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{{Short description|Museum in the Huangpu District of Shanghai, China}}
{{Infobox museum
| name            = Shanghai Museum
| native_name     = 上海博物馆
| native_name_lang = zh
| image           = Shanghai Museum exterior 1.jpg
| imagesize       = 300px
| map_type        = Shanghai
| map_size        = 250
| map_caption     = Location within [[Shanghai]]
| coordinates     = {{coord|31.230278|121.470556|display=inline}}
| established     = 1952<ref name="history">[http://www.shanghaimuseum.net/en/history/history.html Shanghai Museum]</ref><ref name="museum">[http://www.shanghaimuseum.org/shanghaimuseum.htm American Friends of the Shanghai Museum]</ref>
| location        = 201 Renmin Avenue, [[People's Square]], [[Shanghai]], 200003<ref>[http://www.shanghaimuseum.net/en/vistors/vistors-2.html Service Installation – Visitor's Information]</ref>
| visitors        = 2,109,200 (2017)<ref>{{cite news |last1=Xu Yicheng |last2=Sun Jiayin |url=http://newsxmwb.xinmin.cn/wentihui/wtsh/2018/01/18/31352609.html |title=2017上海博物馆大数据出炉：红色纪念馆参观人数喷涌式增长 |language=zh |publisher=[[Xinmin Evening News]] |date=18 January 2018 |access-date=22 March 2018}}</ref>
| director        = [[Ma Chengyuan]] (1985–1999)
| publictransit   = [[People's Square station (Shanghai Metro)|People's Square Station]] on Lines [[Line 1, Shanghai Metro|1]], [[Line 2, Shanghai Metro|2]], and [[Line 8, Shanghai Metro|8]] ([[Shanghai Metro]])
| website         = {{URL|https://www.shanghaimuseum.net|shanghaimuseum.net}}
}}
{{infobox Chinese
| t = 上海博物館
| s = 上海博物馆
| order = st
| p = Shànghǎi Bówùguǎn
| lmz = Zånhae Bomahgue
| y = Seuhnghói Bokmahtgún
}}

The '''Shanghai Museum''' is a municipal public [[museum]] of ancient [[Chinese art]], situated on the [[People's Square]] in the [[Huangpu District, Shanghai|Huangpu District]] of [[Shanghai]], China. It is funded by the [https://english.shanghai.gov.cn/ Shanghai Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau].

Rebuilt at its current location in 1996, it is famous for its large collection of rare cultural pieces.

==History==
[[File:Shanghai Museum exterior 5.jpg|thumb|left|180px|Exterior of Shanghai Museum]]
The museum was founded in 1952 and was first open to the public in the former Shanghai Racecourse club house, now at 325 West [[Nanjing Road]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.shanghaimuseum.net/en/history/history.jsp|title = 上海博物馆}}</ref> The founding collections came principally from three sources: a batch of artifacts gathered by the Communist 3rd Field Army during the civil war from accidental finds and confiscations of private property and brought to Shanghai upon the Communists' conquest of the city; artifacts confiscated by the customs service; items sold by private collectors due to political pressure during political purges and purchased by the government. The former Shanghai Municipal Museum was also merged into the new Shanghai Museum.

In the next few years, the museum's collections were further enriched from other private and institutional collections in Shanghai, including the collection of the former Shanghai Museum of the [[Royal Asiatic Society]], which were moved to the museum as "foreign" institutions gradually left the city in the 1950s. In 1959 the museum moved into the Zhonghui Building at 16 South Henan Road, which housed insurance companies and bank offices.<ref name="history"/><ref name="museum"/> During the metal-gathering campaign of the [[Great Leap Forward]], the Shanghai Museum participated in rescuing bronzeware from metal that had been confiscated or donated and were sent to be melted down. Before the [[Cultural Revolution]], a tradition formed whereby Shanghai's wealthy collectors would make annual donations to the museum.

The museum's work largely halted as a result of the Cultural Revolution. After the end of the revolution, as one of China's most important museums, the collections have continued to be enriched with the fruit of donations, government purchases, and important finds from archaeological excavations.

The growth of its collections put enormous pressure on the cramped premises. For his role in ensuring a large, purpose-built home, it is said that Shanghai Museum owes much of its current existence to [[Ma Chengyuan]], its director from 1985 until his retirement in 1999. When a new museum was omitted from Shanghai's five-year reconstruction plan in 1992, Ma lobbied Mayor [[Huang Ju]] for its rebuilding. After seeing the dilapidated rooms of the Zhonghui Building, Huang agreed to allocate a prime site on the [[People's Square]], but the museum had to raise its own building funds.<ref name="becker">{{cite news |author=Jasper Becker |date=3 January 2001 |title=Ma Chengyuan and the creation of Shanghai Museum |newspaper=South China Morning Post |url=http://gotheborg.com/qa/mrma.shtml |access-date=12 September 2013}}</ref><ref name="nyt">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/15/arts/15ma.html |title=Ma Chengyuan, 77, President of Shanghai Museum, Dies |newspaper=New York Times |date=15 October 2004 |access-date=9 September 2013}}</ref> Ma raised US$25 million by leasing the old building to a Hong Kong developer. He also made many trips abroad to solicit donations, mainly from the Shanghai diaspora who had fled to Hong Kong after the Communist revolution, raising another $10 million. The money still ran short, but he eventually won another 140 million yuan from the city government to complete the building.<ref name="becker"/>

Construction of the current building started in August 1993. It was inaugurated on October 12, 1996<ref name="history"/> to wide acclaim.<ref name="nyt"/> It is 29.5 meters high with five floors, covering a total area of 39,200 m<sup>2</sup>.<ref name="history"/>

Designed by local architect Xing Tonghe,<ref name="museum"/> the building is designed in the shape of an ancient bronze cooking vessel called a ''[[ding (vessel)|ding]]''. It is said that the inspiration for the design was specifically provided by the [[Da Ke ding]], now on exhibit in the museum. The building has a round top and a square base, symbolizing the ancient Chinese perception of the world as "round sky, square earth" ({{zh|c=天圆地方|links=no}}<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Zhongshu|first=Zhao|date=1992-01-01|title=Round Sky and Square Earth (Tian Yuan Di Fang): Ancient Chinese Geographical Thought and its Influence|jstor=41145346|journal=GeoJournal|volume=26|issue=2|pages=149–152}}</ref>).

==Collections==
[[Image:carved table at shanghai museum.jpg|thumb|200px|Carved lacquer furniture]]
The museum has a collection of over 120,000 pieces, including [[bronze]], [[ceramic]]s, [[calligraphy]], [[furniture]], [[jade]]s, ancient [[coin]]s, [[painting]]s, [[Seal (emblem)|seals]], [[sculpture]]s, minority art and foreign art. 
The Shanghai Museum houses several items of national importance, including one of three extant specimens of a "transparent" bronze mirror from the [[Han dynasty]].

===Galleries===
It has eleven galleries and three special temporary exhibition halls. The permanent galleries are:<ref>[http://www.shanghaimuseum.net/en/display/display-1.html Shanghai Museum]</ref>
* Gallery of Ancient [[Chinese bronzes|Chinese Bronze]]
* Gallery of Ancient Chinese [[Sculpture]]
* Gallery of Ancient [[Chinese ceramics|Chinese Ceramics]]
* Gallery of Ancient Chinese [[Jade]]s
* Gallery of Ancient [[Chinese painting|Chinese Paintings]]
* Gallery of Ancient [[Chinese calligraphy|Chinese Calligraphy]]
* Gallery of Ancient [[Chinese seal|Chinese Seals]]
* Gallery of Ancient Chinese [[Numismatics]]
* Gallery of [[Chinese furniture]] in [[Ming dynasty|Ming]] and [[Qing dynasty|Qing]] dynasties
* Gallery of Arts and Crafts by [[Chinese Minorities]]

<gallery mode="packed" heights="160px">
File:You with zigzag thunder pattern.jpg|[[You (vessel)|You]] with zigzag thunder pattern, early [[Zhou dynasty]]
File:上海博物馆藏汝窑青瓷.JPG|[[Ru ware]] porcelain wares from the [[Northern Song dynasty]]
File:上海博物馆藏明式家具.JPG|Ming dynasty style furniture and room arrangement
File:Tibetalian's mask.JPG|Colour lacquered ''Tiaoshen'' ({{lang|zh|跳神}}) Mask of Tibetan ethnicity
File:Westerner on a camel.jpg|[[Sogdia]]n on a camel, in ''[[Sancai]]'' style, [[Tang dynasty]]
File:Da Ke ding.jpg|[[Da Ke ding]], from late [[Western Zhou]]
File:Hunyuan Xizun.jpg|Xi [[Zun]] ({{lang|zh|牺尊}}), from the late [[Spring and Autumn period]]
File:Jinhousu Bianzhong.JPG|[[Bianzhong]] of Marquis Su of Jin, from Western Zhou
File:Round fan with grass style writting by Zhao Ji.jpg|Calligraphy on a round fan by [[Emperor Huizong of Song]]
</gallery>

===Numismatic Collections===
The museum has an important collection of ancient coins from the Silk Road, donated since 1991 by Linda and Roger Doo. The collection contains 1783 pieces from the Greeks to the Mongol Empire.<ref>Chen, Doo, and Wang, 2006</ref>

==Selected publications==
[[File:Lion sculpture, Shanghai Museum, China, 2013.jpg|thumb|Lion sculpture, Shanghai Museum, China, 2013.]]
*''Ancient Chinese Ceramic Gallery The Shanghai Museum''. Shanghai: Shanghai Classics Publishing House, 1996. (English & Mandarin Chinese edition.) {{ISBN|7-5325-1721-7}}

==See also==

* [[List of museums in China]]
* [[Shanghai History Museum|Shanghai history museums]]
* [[Shanghai Museum East]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}

== Bibliography ==
Chen Xiejan, Doo R, Wang Yue (2006) Shanghai Museum's Collection of Ancient Coins from the Silk Road

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.shanghaimuseum.net/cn/index.jsp Shanghai Museum]
* [http://www.chinamuseums.com China Museums]
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100510055341/http://www.chinapicturespub.com/municipality/shanghai-china/shanghai-museum-travel.html Shanghai Museum Pictures]}}
{{Huangpu District, Shanghai}}
{{Museums in Shanghai}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Shanghai Museum]]
[[Category:1952 establishments in Shanghai]]
[[Category:Museums established in 1952]]
[[Category:Museums in Shanghai]]
[[Category:Huangpu District, Shanghai]]
[[Category:National first-grade museums of China]]
[[Category:Chinese numismatics]]