Shanghai History Museum
By admin on 2015-01-07

Shanghai History Museum 上海市历史博物馆 was established in 1983, which was named Shanghai History & Cultural Relics Showroom at first. In 1991 it was renamed as Shanghai History Museum.

There are more then 30,000 cultural relics collected in Shanghai History Museum, including Shanghai ancient cultural relics and more than 18,000 pieces of Shanghai modern cultural relics (partly are the relics left by the Settlement governors). Among those cultural relics, some important and rare relics we have to mention: Gu Embroidery: the Flowers, Insects and Fish Volume written by Han Xi'meng in Ming Dynasty; Hou Tongceng's Cursive Scroll; the Golden Classics collected by Qi Bao Temple; the ZhenYuan General Bronze Cannon left behind by the modern famous General Chen Huacheng; the big Hua Qian of Tai Ping Heavenly Kingdom; the old couple bronze lions located in front of the former HSBC; the mere stone of the French Concession and the mere stone of the Shanghai International Settlement in 1893.

In May 27th of 1984 the Shanghai History & Cultural Relics Showroom was opened to the people, which temporarily located in the Num. 5 Hall of Shanghai Agriculture Exhibition in the western side of the city. In 1991 Shanghai History Museum was opened on Num. 1286 of Hong Qiao Road, which established the new and basic display: Modern Development History Display of Shanghai, displaying more than 1500 pieces of cultural relics. The new display was presented the style and features of Shanghai in hundred years, from the Port-opening in 1843 to the city's liberation in 1949. The museum was listed as one of the first group members of Juvenile Education Base of Shanghai.

In May of 2001, the temporary display Shanghai City's History and Development Show, made by our museum, was moved into the Oriental Pearl Tower in Pu Dong new district. This display included five parts: Trace back to HuaTing; Style and Features in the Town; Sketch of the Port-opening; Foreign Settlement; Old footsteps in Shanghai. It entirely reflected the historical evolvement of the politics, economy, culture, society and people’s life in modern Shanghai.

Nowadays the new Shanghai History Museum has already listed in the three-year scheme of Shanghai Culture Improvement. In the future Shanghai History Museum will be the chorography museum which can display the development tracks of Shanghai area sufficiently, which will display the cultural relics of Shanghai from the ancient times to the modern age. A new building that named Shanghai History Museum will hopefully appear in Shanghai soon.