Shanghai History Museum

Race Horse Club, Shanghai, Shanghai History Museum

Historische Abbildung des Race Horse Clubs mit Zuschauertribünen, die heutzutage nicht mehr vorhanden sind.

In the middle of the city, not far from People's Square, is the building of the former Race Horse Club, which was built by the British in 1933. Right next door is People's Park, the club's former racecourse. The oval shape of the park still reveals the former layout of the racetrack. The club's bell tower was a landmark of Shanghai that was visible from afar; today it disappears between the many high-rise buildings. The Shanghai History Museum has been housed in the clubhouse since 2018. It is worth seeing, especially the roof terrace with the restaurant and a rather spectacular panoramic view of Shanghai's center should not be missed.

On the roof terrace of the building with the bell tower

View from the roof terrace over the northern corner of the park towards Nanjing Road, the Radisson Blue Hotel with the UFO-like structure. On the right half of the picture you can see the Shinzo International Plaza with the two peaks. The dark brick building on the left half of the picture is the Park Hotel, an Art Deco building, and to the left of it you can see the rather small white tower of the Grand Theater, a time-honored cinema, also in the Art Deco style

You can sit outside on the roof terrace, right next to the clock tower, whose beat sounds on the hour and sounds kind of British and a bit weird with its half-tones. The roof terrace used to be a very exclusive place that was only accessible to horse owners or club members, but that changed with the proclamation of the People's Republic.

With its dignified materials and classical architecture, the building exudes the aesthetics of the colonial era, even if China was not an official colony. Since the former clubhouse is located directly on the park, it also has a beautiful setting.

Staircase; Shanghai History Museum

Staircase; Shanghai History Museum

View into the stairwell of the former Race Horse Club

6000 years of history are shown. The development is presented chronologically, the exhibits are presented aesthetically so that the character of the building is taken up, e.g. by adapting showcases etc. in terms of material and shape. Sometimes it looks like a British club. In terms of content, the focus is primarily on the last 500 years, the encounter between Europe and China from the beginning of the modern era, the opium war with its consequences, the time of concessions, in which the city became a center of the mixture of Far Eastern and European culture it was associated with Shanghai, the Sino-Japanese War and the Communist Party - rather less today, but until well after the Second World War. There is much that is on offer so one visit is not enough to capture it all. I particularly liked the section on the encounter between Europe and China, as it deals with some aspects of China that are generally unknown in Europe, but which are fascinating. Marco Polo's earlier descriptions have long been dismissed as implausible because they sounded too magical, but when Europeans began to conquer the world by sea, they came across this culture. This encounter between East and West is worth a blog post of its own. So here are just a few pictures.

Rickshaw, Shanghai History Museum

Qipao, Cheongsam, Shanghai History Museum

Harbor Scene, Shanghai Histroy Museum

Canon from Opium War, Shanghai History Museum

Eine chinesische Bronzekanone aus dem Opiumkrieg, die 1984 gefunden wurde. Auf ihr ist eingraviert: "Chen Huacheng, Zhengyuan General und Generalgouverneur von Jiangnan". Chen Huacheng kämpfte im Opiumkrieg gegen die Briten in Wusongkou, dort wo der Huangpu in den Yangtse mündet.

Newspaperstreet Wangping Road, Shanghai History Museum

Newspapers in Shanghai: Here you can see the workplace of a typesetter. In the background, a window overlooks Wangping Road, today's Shandong Road, which leads from Fuzhou Road to East Nanjing Road. Within a century, dozens of newspapers were founded at just 200 meters. This street was once the center of dissemination of information and public opinion in China

Office of an editor, Zeitungsstraße, Newspaperstreet Wangping Road, Shanghai History Museum