Shikumen Open House Museum

The Shikumen Open House Museum (屋里厢石库门民居陈列馆, Wūlixiāng Shíkùmén Mínjū Chénlièguǎn) is a small museum in a furnished shikumen house on the south side of the North Block of Xintiandi, on Xingye Road. Go for twenty minutes to see how a Shanghai household lived in the 1920s and 1930s, inside the kind of lane house that Xintiandi’s shops and restaurants now surround. No official hours page was reached when this entry was written, and listings disagree on both opening times and ticket price, so check ahead.

English Wikipedia describes about five rooms with period furniture, presenting everyday Shanghai life of that era. The number of rooms varies by account, so treat it as approximate. The main interest is the arrangement of the house itself, a layout common in the city’s shikumen (石库门, stone-gate) lanes, more than any single object.

One room worth finding is the tingzijian (亭子间), a small triangular room. According to English Wikipedia, such rooms were sometimes rented at a low price to impoverished writers and others. It is a useful detail for understanding who lived in these houses and how one building could hold several households.

The setting is part of the story. Xintiandi was made by redeveloping shikumen blocks in the former French Concession. English Wikipedia says Shui On Group acquired 23 blocks in 1996 and that the redevelopment was completed in 2001. Much of what you see around the museum is therefore restoration and conversion rather than ordinary lane life, which makes the furnished interior a useful counterpoint.

The nearest stations are South Huangpi Road on Line 1 to the north and Xintiandi on Line 10 to the south, according to English Wikipedia. The map pin comes from Wikidata and is only approximate, so look for the museum on the Xingye Road side of the North Block. Show the Chinese address on this page to a taxi driver.