Shanghai Museum

Shanghai Museum is located on People's Square, the site of a former horse-racing track. Designed in the shape of an ancient bronze cooking vessel called a ding, the museum showcases antiquities from every era of Chinese history, including handsome carved-wood furniture, calligraphy, paintings (mostly classical-style landscapes), and ancient coins. The museum’s collection is enormous; of particular interest is the Chinese Minority Nationalities gallery, with displays of the colorful traditional clothing of several of China’s ethnic groups, including those of the Miao and Yi peoples.