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See a historical table of the Chinese Dynasties.

Founded in 1952, the Shanghai Museum was first located at No. 325 Nanjing Road West, once the Shanghai Racing Club. In 1959 it was moved to No. 16 Henan Road South, the art-deco Zhonghui Building. Under the directorship of Ma Chengyuan, the construction of a new museum building was begun in People's Square in 1992.

Opened on October 12, 1996, the Shanghai Museum is an ultra-modern repository for 5,000 years of history and tradition; its striking design by Xing Tonghe invokes the shape of a bronze ding tripod. The Museum's bronze, ceramic, painting and calligraphy collections are among the finest in the world, and the range of its collections displayed in 14 state-of-the-art galleries is unparalleled.

Committed to bringing significant international exhibitions to a broader Chinese audience, the Shanghai Museum also has the most active worldwide loan program of any museum in China. Its curators and research specialists are the leading authorities in their fields. The Museum has world-class programs in archaeology, publishing, museum education and international scholarship. It houses the Min Chiu Research Library, the B.Y. Lam Research Room for the restoration of paintings and calligraphy, and the Laboratory for Scientific Conservation of Cultural Relics, founded in the 1960's.