THE Shanghai Museum, founded in 1952, and now located at the Shanghai Renmin Square, is a large museum exhibiting ancient Chinese arts. It houses a collection of 120,000 cultural relics, including bronzeware, ceramics, Ming and Qing dynasty furniture, calligraphic works, paintings, jade and ivory articles, bamboo, wood and lacquer ware, inscribed bones and tortoise shells, seals, and ethnic minority handicrafts. Among them, the bronzeware, ceramics and Ming and Qing furniture are the most characteristic.

Bronze articles from the Shang (16th-11th centuries B.C.) and Zhou (Western Zhou: 11th century to 771 B.C.) are an important indicator as to the ancient social civilization. The Chinese Ancient Bronzeware Hall houses over 400 pieces of exquisite bronzeware, reflecting the history of bronze art between the 18th and 3rd centuries B.C. The Dake Tripod of the mid-Western Zhou Dynasty and a pot engraged with dragon designs of the late Western Zhou Dynasty are representative of bronzeware of that era for their unique shape and exquisite patterns.

In the Chinese Ancient Ceramics Hall, the green decor and ceramics of various dynasties set one another off harmoniously. The 500 exhibits, including painted pottery from the Neolithic Age (80th-21st centuries B.C.) and tri-color pottery of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), celebrate the 8,000-year history of Chinese ceramics. The tri-color pottery figurine of a horsewoman of the Tang Dynasty, and the white glaze pillow engraved with the design of palace figures, are superbly crafted. In the last section of the exhibition there is a reproduction of a kiln. Next to the hall is the Zandelou Ceramics Exhibition Hall, exhibiting ceramics donated by Hu Huichun and Wang Huayun. Most of the 130 exhibits on display are official kiln porcelains of the Qing Dynasty.

Furniture making in China has a long history, and furniture made during the Ming and Qing dynasties is very popular. In the Chinese Ming and Qing Furniture Hall, the gray bricks, whitewashed walls, and bamboo groves give one the feeling of an authentic Ming or Qing dynasty residence. The Ming Dynasty rosewood armchair and Qing Dynasty carved lacquer square table and stools are examples of the unparalleled excellence of ancient Chinese culture.

The Shanghai Museum comprises 11 specialized halls. It also has three exhibition halls for visiting exhibitions. In addition, it has established a research office for relic protection and archaeological research, a research office for repairing cultural relics, and mounting paintings and calligraphic works, and a multi-functional hall for international symposiums equipped with simultaneous interpretation facilities.

The architectural style of the Shanghai Museum is distinctive, consisting of a huge dome and square base, symbolizing the ancient concept of the universe as a "round heaven and square earth." A cultural landmark, Shanghai Museum symbolizes changes in time and space and the blending of history and the future. It is a window on China's 5,000-year civilization.