DISCOVER SHANGHAI MUSEUM

For over 5 years I have been regularly in Shanghai for business unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to visit this so active city. At each of my visits I was always amazed by an increasing number of cranes busy around buildings under construction.

But beyond this huge expansion, what was really this city? Does it have a soul? what interesting things could be discovered?

This Sunday, I have a few hours and I decided to visit some places that the hotel concierge told me .

I first discovered the Shanghai Museum located at 201 Ren Min Da Dao, a street between People Square and People Park. .

Originally established in 1952 in Nanjing Road, and then it was transferred twice, finally to find its present place, where he was inaugurated in October 1996.

The building, about 30m high and covering an area of 38000m2, is a truly unique architecture combining traditional and modern design.

The museum includes 2 lower levels and 5 upper levels. 4 floors are accessible to visitors, including 10 themed galleries, 3 halls for temporary exhibitions and a multimedia studio.

Some 120 000 pieces of ancient China are presented in this museum, covering the arts and the Chinese know-how, we find: bronzes, paintings, calligraphy and jade, sculptures, furniture, coins and seals.

I therefore begin the visit by the upper level (4th floor);

three rooms attract my particular attention:

Collection of over 7,000 ancient coins used in particular on the Silk Road,:

Collection of jade: China obviously is very famous in this field, a symbol of wealth and power, jade was used by the various strata of society:

Collection of furniture Ming and Qing periods :

On the lower floor (3rd floor),

are exposed:

Collection of paintings: Chinese artists have a unique style, they excel in the art of using dots and lines and work on media such as silk and rice paper

Collection of calligraphy: the typical Chinese phrase has its origins in the Shang dynasty, the photos being banned so I cannot offer a few illustrations.

Collection seals: this gallery is really special and unique it shows seals from the periods Zhou and Qing:

On the second floor, a large space is devoted to ceramics, coins dating from the Neolithic

Finally on the ground floor are exposed bigger parts such as large sculptures and bronzes.

The most spectacular sculptures are in my view those of Buddha. You can see how Buddhism, foreign culture to China, has merged with traditional Chinese culture.

The bronzes were regarded as treasures from the ancient Shang and Zhou dynasties. To get a better idea of all Chinese dynasties in the time scale, I have attached below a short list summarizing the 24 successive dynasties.

Chinese Dynasties (chronology)

• Neolithic : 5000-2000  BC
• Xia Dynasty: 21-16 centuries BC
• Shang Dynasty : 16 century to around 1050/1025 BC
• West ZHOU Dynasty : around 1050/1025-771 BC - Confucius
• East Zhou Dynasty : 720-256 BC - Confucius
• Qin Dynasty : 221-206 BC
• West Han Dynasty : 206 BC - 8 AC
• Xin Dynasty (Wang Mang) : 8-23 AC
• East Han Dynasty : 25-220
• Three Kingdoms (san guo) : 220-280
• West Jin Dynasty: 265-316
• Sixteen 5 barbarians kingdoms and dynasties of North & South : 304-589
• Sui Dynasty : 581-618
• Tang Dynasty : 618-907
• Five Dynasties (North) : 907-960
• Ten kingdom (south) : 902-979
• Song Dynasty : 960-1279
• Non Chinese Song (North) : 907-1234
• Song (North West) : 1036-1227
• Yuan Dynasty (Mongolian) : 1276-1368
• Ming Dynasty : 1368-1644
• Qing Dynasty : 1644 - 1911
  • Republic of China : 1911-1949
  • People Republic of China : from 1949

  

  

  

  Not being an expert in Chinese art, I must say that this museum offers an very interesting immersion in the Chinese history. It would need of course to spend more time in different rooms.

  For my part I enjoyed ceramics and sculptures. I therefore strongly recommend this visit.

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