Shanghai University of International Business and Economics Museum

About This Place

As China’s first specialist museum dedicated to the history of China’s foreign economic relations and trade, the museum’s permanent exhibition is themed “Trading what is in surplus and lacking, connecting and progressing together”. It is divided into five sections: “Routes to All Nations”, “A Century of Change”, “Breaking the Ice”, “Great Transformation” and “Towards Rejuvenation”. The exhibition features more than 180 historical images and over 1,000 historical documents, cultural relics and sets of objects from different periods. Highlights include a wide range of finely crafted export porcelain, ancient coins from countries along the Silk Road, and classic items related to the foreign trade of New China. The museum presents the changes and continuities in China’s foreign economic and trade history since Zhang Qian opened the route to the Western Regions in the Han dynasty, covering ancient prosperity, modern upheavals, the breakthrough and transformation after the founding of New China, and the journey in the new era under the leadership of the Party and the people towards the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. It helps teachers, students and visitors reflect on the historical lesson that openness brings prosperity, while isolation leads to decline.