Top 10 Specialty Museums in Shanghai, Shanghai Region

December 11, 2021 Brain Ambrose

The largest city in China is also its most cosmopolitan, offering visitors a chance to experience the past, present, and future all at once. The Huangpu River splits Shanghai into two districts: Pudong and Puxi. The Pudong skyline looks like it was ripped from the Jetsons, with the bulbous Oriental Pearl TV and Radio Tower looking a bit like a two headed lollipop. On the Puxi side, you can walk the Bund riverside district to get a taste of old Shanghai.
Restaurants in Shanghai

1. island6 Arts Center

2/F, Building 6, No.50 Moganshan Road, Shanghai China +86 21 6227 7856 [email protected] http://www.island6.org
Excellent
90%
Good
10%
Satisfactory
0%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

5.0 based on 10 reviews

island6 Arts Center

Liu Dao is a Shanghai-based art collective of tech-geeks and creative talents driven by innovation and interaction. The collective produces cutting-edge art that engages sights and scenes from the old and new China, and elevates the skills of new talents by working from a communal forum. Liu Dao's art is visual, interactive, conceptual, humorous, and always striking, involving fresh takes on modern technology, and always the product of collaboration. Since Liu Dao's beginning, painters, sculptors, photographers, filmmakers, new media artists, software and digital imaging artists, dancers, writers, engineers, and curators have worked together to produce original, intriguing shows. At island6, all the work exhibited is made on site and specifically for the theme of a show through the collaboration of the collective’s in-house artists, curators and art directors.

2. Prada Rong Zhai (Shanghai)

186 Shaanxi North Road, Jing_an District, Shanghai China +86800 800 77232 http://www.prada.com/en/a-future-archive/projects/rong-zhai.html
Excellent
100%
Good
0%
Satisfactory
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Poor
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Terrible
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Overall Ratings

5.0 based on 4 reviews

Prada Rong Zhai (Shanghai)

3. Museum of Illusions

No.168 Jiujiang Road, Huangpu District 2/F, Carlowitz & Co., Shanghai 200002 China +86 21 6333 0883 [email protected] http://museumofillusions.com.cn/
Excellent
94%
Good
6%
Satisfactory
0%
Poor
0%
Terrible
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Overall Ratings

5.0 based on 16 reviews

Museum of Illusions

Welcome to our fascinating world of illusions. Thrilled yet bewildered you will enter a world that will blow your mind but also give you an opportunity to learn all sorts of things... come and visit us! It is sure to be an amazing and unimaginable experience because whatever you see, especially here in the Museum of Illusions, is not what it appears to be. Are you ready for an adventure?

4. Shanghai Museum (Shanghai Bowuguan)

No.201 Renmin Avenue, Shanghai China +86 21 6372 3500 https://www.shanghaimuseum.net/museum/frontend/
Excellent
54%
Good
33%
Satisfactory
10%
Poor
2%
Terrible
1%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 4,847 reviews

Shanghai Museum (Shanghai Bowuguan)

This elegant museum, opened in 1996, features eleven state-of-the-art galleries housing China’s international-standard exhibits of bronzes, paintings, sculpture, ceramics, jade and Ming and Qing dynasty furniture.

Reviewed By DeveanCook - Lubbock, United States

The Shanghai Museum is an expansive museum covering many collections of art from ancient Chinese history and it is both informative and impressive. The museum covers 4 floors and has 11 galleries. The galleries are all quite vast and are informative. Information cards are almost all in both English and Chinese, making it very easy for Westerners and non-Chinese speakers to understand the descriptions. A better job of this could've been done in the exhibition on currency, however, as a number of signs were in Chinese only. Just about every aspect of ancient Chinese arts are covered including calligraphy, paintings, pottery and ceramics, and sculpture. There are also exhibits covering bronze, jade, currency, and furniture. In addition to the ancient Chinese exhibits there are also exhibitions in other categories including Silk Road coins, artifacts from Oceania, and others. The sheer size of the collection means that at least 3 hours should be spent here and it is nearly impossible to cover the entire museum in one day. In all, this museum is well worth a visit in Shanghai.

5. Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall

No.100 Renmin Main Street, Huangpu District, Shanghai 200003 China +86 21 6372 2077 http://www.supec.org
Excellent
51%
Good
37%
Satisfactory
10%
Poor
2%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 1,399 reviews

Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall

Reviewed By DavidPerezReyna - Bogota, Colombia

I love looking at maps and models. In this place I indulged myself with various maps and, specially, the 3d map plan of Shanghai. It's a great museum to keep track of how much Shanghai has changed recently as it includes old plans and before-after photos

6. Shanghai Propaganda Poster Art Centre

726 Yan An Xi Rd Rm K 7F East Tower, Hua Min Han Zhen International, Shanghai 200050 China +86 21 6211 1845 [email protected] http://www.shanghaipropagandaart.com/contact.asp
Excellent
60%
Good
30%
Satisfactory
8%
Poor
1%
Terrible
1%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 875 reviews

Shanghai Propaganda Poster Art Centre

Reviewed By Athamese - San Francisco, United States

As others have written, this place has recently moved. Google Maps had it listed under its old location (in the basement of some apartment complex) but that's not right anymore. The address listed here is correct. No photos allowed in the museum, sadly, but it's well worth a visit. The posters all have translations of the captions into English (some in French, too) and many of them also have a few paragraphs of interpretation and context. My experience is that Chinese people use the word "propaganda" unironically and without any hint of negativity that English-speakers usually do. Looking at these posters, some of which I'd seen in books before, I was amazed at how quotidian some of them are, and how powerful and striking others were as well. I certainly appreciated the view into a part of Chinese history that gets represented through a particular lens in US education. I also appreciated looking at what is openly labeled propaganda, and how that made me think about what we see in the US that is not so openly labeled propaganda (but is obviously and clearly analogous). Take the time to visit this museum. It's got a great little gift shop where I bought far too many postcards, and they have a nice collection of books and even original copies of Mao's little red book in multiple languages. They also have posters of varying sizes for sale.

7. Shanghai Maglev Museum

No.2100 Longyang Road, Shanghai China +86 21 2890 7777 http://www.smtdc.com/zw/gycf2.asp
Excellent
52%
Good
31%
Satisfactory
14%
Poor
2%
Terrible
1%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 306 reviews

Shanghai Maglev Museum

Reviewed By AnnO776 - Lancaster, United Kingdom

Had a ride on the maglev and visited the museum. A good experience. Buy a return and just stay on the train

8. Shanghai Auto Museum

No.7565 Boyuan Road, Jiading District, Shanghai 201805 China +86 21 6955 0055 http://www.shautomuseum.gov.cn/
Excellent
58%
Good
33%
Satisfactory
7%
Poor
2%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 60 reviews

Shanghai Auto Museum

Reviewed By chrispC2489CX - Shanghai, China

What an amazing few hours I spent at this Museum. It is beautifully designed and the displays are very nicely spaced out and presented. Nearly all the cars are labelled in Chinese and English, with enough information about the display. Don’t forget to get an audio guide, which requires a deposit. They never told me about it, so you need to ask. The numbered displays have a 1 to 2 minute commentary about them. Well worth it. Note that you need 4 digits for the machine, so add enough zero’s in the front, to complete the number. It took me a while to work it out. The staff are most helpful and have a fair bit of English. I also loved all the interactive opportunities on the top floor. You definitely need a 2/3 hours to do the place justice. There is a MacDonalds near the museum and a tiny restaurant inside. The only issue - it’s far from the centre of town. If using the Metro, take line 11 and get off at Anting station. It’s a fair walk from there, or just take a Didi. Note that Anting New Town is very close by and is a German styled area - worth a look if you are there.

9. China Maritime Museum

No.197 Shengang Avenue, Lingang City, Nanhui District, Shanghai 201306 China +86 21 3828 7777
Excellent
35%
Good
58%
Satisfactory
6%
Poor
0%
Terrible
1%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 31 reviews

China Maritime Museum

Reviewed By dailebo

I was very surprised at the quality of the museum—world class. High quality exhibits, bilingual English and Chinese descriptions. The subway (line 16) to Dishui Lake is long but convenient. The museum is a 20 minute walk, or a quick taxi ride. I wish there were more rental bikes outside.

10. Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum

62 Changyang Road, Shanghai China +86 21 6512 6669 http://www.shhkjrm.com
Excellent
62%
Good
31%
Satisfactory
6%
Poor
1%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 718 reviews

Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum

The Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum contains the site of one of only two synagogues in Shanghai, the Ohel Moshe Synagogue, along with two exhibition halls. Volunteers offer informative tours of the museum.

Reviewed By FrostyLeigh - Los Angeles, United States

This was an amazing experience and brings great respect to the Chinese in helping save the lives of 40,000+ lives during world war 2 when many countries, including the US turned Jews facing persecution and death camps away. The Japanese invaded Shanghai and then interned the Jews in Ghettos..Restricted areas while occupying Shanghai.

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