In spite of Shanghai’s money-grubbing reputation, it has a vibrant artistic side, says Brent Hannon who visits six of its museums and even picks up a charming papercut.
Nothing flies like a good cliché, and China, like most places, is full of them. One of the most common clichés is that Beijing is a city of art and culture, while Shanghai is only about money. There is some truth to this; Shanghai is a commercial city, and proud of it. But Shanghai has culture as well as cash, and its cultural assets include a clutch of excellent museums. Most of these are in People’s Park, where three fine museums lie within walking distance of one another, and a fourth, the Shanghai Museum of Natural History, is also not far away. Granted, People’s Park is not exactly the Forbidden City. It used to be a horseracing track, where swells bet on ponies in the Shanghai Race Club building. That regal structure is now the Shanghai Art Museum, and nearby are the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) and the Shanghai Museum, one of the top Chinese art collections in existence (the best is in Taipei). The Shanghai Museum of Arts and Crafts is also not far away, in the former French Concession, while the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum is across the river in Pudong. And despite Shanghai’s money-grubbing reputation, the fees are very reasonable: a visit to all six museums costs just CNY136 (US$17).