Museums open at night to boost nightlife economy
Visitors pose with a newly unveiled vending machine for innovative products of local museums.
Some 30 popular museums in Shanghai are extending their opening hours at night from this weekend as part of the city's Double Six Nightlife Festival.
The annual "Night at the Museum" event, initiated in 2014 with inspiration from the Hollywood blockbuster, was launched at the Sinan Mansions in downtown Huangpu District on Friday. It will run through to August.
This year's event features special exhibitions, cultural products promotion and discounts to boost consumption and the nightlife economy, according to the museum department of the Shanghai Culture and Tourism Administration.
The Shanghai Museum will extend its operations to 9pm on Friday between June and August. Special exhibitions will be held between 6pm and 9pm for the night opening featuring embroidery paintings from the Ming and Qing dynasties, bronze tripods donated to the museum and local paintings and calligraphies.
The Shanghai History Museum will open till 8pm on June 5 and 18, July 9 and 23, as well as August 13 and 27. Exhibitions will feature cultural relics marking the centennial of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the fashion lifestyles of China women in the last century as well as exhibitions about ancient and modern Shanghai.
Customers shop at stalls set up by museums and cultural companies.
Shanghai World Expo Museum will open through 9:30pm with exhibitions about Ukiyoe, a genre of Japanese art depicting subjects from everyday life which flourished in the 17th-19th centuries, as well as the Pixel World exhibition from the British Library.
Bazaars, lectures and handicraft workshops will be open during the night operation.
As a highlight, the Sinan Museum Night Market is being held over the weekend to mark the beginning of the "Night at the Museum" event.
More than a dozen key museums and cultural landmarks such as the Shanghai Concert Hall set up stalls at the historical mansions to promote their innovative products and host cultural activities and shows.
The three-day event titled "Discovery Museums" features more than 30 popular museums and cultural companies from the Yangtze River Delta region for the first time. Visitors are invited to tour exhibitions, experience heritage skills, buy innovative products and talk with the museums' officials.
It is also part of the "Sinan Yé," or Sinan Night activity, which is open to the public free every Friday, Saturday and Sunday between 1pm and 9pm. Artists, designers, painters, florists, chefs and coffee-making masters are interacting with visitors during the event.
The mansions, the only wholly preserved historical garden villa complex downtown, include more than 50 historic villas in various styles. Many were former residences of celebrities such as poet Liu Yazi (1887-1958) and Peking Opera master Mei Lanfang (1894-1961). Some have been converted into hotels, cafés, restaurants and shops.
Innovative souvenirs from the Shanghai Animation Film Studio.
Cao Jun, the third-generation inheritor of the Keluo Board, a listed painting duplication skill of the city, is showcasing the heritage skill to the public for the first time on the bazaar.
The skill dating back to the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) has been used to duplicate ancient calligraphy and paintings at the museum since 1950s. It involves four processes – photo taking, modification, template making and publication.
Four members of Cao's team are displaying each of the four steps at the mansions to visitors.
"The traditional skills are key to the protection and salvage of cultural relics," Cao said.
He acquired the skills from his master the second generation inheritor in 1987. He now has apprentices at the museum to promote the heritage skills, Cao said.
The 238-year-old Tonghanchun TCM pharmacy displays its traditional TCM drink at the bazaar, while the Shanghai Guanzhi Mineral Fossil Museum exhibits several fish fossils dating back to 150 million years ago. Visitors are allowed to touch or buy the fossils.
Shanghai Auto Museum will present a fashion show along with the exhibition of a historic vehicle transported from the museum in Jiading District to the mansions.
Hundreds of new cultural and innovative products developed by the museums are displayed on sale. A vending machine, the first of its kind to feature multiple products developed by local museums, has been unveiled at the mansions. It is expected to be promoted across the city.
The nightlife bazaar attracts many visitors over the weekend.
Souvenirs from the Shanghai Concert Hall.
