Here are 10 museums in Shanghai with the most distinctive collections. With exhibitions of animation characters, insects and chopsticks, to name a few, visitors can enjoy a unique experience while learning more about the world's history and culture.
Animation Museum
Opened in 2012, the museum displays the history of cartoons and animation. The first floor covers history, from China's shadow puppets to Disney characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. The main hall is filled with movie posters and life-sized statues and short animated films are screened.
Address: 69 Zhangjiang Rd, Pudong New Area
Opening hours: 10am-5pm, closed on Mondays
Music Box Museum
The exhibition features music boxes and gramophones mostly from Europe that come from a Japanese collector. It showcases what it calls the world's oldest music box, a small golden box made by Swiss watchmaker Antol Fabre in 1796.
Address: 425 Dingxiang Rd, inside Shanghai Oriental Art Center, Pudong New Area
Opening hours: 11am-6pm during the working days, 10:30am-6pm weekends and holidays
Chopsticks Museum
This may be Shanghai's smallest museum. It's the personal collection of Lan Xiang, a writer, who has collected more than 2,000 pairs of chopsticks from his journey around Asia. Lan, in his 80s, lives upstairs. The prized pair is a gilded silver set from the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907).
Address: 191 Duolun Rd, Hongkou District
Opening hours: Call in advance
Brush and Ink Museum
The one-room museum covers the history of ink making and displays ink stones and brushes of various kinds. Stories about the items are explained, each with an English audio explanation.
Address: 2/F, 429 Fujiang Road M., Huangpu Distict
Opening hours: 9:30am-5:30pm, daily
Postal Museum
The 1924 landmark building was the original Shanghai Postal Museum and displays the history of the postal service in China. The exhibits include concession-period post marks, clay seals and postage stamps.
Address: 250 Suzhou Rd, Hongkou District
Opening hours: Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, 9am-4pm
Public Security Museum
8,000 items such as uniforms, badges, weapons and emergency vehicles in the museum showcase public security history from the mid-19th century to date. Wax policemen wear uniforms from China, India and Britain. The highlight is a pistol owned by Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
Address: 2-4/F, 518 Ruijin Rd S., Huangpu District
Opening hours: 11am-4pm
Jewish Refugee Museum
Housed in the former Ohel Moshe Synagogue built in 1927, the museum memorializes the time when Shanghai gave refuge to those who escaped Nazi Germany.
Exhibits include many cultural relics, scrolls and photographs of Jewish life in Shanghai at the time. It contains a name database through which you can search Jewish refugees who lived in Shanghai.
Address: 62 Changyang Rd, Hongkou District
Opening hours: 9am-5pm
Insect Museum
The museum contains more than a million specimens of insects from around the world. The museum was founded in 1868 and was once known as the British Museum in Asia. The highlight is the electric blue Morpho Helena from South America, dubbed "the world's most beautiful butterfly."
Address: 300 Fenglin Rd, Xuhui District
Opening hours: 9am-4:30pm
Typewriter Museum
The museum exhibits 50 typewriters, arranged chronologically, the oldest made in 1809. They are dedicated to owner Lu Hanbin's decades-long collection, a Chinese businessman who lives in the Czech Republic.
Address: 248 Wuxing Rd, Xuhui District
Opening hours: 10am-10pm daily
Glass Museum
A former glass furnace workshop, the museum displays the making of glass and artistic glass pieces from China and overseas. A hot glass performance is given Tuesday through Friday at 2:30.
Address: Bldg 8, 685 Changjiang Rd W., Baoshan District
Opening hours: 9:30am-4:30pm, closed on Mondays
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