The Shanghai Museum is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year with a monumental exhibition. Sixty outstanding works from the four most important collections of Chinese art in the US have now travelled to Shanghai. And they're drawing thousands of visitors every day.
The exhibition gathers masterpieces from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. Each collection is an invaluable piece of Chinese art history.
That shows too. The exhibit has drawn some 8000 visitors daily since its public opening on November 1st. And its stirred a bit of an unusual response too - some visitors even donned traditional Chinese robes.
"All of these collections are from the United States. It's a rare chance to see them because it's impossible for me to fly to America. It's also a good chance for me to learn more because there are so many collections from different museums."
The curator of the Shanghai Museum says the huge popularity of the exhibition reflects a passion for traditional culture.
Chen Xiejun, curator of the Shanghai Museum, said, "Such popularity is a reflection of people's need for culture and art. There are so many people queuing up for the exhibition. This means that apart from the economy and politics, culture is also necessary for social development."
The exhibition runs until January 3rd next year.
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