Shanghai · history museum
Shanghai History Museum (上海历史博物馆, Shànghǎi Lìshǐ Bówùguǎn)
The Shanghai History Museum occupies a large underground space beneath the Oriental Pearl Tower in Pudong — an ironic location for a museum that celebrates old Shanghai, but a convenient one for visitors already at Lujiazui. The collection traces Shanghai from its origins as a Tang Dynasty fishing village (沪渎, Hudu) through its rise as a treaty port (1843-1943) and its peak as Asia's most cosmopolitan city in the 1920s-1930s. The museum's strength is social history rather than ancient artifacts — reconstructed 1930s shopfronts (a Chinese medicine hall, a barbershop, a silk tailor), vintage black-and-white photographs of the Bund, Shanghai dialect audio recordings, and everyday objects like rickshaw licenses, opium pipes, jazz-age gramophones, and qipao dresses. The gallery on the 1937 Battle of Shanghai and the Japanese occupation is sober and well-documented.
Last updated:
Quick Answer
Is Shanghai History Museum worth visiting?
Shanghai's journey from fishing village to 1930s "Paris of the East" — told through artifacts, photographs, and immersive street scenes. Below the Oriental Pearl Tower. Free.
Quick facts
| Category | history |
|---|---|
| Ticket | Free. Passport required. No advance reservation needed — walk in. As of June 2026, entry is free. |
| Hours | 9:00-17:30 (last entry 17:00). Open daily. |
| Recommended duration | 1.5-2 hours. |
| Best time to visit | Weekday mornings. The museum is inside the Oriental Pearl Tower complex — avoid weekends and Chinese holidays when the area is crowded with tour groups. Tuesday-Thursday, 9:00-11:00 is the quietest window. |
| How to get there | Metro Line 2 to Lujiazui (陆家嘴), Exit 1. Walk toward the Oriental Pearl Tower — the museum entrance is at the base of the tower, underground. Look for the English sign near the Pearl Tower ticket office. Bus routes 81, 82, 85, 314, 583, 774, 795, 798, 799, 870, 939, 961, 971, 985, 992, Lujiazui Financial City routes 1, 2, 3, 4 to Oriental Pearl Tower stop. |
| English signage | yes |
Why visit
This is the best single introduction to Shanghai's urban history before you walk the Bund and the French Concession. The reconstructed 1930s street scene — with a textile shop, a tea house counter, and a barbershop chair — is genuinely immersive and gives you the texture of Old Shanghai that the modern city has largely erased. The museum is compact (90 minutes) and free, making it an easy add-on to a Pudong morning.
Collection highlights
- Reconstructed 1930s Shanghai street — walk-through recreated shopfronts including a Chinese medicine hall (同仁堂), a silk tailor, a barbershop with original chair, and a tea house counter. Audio of street hawkers and rickshaw bells
- The Bund transformation photo series — panoramic photographs showing the Bund in 1850 (muddy riverbank), 1900 (European bank buildings), and 1930 (full Art Deco skyline), an 80-year transformation in three images
- 1937 Battle of Shanghai gallery — photographs, newspaper front pages, and personal objects from the three-month battle that destroyed much of old Shanghai and marked the beginning of full-scale war with Japan
- 1920s-30s jazz age artifacts — original gramophones, dance hall advertisements, and sheet music from Shanghai's golden age of jazz, when the city had more jazz bands than any city east of Suez
- Vintage qipao (旗袍) collection — 1920s-40s qipao dresses showing the evolution from loose Manchu robes to form-fitting 1930s evening dresses
- Old Shanghai maps — Ming and Qing Dynasty maps showing Shanghai as a small walled county seat, contrasted with 1920s concession-era maps showing the international settlement boundaries
Tips
- The museum entrance is easy to miss — it is at the BASE of the Oriental Pearl Tower, below ground level. Do not queue at the tower observation deck ticket counter. Look for the separate museum entrance to the left of the main tower entrance
- I visited in June 2026 and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the 1930s street reconstruction — the barbershop display with an original chair and vintage hair tonic bottles captures a specific slice of Shanghai life that no other museum covers
- The museum is an excellent rainy-day activity — it is entirely underground and well air-conditioned
- Combine with the Oriental Pearl Tower observation deck (¥220, separate ticket) for a full Pudong morning — museum first, then the tower when the morning haze has cleared (best visibility 11:00-14:00)
- Photography is allowed throughout the museum. The reconstructed street scene photographs well in the dim lighting
- The museum shop sells vintage Shanghai poster reproductions (¥25-60) and qipao-themed postcards — better souvenirs than the generic Pearl Tower merchandise upstairs
Frequently asked questions
How is the Shanghai History Museum different from the Shanghai Museum?
They are completely different museums. The Shanghai Museum (上海博物馆) on People's Square is a world-class art museum focusing on ancient Chinese art — bronzes, ceramics, calligraphy, jade, coins. The Shanghai History Museum (上海历史博物馆) beneath the Oriental Pearl Tower is a social history museum covering only Shanghai's urban history, from fishing village to 1930s metropolis, with reconstructed street scenes and everyday objects. If you want ancient Chinese art: Shanghai Museum. If you want the story of Shanghai the city: Shanghai History Museum. They complement each other perfectly.
Where is the Shanghai History Museum entrance?
The museum is located underground at the base of the Oriental Pearl Tower in Pudong's Lujiazui area. The entrance is at ground level, to the left of the main Pearl Tower observation deck entrance. Look for the separate sign reading "上海城市历史发展陈列馆" or "Shanghai History Museum." Metro Line 2 to Lujiazui station, Exit 1, walk toward the Pearl Tower.
How much does the Shanghai History Museum cost?
Free as of June 2026. You do not need an Oriental Pearl Tower ticket to enter the museum — it has a separate entrance. The museum was formerly ticketed at ¥35 but is now free.
Is the Shanghai History Museum suitable for children?
Yes — the reconstructed 1930s street with its shopfronts, wax figures, and audio of street sounds is genuinely engaging for children aged 6 and up. The museum is compact enough to hold younger attention spans. The nearby Pudong Riverside Promenade (2 minutes walk) provides a good post-museum running-around space.
What was Shanghai like in the 1930s?
In the 1930s, Shanghai was the largest, most cosmopolitan city in Asia, known as the "Paris of the East." It was divided into three jurisdictions — the International Settlement (British-American), the French Concession, and the Chinese municipality — creating a semi-colonial patchwork. This unique political arrangement made Shanghai a haven for refugees (White Russians fleeing the Bolsheviks, European Jews fleeing Nazi Germany), entrepreneurs, gangsters, artists, and revolutionaries. The city had Asia's tallest buildings (the Art Deco skyline along the Bund), a thriving jazz scene, a major film industry, and the world's busiest port outside Europe and North America. The museum's 1930s gallery captures the peak of this era.
Can I combine the Shanghai History Museum with other Pudong attractions?
Yes. The museum is at the base of the Oriental Pearl Tower, in the Lujiazui financial district. Combine with: the Oriental Pearl Tower observation deck (separate ticket ¥220), the Shanghai World Financial Center (SWFC, ¥180, taller and better views than the Pearl Tower), the Jin Mao Tower (¥120, fastest elevator in Shanghai), and the Pudong Riverside Promenade (free, best view of the Bund across the river). All are within a 10-minute walk of each other.
Read next
Other things to do in Shanghai
The Bund
1.5 km waterfront promenade facing Pudong's skyscrapers. Best at sunset. Free, 24/7.
Yu Garden
A 2-hectare Ming Dynasty garden hidden inside old Shanghai — 30+ pavilions, rockeries, dragon walls, and koi ponds. Surrounded by the Yu Bazaar market. 1.5 hours. ¥40.
Shanghai Tower
632 meters — the world's third-tallest building with the highest observation deck in the world at 562 meters. 360-degree views from the 118th floor. ¥180.
Zhujiajiao Water Town
A 1,700-year-old canal town 45 minutes from Shanghai — stone bridges, boat rides, and lane food. Free entry (attractions cost extra). Half day.
French Concession
Tree-lined streets, 1920s lane houses, and Shanghai's best cafes and boutiques in the city's most walkable neighborhood. Free. Half day wandering.
Nanjing Road
5.5 km shopping street from the Bund to People's Square. Pedestrianized east section. Free. Best at night with neon lights. Historic Shanghai department stores line the route.
Shanghai Tower
World's 3rd tallest building (632m, 128 floors). Observation deck on 118th floor. Best skyline view in Asia. ¥180. 1–2 hours.
Shanghai French Concession
Shanghai's most atmospheric neighborhood — tree-lined streets, 1920s Art Deco buildings, boutiques, and cafés. Free walking area. Best explored on foot or by bike. Half day.
Shanghai Disneyland
The first Disney park on mainland China, open since June 2016 in Pudong, with the tallest Disney castle anywhere (~60 m) and rides you can't get elsewhere like TRON and the redesigned Pirates. Budget a full 10-12 hours; weekday adult tickets start at ¥475 (as of 2026).
Jade Buddha Temple
A working Buddhist monastery in Shanghai's Putuo District, built 1918-1928 around two white-jade Buddhas a monk carried home from Burma in 1882 — the seated one 1.9 m tall and nearly a tonne. Entry is free, allow 1-2 hours, and the ¥30 vegetarian noodles are the real reason locals keep coming back.
Oriental Pearl TV Tower
A 468-meter TV tower of stacked spheres with a glass-bottom corridor at 259m; budget 2-3 hours and arrive before sunset to catch both day and night views of the Pudong skyline.
Xintiandi
A car-free block of restored 1920s shikumen lane houses turned into Shanghai's priciest cafe-and-bar district. Budget 2-3 hours; entry is free but a coffee costs more than your metro ride there.
Museums in Shanghai
Shanghai Museum
China's premier museum of ancient Chinese art — bronze, ceramics, calligraphy, jade, and numismatics. Free entry at People's Square. The bronze collection is among the finest in the world.
China Art Museum
Modern and contemporary Chinese art in the striking former China Pavilion from Expo 2010. Free entry. Home of the animated digital "Along the River During the Qingming Festival."
Shanghai Science and Technology Museum
A family-oriented science museum with robot musicians, a walk-through animal world, and Shanghai's best hands-on physics exhibits — budget a full afternoon.
Shanghai Natural History Museum
10,000+ specimens in a striking biomimetic building. Dinosaur skeletons, a 140-million-year-old Mamenchisaurus, and immersive ecosystems. ¥30. Shanghai's best family museum.
China Maritime Museum
Maritime Silk Road, Zheng He's treasure ships, and a full-size Ming Dynasty junk replica inside a sail-shaped building near Dishui Lake. China's national maritime museum. ¥50.
Shanghai Propaganda Poster Art Centre
Private collection of Mao-era propaganda posters in a basement gallery. ¥20. One of Shanghai's most distinctive small museums. A window into 20th-century Chinese political art.
Rockbund Art Museum
Contemporary art in a stunning 1933 Art Deco building on the Bund. ¥50. Rotating exhibitions by Chinese and international artists. The building rivals the art.
Long Museum West Bund
Billionaire collector Liu Yiqian's private museum on the West Bund. ¥200. Ancient to contemporary Chinese art in a stunning concrete-and-vaulted industrial building.
Power Station of Art
China's first state-run contemporary art museum, set inside a converted 1897 British-built coal-fired power plant on the Huangpu River — admission is free and 2-3 hours covers the main halls.
Long Museum (Pudong)
Two million RMB and eight years of collecting went into this private art museum in the Pudong riverfront — set aside about 2 hours and arrive before noon.
HOW Art Museum
A private contemporary art museum in Pudong with about 3,000 sqm of exhibition space, walkable in 90 minutes if you skip the gift-shop vortex.
M50 Art District
A converted 1930s wool-spinning mill on Moganshan Road now hosting 130+ artist studios and galleries; plan 2–3 hours for a real walk-through, not a quick photo stop.