In the open area in the basement of the tower was a sort of mall-like area, with gift shops and snack bars. All around the walls in this space were large screens with images from around the world projected on them. Here are Seth and Gwen at the harbor in Sydney!
The museum itself was billed in my Shanghai For Kids book as having "high quality exhibits that will charm young visitors into learning about the history of Shanghai." All the life-like scenes depicting life in old Shanghai certainly lived up to that claim, even for "young" visitors my age!
Here Caleb is pretending that his thumb is about to be smashed by a blacksmith!
A typical street scene in old Shanghai.
A typical street scene in old Shanghai.
Back at the views from around the world, the kids are at Mt. Fugi!
Display of the evolution of the rick-shaw.
Believe it or not, this was a sedan chair! It has openings in the side for the poles to be placed through to carry the dignitary seated inside. It is amazingly intricate... took 10 years to complete. I'm sorry I can't remember who it was for... but it was for someone's wedding.
There were parts of the museum where we were strolling through little alley ways, over cobbled streets. There would be stone windows to peek through into figures at work inside, or the daily life in a farm house. Here we paused at a bench overlooking a canal.
Display of the evolution of the rick-shaw.
Believe it or not, this was a sedan chair! It has openings in the side for the poles to be placed through to carry the dignitary seated inside. It is amazingly intricate... took 10 years to complete. I'm sorry I can't remember who it was for... but it was for someone's wedding.
There were parts of the museum where we were strolling through little alley ways, over cobbled streets. There would be stone windows to peek through into figures at work inside, or the daily life in a farm house. Here we paused at a bench overlooking a canal.
Here Caleb the Giant stands in the miniature street scene. There were many of these miniature streets, and each little window had different things happening inside... 
This life size wax figure scene depicted a time in Shanghai history, in the early 1900's, when foreigners had quite a foothold in Shanghai, even establishing their own "colonies" within the city. The infiltration was so complete that a courtroom like this, with one Asian judge and one European judge, was quite common. Of course all that ended when Communism took over. All foreigners were forced to leave, and China became a closed country for decades. Now we are moving back the other way.
I wish my pictures did this museum proper justice. It definitely lived up to the description in my book. I'll just say this... if you come visit, we'll take you there. It's only a five minute drive from our place!
This life size wax figure scene depicted a time in Shanghai history, in the early 1900's, when foreigners had quite a foothold in Shanghai, even establishing their own "colonies" within the city. The infiltration was so complete that a courtroom like this, with one Asian judge and one European judge, was quite common. Of course all that ended when Communism took over. All foreigners were forced to leave, and China became a closed country for decades. Now we are moving back the other way.
I wish my pictures did this museum proper justice. It definitely lived up to the description in my book. I'll just say this... if you come visit, we'll take you there. It's only a five minute drive from our place!
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