The central stage in the building has been restored to its original look and will host Peking Opera and other Chinese operas.
The Original Intangible Cultural Heritage hall on the second floor becomes the centerpiece of the new center.
"I think it is a good platform to let the public to enjoy the cultures of handicrafts that have been ignored amid mass industrialization," said ceramic artist Li Youyu, the inheritor of the Shanghai Hanguang Ceramic, a local intangible cultural heritage.
Several of Li's masterpieces are being exhibited in the hall. Hanguang porcelain is renowned for its purity, smoothness and elegant illustrations.
Among the first batch of masters — who will change every month — are Chen Baihua, a master of festival lantern, Long Shengying, the inheritor of the Miao nationality embroidery skills and Liu Lanfang, who makes traditional herbal scented bags.
Xie said these fashion exhibits were designed to attract younger generations to enjoy the traditional skills.
The exhibitions will be changed regularly, Xie said.
A "traditional skills teaching room" invites teachers from local art colleges and technical schools specializing in intangible cultural heritages to teach visitors about the skills involved.
Foreign students would be invited to study Chinese traditional skills during summer and winter holidays, Xie said. Some of them would also bring their own foreign traditional skills to exchange with their Chinese counterparts, she added.
On the fourth floor, more than 100 historic ceramic bowls with paintings about "all walks of life" in ancient China are being exhibited.
The center plans to place a huge traditional spinning machine on the same floor to invite some 50,000 visitors to weave a large carpet after its official opening by the end of March, Xie said.
The Dashijie entertainment center was built in 1917. It closed in 2003.
The building is now able to receive a maximum 3,300 visitors simultaneously once reopened to the public.
