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Looking ahead in trip down memory lane
Print Edition
A QUIRKY city museum of everyday objects that admits only 10 visitors a day is seeking a new home.
In the middle of next month, the lease expires on the present home of Shanghai Memories, a private museum in Hongkou District that’s been open for 3 years.
Wang Xiaojia, its 26-year-old owner, told Shanghai Daily this week that she is currently looking for new premises and plans to stay in Hongkou.
The museum is hidden away down an alley on Lintong Road, in a former barracks with 150 square meters of floor space.
Wang is looking for premises twice this size, so that exhibits that are currently in storage can be displayed.
Shanghai Memories’ display of thousands of Shanghai household objects has attracted 10,000 visitors, said Wang.
“About 5 percent of our guests are from overseas, most of them Japanese,” she said.
Wang says the curating effort makes her museum stand out from others crammed with Shanghai yesteryear artefacts.
Clusters of objects from different eras are arranged around furniture from the period and staff dress in classic Shanghai qipao.
“We collect memories and try to make them inspiring,” Wang said.
And the 10-visitors-a-day policy guarantees a personal experience for a trip into Shanghai’s past, she added.
Wang says Shanghai Memories’ appeal to nostalgia often sees visitors share their stories and return with their own objects to add to the collection.
Pieces of paper with the stories of visitors are dotted around the museum.
One is next to a dusty pair of glasses and study materials for national college entrance exams in the late 1970s.
The story comes from a man who took part in the second year of exams in China after the “cultural revolution” (1966-76), had ended, and who became a successful businessman in the United States.
“He was so moved when he saw the exhibits that he shared with us his personal story and keeps coming back for more memories,” Wang said.
While half of the exhibits are from Wang’s extended family, the rest are from old neighborhoods and antique traders or donated by visitors.
“We plan to furnish part of the new museum with furniture from the 1940s recently donated to us by the son of a professor,” she told Shanghai Daily.
Costs are 30,000 yuan (US$4,710) a month, and Wang says her family’s business helps keep the museum alive.
Wang says she is committed to keeping curatorship independent and has never partnered with other institutions.
Shanghai Memories at 110 Lintong Road is open 1-5pm and 7:30-11:30pm from Tuesday to Sunday. Visits must be booked in advance. Call 13611671227.
Admission is 150 yuan (US$23.5), which includes drinks, snacks and hire of classic Shanghai fashion for a selfie.
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