Shanghai Natural History Museum

The Shanghai Natural History Museum is located in Jing’an Sculpture Park. The venue is like a ‘green snail’ with a unique appearance. In the new museum today, tens of thousands of specimen collections are on display, with rich content. In particular, the skeleton of a Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum about 26 meters in length is very eye-catching. The new museum has five floors in total, with two floors above ground and three floors underground. Usually, the tour starts from the second floor above ground and goes down in turn. The whole journey takes about half a day to a day. Please allocate your physical strength. The exhibitions on the second underground floor are rich. There are 10 permanent exhibitions in the museum, divided into three systems: natural evolution, life environment, and human civilization. The ‘Mystery of Origins’ exhibition hall on the second floor takes the course of human exploration of the universe as the main line and displays astronomical telescope models from ancient times to the present, as well as pictures and texts about astronomical knowledge. In the theater in a corner of the exhibition hall, you can also watch a 3D short film about meteorites. The ‘Long River of Life’ exhibition hall on the first floor displays a large number of animal specimens such as snakes, monkeys, and peacocks in categories. The huge Mamenchisaurus model rumbles and twists its neck, which is extremely realistic. You can experience the natural exhibition area and observe live animals such as butterflies, chameleons, and jellyfish up close through transparent exhibition cases. When you go to the seawater touch pool, you can also touch marine organisms such as starfish, sea cucumbers, and sea anemones by hand. It is a very rare experience. The ‘Way of Evolution’ (on the first underground floor) presents the entire context from the Cambrian explosion of life to the appearance of humans with a wide variety of animal skeletons and fossils. Here, you can not only see a wide variety of dinosaur fossils. When you open the museum’s official ‘augmented reality’ APP and aim at the skeleton of Lufengosaurus according to the prompts, two 3D Lufengosaurus, one large and one small, will run towards you on the screen. It seems that they want to jump out of the screen and say hello to you. It is very cute. Friends who like dinosaurs must not miss it. The second underground floor is the floor with relatively rich content in the entire museum, including five themes such as survival wisdom, exploration of the earth, and colorful life. If you look carefully at this floor, it will take a lot of time and physical strength. It is recommended to select the wonderful parts and focus on visiting. In the ‘Ecological Vistas’ area, animal specimens and model props are used to restore the ecological scene of the African savannah at a 1:1 ratio. On the vast African savannah, giraffes and hippos are strolling leisurely, gazelles are escaping pursuit, and a group of lions are enjoying sunbathing. It has a bit of the flavor of watching ‘Animal World’. In the ‘Colorful Life’ exhibition area, the ‘butterfly wing painting’ made of 1,200 butterfly wings always attracts tourists to take pictures. The exploration center is deeply loved by children and can experience the sense of accomplishment of digging fossils by hand. Friends traveling with children should not miss it (advance reservation on site is required).
After your visit, consider stopping by the souvenir shop to find some delightful mementos such as Arctic fox plush toys, mugs with elephant head handles, and amber containing complete insects, all with very charming designs. Although these toys are mostly priced above 100 yuan, they are considered worth the cost. There is a restaurant located on the right side of the second floor’s ‘Origin of Life’ exhibit, and a small café on the underground second floor. When you’re tired from walking, you can stop for a bite to eat, as the prices for food and beverages are quite reasonable. The museum is open year-round from Tuesday to Sunday, from 09:00 to 17:00; it is closed all day on Mondays from January 1st to December 31st. On New Year’s Day, Spring Festival, Qingming Festival, Labor Day, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and National Day, it is open from 09:00 to 17:00. Concessions are offered to children under 1.3 meters (inclusive) or under six years old (inclusive), and to seniors aged 70 and above with a senior citizen card or ID card. Seniors aged 60 to 69 (inclusive) can purchase discounted tickets. Discounts are also available for other eligible groups such as disabled people, retired military officers, martyrs’ families, and national comprehensive fire and rescue personnel. Students over 1.3 meters tall and full-time university undergraduates and below can enjoy discounted tickets upon presenting their student IDs at the ticket check. Military personnel in active service can enter for free by showing their service IDs. New free admission groups include families of military personnel who died in the line of duty and those who died of illness, as well as active, retired, and disabled fire and rescue personnel (including government-employed firefighters) and students from fire and rescue academies, who must present valid identification for ticket verification. New discounted groups include families of active military personnel (including spouses, underage children, adult children unable to live independently, and parents/guardians), who must carry relevant identification for ticket verification to enjoy ticket discounts. Please note that all preferential policies are subject to the specific announcements of the museum, and eligible individuals must present valid identification upon entering. Service facilities include luggage storage for large items, free stroller rental, and free wheelchair rental.

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