Songjiang Museum

Songjiang Museum

Songjiang Museum serves as a base for patriotic education.

Songjiang Museum is a comprehensive local museum, initially established on January 24, 1915, originally named the Songjiang County Educational Library Museum. It was destroyed in the fires of the Japanese invasion in 1937. At the end of 1957, the preparatory office for the Songjiang County Museum was set up. In 1981, a new museum building was constructed at No. 233 Zhongshan East Road. It was completed in February 1984, with a construction area of over 1,800 square meters, and opened to the public on October 1. In December 2003, the exhibition hall underwent renovation and expansion, increasing its area to 1,200 square meters, and reopened in mid-November 2004.

Songjiang Museum focuses on collecting, preserving, researching, exhibiting, and promoting the historical culture and cultural relics of the Songjiang region. Its collections include pottery, porcelain, jade, gold and silverware, bronze ware, wooden artifacts, and more, totaling over 5,000 pieces. There are also over 2,000 sets of ancient books, some of which are rare and finely printed editions.

Songjiang became a county in the Tang Dynasty and was elevated to a prefecture in the Yuan Dynasty. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Songjiang Prefecture led the nation in economic and cultural development. In ancient times, Songjiang was the center of the national cotton textile industry, known as the “Cloth Supplier to the World,” and enjoyed the reputation of “Half of the Nation’s Taxes from Suzhou and Songjiang.” The region was rich in cultural talent, with the “Songjiang Painting School,” “Songjiang Calligraphy School,” and “Songjiang Poetry School” of the Ming Dynasty being renowned nationwide. The museum’s permanent exhibition, “Treasures Buried in the Flowing Sands,” showcases historical relics unearthed in the Songjiang region to date, including precious artifacts from the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties excavated from the underground chambers of the Xilin Pagoda and the Square Pagoda.

The museum also houses the “Oldest and Most Complete” “Songjiang Jiujuzhang Stele” and its stele pavilion, as well as unique items such as the “Stone Carving of Zhao Mengfu’s Self-Portrait,” “Stone Stelae of the Three Literary Masters’ Heart Sutras,” imperial stelae from Emperor Kangxi, and calligraphic art stelae and corridors created by master calligraphers such as Dong Qichang and Zhao Mengfu. Visiting Songjiang Museum allows visitors to trace the historical roots of Shanghai, an international metropolis, and witness the prosperity and splendor of ancient Shanghai.

Location: No. 233 Zhongshan East Road, Songjiang District, Shanghai

Transportation: Take bus routes 11, 17, 22, 26, 4, or 7 within Songjiang District, Shanghai, and get off at Fangta Park Station.

Further Reading:

· National Second-Class Museum of China