Shanghai Museum East Photo: Couresy of Shanghai Museum

The fully completed Shanghai Museum East, a branch of the Shanghai Museum, officially opened to the public on Tuesday during the just commenced 2024 M20+ International Museum Conference. 

About 100 representatives from renowned museums worldwide have gathered in the city for the event to discuss the opportunities and challenges museums face in the current evolving era.

Under the theme "Evolve and Everlast," the two-day conference will feature keynote speeches and panel discussions from representatives of renowned museums such as the Palace Museum, Guimet French National Museum of Asian Arts in France, National Museum of Asian Art in the US and the National Gallery in the UK. 

They will discuss topics such as "Heritage preservation and reinterpretation" and "Bridging the Worlds: Global Reach and Local Roots," according to a press release from the museum on Tuesday.

Chu Xiaobo, director of the Shanghai Museum, told the Global Times that museums have increasingly become a "spiritual homeland" for the Chinese public. 

Noting the rising trend of "visiting a city for a museum," he highlighted that Chinese museums received nearly 1.3 billion visitors in 2023, and in 2024 the Shanghai Museum's old and new branches are expected to receive over 6 million visitors, setting a new record.

Liu Shuguang, chairman of the Chinese Museums Association, said at the opening ceremony that the astonishing "museum boom" in China over the past decade can be partly attributed to exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and international museums. 

He noted that exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and international museums have extended beyond exhibitions to operational management, public services, joint research, and personnel exchange, with significant room for enhancement in institutional cooperation.

Hou Ningbin, director of the Shaanxi History Museum, told the Global Times that museums are crucial venues for preserving and transmitting human civilization, serving as the spiritual home of a country, region, or ethnic group. 

He explained that as the first large-scale modern national museum in China, the Shaanxi History Museum has been committed to the construction of an "audience-friendly" museum. Through customized interpretation services, interactive cultural experiences, exhibition displays, easy-to-access cultural dissemination and dedicated service, the Shaanxi History Museum has strengthened its connection with society and played an important role in reflecting the values of the museum.

The Shanghai Museum houses over 1.02 million artifacts, with nearly 150,000 recognized as valuable cultural relics. These collections encompass a wide range of representative objects that can substantiate the excellence of traditional Chinese culture.

During the event, the Shanghai Museum East announced its official full opening. Construction began in September 2017, and after seven years, the East branch, 113,200 square meters in size, was completed. To enhance interaction with visitors, the Shanghai Museum East will attempt a new "way of operating" by emphasizing all-age, immersive, and interactive exhibition design.