After the release of the “2022 Shanghai Museum Social Influence Index,” ten museums out of the city’s 158 museums have stood out, becoming the museums with the highest search index of the year.
Let’s take a look at these ten museums:
Shanghai Astronomy Museum
The Shanghai Astronomy Museum is currently the world’s largest astronomy museum in terms of building scale. It covers an area of approximately 58,600 square meters and has a building area of about 38,000 square meters. Among the more than 300 exhibits in the museum, the proportion of original exhibits is as high as 85%, and interactive exhibits account for over 50%.
With the design concept of “We are not writing a textbook, we are creating an experience,” the Shanghai Astronomy Museum has created three main themed exhibition areas: “Home,” “Universe,” and “Odyssey,” as well as unique exhibition areas such as “Chinese Astronomy,” “Curious Planet,” and “Heading to Mars.”
It also features an 8K ultra-high-definition multifunctional dome theater, the Stellar Lounge, the Wangshu Observatory, the Xihe Solar Tower, and the Starry Sky Exploration Camp. These facilities provide a panoramic view of the vast universe and create a multi-sensory exploration journey, helping visitors develop a comprehensive understanding of the cosmos.
📍 380 Lingang Avenue, Nanhui New City, Pudong New Area, Shanghai
Shanghai Natural History Museum
The Shanghai Natural History Museum is located within the Shanghai Jing’an Sculpture Park. Its design inspiration comes from the shell structure of a “spiral,” with the spiraling green roof rising from within the park.
The dynamic and elegant building resembles a “green spiral,” and the museum houses more than 308,000 collections.
With the theme of “Nature, Human, and Harmony,” the Shanghai Natural History Museum presents ten permanent exhibition areas, including the Mystery of Origins, the River of Life, and the Path of Evolution, as well as temporary exhibition halls, a 4D cinema, an exploration center, and other supporting functional areas through three main threads: “The Symphony of Evolution,” “The Scroll of Life,” and “The Epic of Civilization.” It presents the crisscrossing and complementary relationships in nature in a lively and interesting way to the audience.
📍 510 Beijing West Road (inside Jing’an Sculpture Park), Jing’an District, Shanghai
Shanghai Museum
Founded in 1952, the Shanghai Museum has ten permanent exhibitions and three exhibition halls, including the Gallery of Chinese Ancient Bronze, the Gallery of Chinese Ancient Sculpture, and the Gallery of Chinese Ancient Ceramics. In addition, there are four donated special galleries: the Zande Lou Ceramics Gallery, the Liang Tu Xuan Painting and Calligraphy Gallery, the Shi Jiagang’s Old Coin Collection Gallery, and the Du Weishan and Tan Duanyan’s Old Silk Road Coin Collection Gallery.
The Shanghai Museum’s collection includes 31 categories such as bronze, ceramics, painting and calligraphy, sculpture, oracle bones, seals, currency, jade, furniture, embroidery, lacquerware, bamboo, wood, horn, and ethnic minority artifacts.
It is particularly renowned for its bronze, ceramics, and painting and calligraphy collections, which are highly regarded both domestically and internationally for their completeness, richness, and exquisite quality.
📍 201 People’s Avenue, Huangpu District, Shanghai
Shanghai Science and Technology Museum
The architecture of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum features an asymmetrical structure that spirals upward from west to east, symbolizing the evolution of natural history and human civilization. Centered around the main theme of “Nature, Human, and Technology,” the museum has 11 permanent exhibition halls, including the Hall of Life and the Hall of Earth Exploration. It also features a Science Movie Town consisting of four special theaters: a giant screen theater, a dome theater, a 4D theater, and a space theater, sparking visitors’ interest in exploring the mysteries of nature and technology.
Each exhibition area in the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum is a social topic that people pay attention to; each exhibit is an intriguing interactive game. From the vast universe to cellular genes, basic scientific principles and major technological achievements are vividly and intuitively displayed here, allowing visitors to gain enlightenment while enjoying leisure and entertainment.
📍 2000 Century Avenue, Pudong New Area, Shanghai
Shanghai Museum of Glass
The Shanghai Museum of Glass is located in GLASS+, the country’s first glass-themed park integrating display, art, technology, business, education, entertainment, and lifestyle functions. It was once selected by CNN’s website as one of the three museums in China that should not be missed.
The museum was transformed from a glass factory, with the main building being a former glass furnace workshop. Here, visitors can learn about the history of glass development, appreciate various exquisite glass artworks, and understand how glass products of various shapes are made.
📍 685 West Yangtze River Road, Baoshan District, Shanghai
Shanghai Auto Museum
The Shanghai Auto Museum, China’s first professional automobile museum, is located within the Auto Expo Park in Anting Town, Jiading District, Shanghai. The museum showcases nearly 90 classic cars that have appeared in the world since the birth of the automobile, spanning over a hundred years, providing a platform for visitors to appreciate precious antique cars and learn about the history of the automobile.
Here, not only can you find the most beautiful antique car displays in China, but also a unique series of antique gas pumps. Walking in the exhibition area lined with antique cars, it’s as if you’ve traveled back to the streets of the last century, experiencing a different kind of automotive charm.
📍 7565 Boyuan Road, Anting, Jiading District, Shanghai
Shanghai Museum of Guanfu
The Shanghai Museum of Guanfu has four permanent galleries: the Porcelain Gallery, the East and West Gallery, the Gold Gallery, and the Sculpture Gallery, as well as a temporary exhibition gallery. Among them, the East and West Gallery and the Gold Gallery are particularly unique and are currently not found in other parts of China.
From the blue and white porcelain terrazzo floor at the entrance of the museum, the cultural wall of rare characters created using diamond sand blasting, to the world’s tallest indoor Chinese garden, the Half-Acre Garden, which features ancient golden nanmu wood pavilions, Ming and Qing dynasty Wukang stone floor tiles, thousand-year-old wisteria, and high mountain rhododendrons, it is a recreation of a classical Jiangnan garden.
During the stroll through the museum, careful observation will also reveal displays of traditional Chinese old craft workshops embedded in the corridor walls.
📍 37th Floor, Shanghai Tower, 479 Lujiazui Ring Road, Pudong New Area, Shanghai
Shanghai History Museum
(Shanghai Revolution History Museum)
The exhibition hall of the Shanghai History Museum (Shanghai Revolution History Museum) is divided into five parts, including “Huating Origin” and “Old Town Scenery,” reflecting the process of Shanghai’s development from a coastal fishing village to China’s largest industrial and commercial metropolis from ancient times to the present. It prominently reflects the historical evolution of modern Shanghai in various aspects such as politics, economy, culture, society, and life.
The Shanghai History Museum has a total collection of about 110,000 items, including important museum collections such as the Zhenyuan General Bronze Cannon supervised by Chen Huacheng, the Jiangnan Admiral in 1841, the scroll painting of Wu Youyu’s Yuyuan Garden Banquet in 1880, and the manuscript of “Shanghai Gazetteer Draft” edited by Liu Yazi during the Republic of China period.
📍 325 Nanjing West Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai
Soong Ching Ling Former Residence Memorial
The Soong Ching Ling Former Residence Memorial covers an area of 4,333 square meters. The main building is located in the center of the courtyard and is a three-story milky white building. There are gardens in front and behind, surrounded by more than 30 century-old camphor trees, lush and evergreen all year round.
The interior of the main building is simple and elegant, and the garden environment is graceful and tranquil. This was the place where Soong Ching Ling lived for a long time and also an important venue for her to engage in state affairs.
📍 1843 Middle Huaihai Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai
Site of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China
The site of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China is located at 106 Wangzhi Road (now 76 Xingye Road) in the former French Concession of Shanghai. It is a typical Shanghai shikumen-style building constructed in the autumn of 1920.
On July 23, 1921, the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held here. The congress adopted the first program and resolution of the Communist Party of China, elected the central leadership, and announced the birth of the Communist Party of China.
The Memorial of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China vividly reflects the birth process of the Communist Party of China through seven sections, including the preface hall “Historical Choice, Great Starting Point,” the first part “Successive Struggles for National Salvation,” and the second part “People’s Awakening, Ideological Choice.”
It focuses on the revolutionary practice of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai during the early period of the party’s founding.
📍 374 Huangpi South Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai
