for ancient Chinese curio.

Unlike many museums in China, the Shanghai Museum is arranged by theme rather than by dynasty. Begin your tour on the first floor at the Ancient Chinese Bronze Gallery, which boasts a marvelous collection of more than 400 bronzes from the 18th to the 3rd centuries B.C. typically reserved for use only by nobles and royalty. Standouts include two wine vessels with animal mask designs, one in the shape of an ox (zun) and the other a traditional pot (he) used by the king of Wu, both dating from the Late Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 B.C.). There's also a typical food vessel on three legs (ding) from the Western Zhou Dynasty (1100-771 B.C.), the shape of which is said to be the inspiration for the museum building, which certainly resembles an ancient ding from afar. The Ancient Chinese Sculpture Gallery has sculptures spanning the Warring States period to the Ming Dynasty (475 B.C.-A.D. 1644), including a kneeling clay figure playing a bamboo flute from the Eastern Han (A.D. 25-200) and a Buddhist image of Sakyamuni in stone from the Northern Qi (A.D. 550-577).

On the second floor, the Ceramics Gallery contains many tricolor figurines from the magnificent Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618-907) and delicately painted and fired pots from the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644) kilns at Jingde Zhen; the gallery is definitely worth a tour if you love your china.

The ancient bronze wine pot.	The furniture in the Ming and Qing Furniture Gallery.

On the third floor, the Painting Gallery contains many ancient original art works on silk scrolls, including landscapes from the Ming Dynasty and Buddhist scrolls from the Tang and Song (A.D. 960-1279) dynasties. Typical is the ink brush scroll by Emperor Zhao Ji (A.D. 1083-1135) of the Song Dynasty titled for its subjects, Willow, Crows, Reed, and Wild Geese. The Calligraphy Gallery shows the various styles of artistic "handwriting" developed in China over many centuries, with specimens as old as the Tang Dynasty. Altogether, the museum owns some 15,000 of these fine scrolls. The Seal Gallery has intricate carved chops in stone used by emperors and their courts to notarize official documents. On this floor, displays show the basic elements of calligraphy, explaining the relationship between Chinese painting and calligraphy, and demonstrating how the artists' tools were used.

The fourth floor has a splendid Jade Gallery, with intricately carved jade wine vessels, jewelry, and ornaments, some from as early as the Liangzhu Culture (31st-22nd c. B.C.). The Coin Gallery displays coins that predate the First Emperor's reign (221-207 B.C.), as well as gold coins from Persia discovered on the Silk Road. The Ming and Qing Furniture Gallery has elaborately carved screens inlaid with jade from the Qing Dynasty (A.D. 1644-1911), a six-poster canopy bed, and a wonderful folding wooden armchair from the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644). The Minority Nationalities' Art Gallery displays some lovely costumes, jewelry, dioramas, and ceremonial creations from the more remote, non-Han Chinese reaches of the Chinese empire, most of them dating from the early 20th century.

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