With a history of over 4,000 years, Liangzhu culture is known as the dawn of Chinese civilization. If you want to learn more about this ancient culture, the Minhang Museum – located in Shanghai's Minhang district – is a good place to start.

The museum displays over 150 relics from the Maqiao Cultural Site, which was an ancient village from the Neolithic period over 4,000 years ago.

Besides the Liangzhu artifacts discovered in the district, the museum also has other permanent exhibitions on Shanghai's local culture and Chinese traditional instruments.

Minhang Museum. [Photo/whlyj.sh.gov.cn]

🧭700 Years of Shanghai County

The six sections in the 700 Years of Shanghai County exhibition feature over 300 relics from different historical periods. The ancient pottery vessels, clothes from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and daily articles from the Republic of China period (1912-1949) showcase Shanghai's unique history. Several historical scenes have been created in the museum's exhibition hall, making the visitors feel like they are traveling back in time.

🎵Gallery of Traditional Chinese Instruments

This exhibition displays over 200 traditional instruments that not only can produce beautiful sound, but are also pieces of art. In the percussion instruments section, an instrument called yunluo has 37 gongs surrounded by four tangled golden dragons. The wind instruments section features many elegantly-shaped musical relics, such as bone flute, xun, xiao, and sheng. The plucked instruments and stringed instruments in this exhibition are also extremely eye-catching, attracting many visitors.

A delicate pipa (a pear-shaped stringed instrument from China) displayed in the Minhang Museum. [Photo/mhmuseumwechat.shmh.gov.cn]

✨Maqiao Cultural Site

The Maqiao Cultural Site Exhibition is the smallest among the museum's three exhibitions. Ancient relics in this area include exquisitely carved pottery. Some of the relics on display here are influenced by other ancient cultures, showing proof of cultural exchanges. The exhibits also include various tools that were used to advance this ancient culture.

Besides these three permanent exhibitions, the Minhang Museum also holds special exhibitions regularly.

Address: No 1538 Xinzhen Road, Minhang district

Open: 9: 30 am-4: 30 pm (Last entry at 4 pm); Closed on Mondays (except on public holidays)

Sources: minhangmuseum.shmh.gov.cn, whlyj.sh.gov.cn, "shmhqbwg" WeChat account