Travel Notes Shanghai Science and Technology Museum: a science classroom on Century Avenue
A science hall facing the future
The museum stands at 2000 Century Avenue in Pudong, completing a trio with the Shanghai Museum and the Shanghai Library. It covers 68,000 square metres of ground with 98,000 square metres of floor space, and opened on 18 December 2001. The main building rises to about forty metres under a round-sky, square-earth scheme: a solid block to the west, a sphere to the east, joined by a glass link, with a broad plaza in front of the door.
Six years from approval to opening
The idea dates from the 1990s. The city government approved the project in 1995, chose a site in the Huamu administrative and cultural district, and gave the design to an American practice working with the Shanghai Institute of Modern Architectural Design. Construction began around 1998 and the first phase opened in December 2001; more than two million people came in the first year. The building has kept growing: a gallery called Light of Exploration arrived in 2009, the museum became the first science venue in China rated a top-grade tourist attraction in 2012, and Robot World and Home Planet were rebuilt in 2023.
How the thirteen galleries are laid out
Thirteen permanent galleries and two temporary halls fall into three groups. The ground floor leans to nature and life, with biodiversity, the animal hall and the crust. The upper floor is about people and machines, with the information age, Robot World and Light of Exploration. Below ground sit the children’s science garden and the cinemas. Seeing everything takes four to five hours; with children, pick two floors and take them slowly.
The exhibits worth queueing for
On the ground floor, the animal hall lays out an African savannah and a rainforest with specimens and dioramas, and it takes the longest to walk. Upstairs, Robot World has machines that shoot baskets, solve a cube and hold a conversation, while Light of Exploration stages high-voltage discharge shows. The four-dimensional and dome cinemas below ground cost extra, twenty to thirty yuan a show, and queues form half an hour ahead.
Bringing children: what to know
Strollers are allowed and can be borrowed at the entrance; every floor has lifts and a baby-care room. The basement restaurant is pricey, so many people cross to the mall opposite for lunch. Weekdays are about half as busy as weekends: start with the ground floor at nine, then move upstairs after noon when crowds build, which is the least tiring order.
Getting there and when to go
Metro Line 2 stops at Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, exit 7; Line 18’s Yingchun Road station is about 800 metres on foot. Buses 640, 794, 983 and Pudong 35 stop at Century Avenue and Dingxiang Road. There is an underground car park with about 500 spaces at eight yuan an hour. Avoid the Monday closure and weekends during school holidays.
The museum has always had one clear purpose: give children somewhere to touch things. Forty-five yuan and a whole day buy curiosity taken floor by floor, and that is what separates it from an ordinary museum.
Practical information
- Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 9:00-17:00, last entry 16:00; closed Mondays except public holidays.
- Tickets: 45 yuan adult, 22 yuan student, 25 yuan for visitors aged 60-69; free for over 70s, children under 1.3 m, serving soldiers and visitors with disabilities. IMAX and dome shows 30 yuan, 4D and space cinema 20 yuan.
- Getting there: Metro Line 2 to Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, exit 7; Line 18 to Yingchun Road, 800 metres on foot; buses 640, 794, 983 and Pudong 35.
- Parking: about 500 spaces underground, 8 yuan an hour.
- Tip: allow four to five hours with children; do the ground floor first and avoid weekends and holidays.
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