SHANGHAI, CHINA: Shanghai Municipal History Museum

 

• Address:  Lujiazui Lu 2, Shanghai
• Location:  Oriental Pearl TV Tower basement, Pudong
• Phone:  021/5879-3003
• Price:  Admission ¥35 ($5/£2.50)

NEW YORK TIMES:

You can judge how much or little the neighborhood might have changed over the ages at this museum in Pudong’s Oriental Pearl TV Tower. Dioramas of a 19th-century cotton-making shop, a pharmacy and other establishments have life-size wax models, and videos show Shanghai’s former racetrack and a Chinese neighborhood in the 1930s. Editorializing is light — aside from the hallway entitled “The Metropolis Infested With Foreign Adventurers,” a reference to almost 100 years of British, American and French control.

FROMMER’S

This excellent museum in the basement of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower in Pudong tells the history of Shanghai with an emphasis on the colonial period between 1860 and 1949. Fascinating exhibits include dioramas of the Huangpu River, the Bund, Nanjing Lu, and foreign concessions, evoking the colorful street life and lost trades of the 19th and early 20th centuries; dozens of models of Shanghai's classic avenues and famous buildings; and a vehicle collection with trolley cars (the city line opened in 1908), 1920s sedans, and a U.S. jeep (popular after World War II) among others. Other intriguing bits include a gorgeously ornate wedding palanquin, boulders marking the concessions' boundaries, and visiting chits used in brothels. The museum takes about an hour to tour. Tickets are purchased at the Oriental Pearl TV Tower gate. Audio headsets (¥30/$4.30/£2.15) can enhance your visit but are not crucial, as displays are well annotated in English and Chinese.