Museums in life

Museums are no longer the traditional concept of holding tickets to see the cultural relics displayed in cabinets that are high and out of reach.

In Shanghai, going to museums to see solo exhibitions in their spare time on weekends has long become a daily pastime. There are also more and more museums of various forms and themes that are mushrooming in Magic City, covering the aesthetic needs of the public and niche groups. According to incomplete statistics, there are a total of 131 museums in Shanghai. The "International Museum Day" in May every year is also a major event in the city that everyone pays unprecedented attention to.

As an out-and-out "museum enthusiast", visiting museums has long been the norm in my life. The King Kong Museum is the 20th museum/exhibition hall/exhibition hall/memorial hall I visited this year, and it is also one of the exhibition halls that can enter the TOP3 because it greatly subverts our inherent impression of going to museums just to see exhibitions. Although the King Kong Museum is located in the "corner" of Greater Pudong, the wine is still not afraid of the deep alleys and is worth a special visit.

A new style of Jiangnan with a unique world

The plaque of the King Kong Museum is the Thai Club Life. As part of the Thai Club Life Cultural Park, we can feel the depth of the courtyard from the high-walled compound at the entrance. Taihui Life takes leading a Chinese lifestyle and spreading the values of Chinese civilization as its core concepts. It integrates elements such as art exhibitions, tea culture, and ancient architecture to create a Chinese life experience space that integrates tea, Zen, and art.

The King Kong Museum, covering an area of 20000 square meters, is currently the largest private museum in Shanghai. The old factory building has been renovated and has become a unique art palace.

After entering the park, the external buildings are all Huizi-style buildings with white walls and black tiles, and they are still unique in shape. At first glance, they can see ancient and famous trees that have been carefully taken care of by special personnel. This place brings the subtle, elegant, tranquil and natural lifestyle of ancient literati to the public; Presenting a feast of artistic cultivation.

Before we have really entered the indoor display area, the outdoor area has already presented a pleasing view of the Jiangnan waterfront. The Jingang Museum has recovered and restored nearly 500 sets of ancient Huizi-style buildings, 6 of which are now housed in a corner of the Cultural Park. The cornices are crooked, the flowers and trees are sparse, the horse's head walls are tall, and the wooden small bridge meanders across the river. How can you know the spring is like if you don't reach the garden.

Many people don't know that the five characters "King Kong Museum" inscribed by Mr. Yu Qiuyu are also one of the highlights before you start.

As one of the biggest highlights of the Thai Hui Life and Culture Park, the King Kong Museum now houses more than 40000 rare collections such as cultural arts, calligraphy and painting, sculpture, contemporary art, stone carving, cultural arts, and ancient architecture. It includes ten major exhibition halls, including the Modern Masters Hall, Oil Painting Hall, Ancient Stone Carving Hall, Sea Painting Hall, Sculpture Hall, Jade Hall, Boutique Jade Hall, Wenfang Antiques Hall, Glass Art Hall, etc., integrating exhibition, academia and collection.

The lobby where the tourist service center is located is as grand as a hotel lobby. It extends in all directions and leads to various exhibition halls; and our journey of art appreciation and exploration begins here.

Haishang Painting School| The inheritance of Shanghai style on the drawing paper

The Haishang Painting School Hall is our first stop. The museum displays classic works of Shanghai art masters from various periods from the late Qing Dynasty to the contemporary era, which objectively reflects the inheritance and development of traditional Chinese painting in Shanghai. The development of Shanghai-style painting is rooted in the Wuyue culture in the south of the Yangtze River, and incorporates the Western painting language, presenting the unique cultural characteristics of the Shanghai-style. Although the King Kong Museum also has an oil painting gallery and a modern masters gallery, the Maritime Painting School Museum is still worth forming a separate museum to highlight the uniqueness of Shanghai painting.

When it first opened in the morning, there were hardly many tourists in the huge exhibition hall. The quiet environment was especially suitable for appreciating paintings and reading the stories behind the works. The area inside the exhibition hall separates the atmosphere and leaves a large area of white space, allowing customers to focus their attention on the paintings in the window.

The town painting in the museum is Feng Zikai's "Infinite Longevity Buddha". I have seen Feng Zikai's comic exhibition. This painting continues Feng Zikai's usual style and has a distinctive personal style; this painting was painted by Feng Zikai to celebrate his mother's birthday at the request of student Luo Liangneng. In the painting, Wuliangshou Buddha sits cross-legged on the cliff, draped on his back, holding pearls in his hands, and a ball of light on his back. There are pine trees stretching horizontally above and floating below. The composition is rigorous. Moreover, the Buddha's face is kind and personified, which corresponds to the title "Always show the child's face", which also means that the eternal spring never grows old.

Huang Shanshou's multi-axis "Gongbi Figures" is also one of the heavyweight exhibits in the museum. The pictures are dense and orderly, and the structure is orderly. The ancient ladies who hired Tingting either lowered their eyebrows and smiled, or stood with fans in their hands, which is vivid and agile.

"The Painting of Shoubao Peach" in the Basket is by Xie Zhiguang, a famous advertising painter in Shanghai. It has a few strokes, both in form and spirit.

These works are analyzed based on the painter's birth date, from Zhao Shuru, born in 1871, to Chen Qi in 1958, spanning nearly a hundred years. Well-known painters such as Wu Changshuo, Lu Yanshao, Tang Yun, Xie Zhiliu, Cheng Shifa, He Tianjian, Chen Peiqiu, Shi Dawei, Han Tianheng, Han Min, etc. These works more objectively reflect the inheritance and development of Chinese painting in Shanghai. The essence of century-old Shanghai style painting shines in this square inch.

Mingyue Tea Expo Hall| A leaf and a world as bright as a galaxy

Tea culture has always been an important part of the King Kong Museum, so as one of the exhibition halls, the Mingyue Tea Expo Hall is one of the most important ones and the one that impressed us the most. The Tea Expo is divided into tea utensils and tea exhibition areas. It is the most complete tea museum with the richest collections in Shanghai. Even if it is not in the King Kong Museum, there is absolutely no problem for the Mingyue Tea Expo to be built into a separate museum outside.

The first half of the exhibition hall introduces the evolution of tea culture in China and the display of tea sets and tea utensils. Throughout China's tea culture, it was enlightened in the Three Kingdoms, sprouted in the Jin and Southern Dynasties, formed in the Tang Dynasty, flourished in the Song Dynasty, and popularized in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The Song Dynasty's "Dream Liang Lu" records: "Burning incense and ordering tea, hanging pictures and arranging flowers are four things that should not be tiring at home." It points out the "four arts" of elegant life of literati in the Song Dynasty, elevating tea drinking in daily life to an artistic level.

The Song Dynasty was the golden age of tea culture. The unique way of ordering tea and the prevalence of tea fighting pushed Chinese tea drinking culture to an unprecedented extreme. The Tea Expo Hall also displays tea ordering tools used in the Song Dynasty: tea pots, tea spoons, tea boxes, tea spoons and other utensils. However, there were as many as 12 utensils for actually ordering tea in the Song Dynasty, which is simplified here.

There is also a collection of iron and silver pots from Japan and China Taiwan. They are placed in the window in an orderly manner, quietly demonstrating the beauty of the utensils. Some tea sets look unique and crystal clear. When used to make tea, they will definitely add wings to the tiger.

There is also a Chinese-style wooden building in the Tea Expo Hall, with curved eaves and lifelike wood carvings. Decorated with lights, the solemn and atmospheric Chinese aesthetics make the modern museum's exhibition visual richer and more diverse.

The tea fairy in the museum also participated in the China-France Yuyuan Tea Ceremony at the CIIE to serve tea to leaders and foreign heads of state. The clothes she wore, utensils and tea cakes she used at that time are also on display here.

The second half of the exhibition hall is an experience area. Tea parties and tea activities with related themes will also be held during the corresponding seasons, which can accommodate 100-280 people. Surrounded by the exhibition hall are hundreds of Yunnan tea mountain gene banks, ten major intangible cultural heritage handmade teas, etc., which are magnificent and have a long history of tea culture. From popular science visits to practical experiences, tourists can fully appreciate the inheritance and development of China's thousand-year tea culture, reform and innovation.

Crystal Art Museum| The exquisiteness and clarity of the unity of man and nature

The Crystal Hall of the King Kong Museum gathers famous domestic craftsmen to carefully carve it, striving to bring people a grand crystal carving appreciation experience. Crystal clear crystals are most favored by young girls; especially when the crystals here are under the hands of famous domestic carvers, the spirituality and charm of the crystals are even more vivid in front of their eyes, lifelike, as if they have vivid life, showing the purity and agility of the crystals.

Although the Crystal Art Museum is not large, its collections are expensive but not expensive. Only when I came here did I realize that there are so many types of crystals, such as strawberry crystals, titanium gold, green ghosts, etc.; these all give the crystals a changeable color or texture. The materials of these works displayed in the Jingang Museum as a collection are scarce and precious, and the characters are vivid and natural; if you look carefully, you will find that most of the crystal carvings here are religious themes, such as the "Lingshan Dharma Meeting" pictured above.

"Nuwa Mending the Sky" is a crystal exhibit of strawberry crystals, the work of Liu Lingfeng, a master of traditional skills and skills. The shape is realistic and lifelike, and the beauty brought by the color transition makes people who don't understand crystals feel particularly beautiful.

Common religious themes such as reclining Buddha, Maitreya Buddha, and thousand-handed Guanyin are presented through the theme of crystal, and the "empty and pure" realm of Buddhism itself is appropriately interpreted. The purpose of carefully polishing a precious crystal stone is not to display skills, but to radiate the light of the universe carried by the crystal life itself and dialogue with it deep in the soul to achieve the highest level of "Tao nature and the unity of man and nature".

Watercolor Painting Museum| Time recorder in transparent colors

The layout of the Watercolor Painting Hall is somewhat similar to the Sea Painting Hall. Although the exhibition hall is not large, it is the exhibition hall that many people look forward to most before coming to the King Kong Museum.

Watercolor painting is the first Western painting variety introduced to China. It is very popular in China and is very popular. It is deeply favored by literati and intellectuals. Compared with oil painting, although watercolor painting is smaller in size, it has also contributed to leading the trend and influencing the painting process in the history of Chinese and foreign painting.

The museum displays more than 100 works by five professional painters who have been engaged in watercolor painting all their lives: Zhang Meisun, Li Yongsen, Pan Sitong, Lei Yu, and Harding.

Watercolor painting is not only the easiest tool to popularize painting knowledge, but also a convenient tool for artists to create drawings and design manuscripts. As an independent painting, it has its own historical and aesthetic value. The themes of the works on display in the Watercolor Painting Museum cover urban scenery, pastoral scenery, production and construction scenes, etc., reflecting the face of the times and the historical track of development and changes across the country.

The picture above shows Li Yongsen's "Jiangnan Water Town".

These five art masters are the first generation of watercolor painters in China. Their works are so systematically and completely publicly presented. On the one hand, they provide us with precious physical materials that represent the development history of Chinese watercolor painting from the 1940s to the 1960s. Information, giving us the opportunity to fully understand the creative appearance of the watercolor works of these older artists, and then have a more full understanding of the value of their works.

Sculpture Museum| Frozen life

The sculpture museum displays more than 80 works created by three generations of Chinese sculptors, old, middle and young. It reflects the development of modern Chinese sculpture, including realistic care, abstract expression and other types. The works collected by the Sculpture Museum also reflect the outstanding works that have emerged in the urban public environment and contemporary art in the past half century.

In "Son of the Earth", the characters are vivid and their expressions are solemn and peaceful. It may be the most common and ordinary fragment in the war years, but it is vividly restored under the author's new perspective. Every life is worthy of admiration and is the final return of human nature.

A slight sense of modern sculpture techniques and material use, but the main body is three Qing Palace officials. The collision and mutual interpretation of ancient and modern times have achieved unique artistic effects.

A particularly eye-catching set of sculptures, as well as installations such as miniature tables and chairs. The old men moved differently, but their expressions were all peaceful and peaceful. It was also chatting in the afternoon, perhaps waiting for the children to return home, or perhaps the most daily moment of rural life. The simple and peaceful rural atmosphere is also the author's gaze at the vicissitudes of life and his yearning for pure life.

The work of famous sculptor Wei Xiaoming, the sculpture called "Pioneer" has a strong sense of male power and vitality, and its tension-filled movements and body postures are also quietly selected.

This sculpture is very interesting. At the specified angle, no matter how you change the position, it is watching you...

Jade Hall| Immortals are invincible and unique

Jade, also known as emerald jade, emerald jade, jadeite, and Burmese jade, is a type of jade. Chinese jade carvings are gorgeous and exquisite. They are famous in the world and are known as the "Wonderful Flower of Oriental Art". The Jade Hall of the King Kong Museum brings together classic art works by the most influential contemporary jade carving masters. The exhibits are mainly high-end jade ornaments, with luxurious materials and unique craftsmanship. They have a distinct sense of the times and originality, and represent the highest level of contemporary jade carving art.

Times are advancing, and jade is no longer an antique that only elderly elders like. Many young people will also find some unique and novel jade jewelry for themselves to show their individuality. Therefore, before we visited the Jade Museum, we were not only surprised by the elegance of the jade collection here, but also looked at it with our own interests and likes.

Like the Crystal Museum, the themes of the exhibits here are also mainly religious Buddha statues. The lotus statue of Guanyin is well-proportioned in color and smooth in texture. Step on lotus flowers and have a beautiful posture. Holding a large lotus leaf with fresh green drops is the finishing touch of the whole work, just right.

Under the illumination of the spotlights, the jade bowl looks transparent and full, with an extraordinary color. There are many jade exhibits here, but time constraints have not been able to savor them one by one; friends who are interested in jade can probably watch them for a long time in this exhibition hall.

Oil Painting Museum| Recalling the extraordinary years of the past

The oil painting gallery displays representative works of top oil painters in China from modern times to contemporary times, and each of their works can be regarded as classics. Among them are works in the impressionistic style of the older generation of the last century, as well as excellent works by Chen Yifei, a great oil painter. There are excellent works by deans of China's eight major art colleges, key works by professors of art colleges, and works by contemporary young powerful painters. They are strictly selected according to the chronicle of Chinese art and are highly academic. The works of contemporary art are highly complete and well preserved. It is also one of the unique and charming venues of the King Kong Museum.

Compared with the watercolor painting gallery, the paintings in the oil painting gallery are much wider and brighter. The scenery is all low-key dark blue, allowing the audience to pay more attention to the oil paintings. The picture above shows the painting that occupies one of the main positions in the museum.

Can you accurately tell the identities of former romantic figures and emperors through the ages through their clothes?

When we went to the King Kong Museum, the Oil Painting Museum was holding a "Special Exhibition of Oil Painting in the Extraordinary Years", so many paintings have distinctive characteristics of the times. Rereading history allows us today to remember the extraordinary years and realize the connection between the past and the present.

It's a pity that I haven't seen Mr. Chen Yifei's "Zhouzhuang". I'll save it until next time!

Taste the aroma of tea in the museum| Zen tea's journey of enlightenment

There are a number of tea rooms with their own characteristics and sizes in the King Kong Museum. While visiting exhibitions here, tasting tea is not an experience that cannot be missed. This is why I said earlier that the King Kong Museum provides visitors with more than just a single exhibition, but a way to integrate art into daily life. The inherent impression of the museum has also been refreshed here.

The tea room near the exhibition hall can see the view of the atrium, which is most suitable for a short rest after visiting the exhibition. There are tea fairies here who have received professional and systematic training. Every move reflects the essence of China's long-standing tea culture. In such an environment, tea is not just tea.

Outside the tea room on the 4th floor, there is also a sky courtyard decorated with dry mountains and rivers. Those who have been to Japanese shrines and temples should be familiar with dry mountains and rivers. After the Zen thoughts introduced into China evolved in Japan, they greatly influenced Japan's courtyard design. The dry landscape courtyard is a business card of a Japanese courtyard. Being in it feels like a Zen feeling and tranquility. In the hustle and bustle of the modern city, you have such a small world that allows your body and mind to be filled with tranquility, reading and tasting tea. Therefore, there is such a dry landscape outside the tea room of the King Kong Museum, which is really "nowhere to find" for tea lovers.

After visiting several teahouses, we finally chose to sit down and taste it in Regon. This is an antique Hui-style courtyard. The long tea table is placed on the patio of the courtyard, and there is natural lighting on the top. This teahouse itself is an antique building that you can appreciate well. It is decorated with beams and painted buildings, exquisite and exquisite, just like the grand houses of ancient times.

In the tea fairy's tea ceremony performance, every step and action seem to have been done thousands of times, and it is familiar to my heart. A set of tea ceremony performances are like flowing water, calm and natural, and allow tea to be brought to its best. Let the tea guests opposite him sit still and be infected by this "Zen tea blindly" atmosphere.

We tasted two teas, one was Wuyuanjian cinnamon, which is a kind of Fujian rock tea. In addition to the fragrant and mellow taste of the rock tea we drank while tasting, it also has a unique roasted aroma as a bonus. It is strong and the aroma is domineering; you can discover its uniqueness at the first sip.

The other is Yunnan Ancient Tree Pu 'er Tea, which is also the same tea mentioned by previous CIIE leaders. Compared with ordinary Pu 'er tea, the color of the tea soup of this tea is not thick and deep, retaining the honey and fruity aroma of ancient tea trees, and returning to sweetness is like a three-day winding beam and is more resistant to foaming.

The life of the ancients cannot be replicated, but the classical attitude towards life has always flowed in our blood. Drinking tea in such an environment is also an experience of Chinese culture.

Shizai Taihui| All over the world at the table

Since it is a different museum trip, in addition to tasting tea, it is natural to enjoy the delicious food that comes with the museum. We chose the Thai Hotel in the Thai Hui Life and Cultural Park for lunch. The hotel has its own restaurant, and the restaurant's products brought us a surprise.

Almost all of the tables are hard dishes, and they bring together delicious food from all over the world. There are our gang's braised pork, crab in sauce, fish head tofu soup; there are also Cantonese steamed shrimp with garlic and vermicelli, Sichuan cuisine boiled fish, spicy beef, etc. Each dish does not step on thunder, spanning multiple cuisines, making it easy to eat food in one go.

The delicious fish head tofu soup in the casserole is so warm and beautiful as an ending for a meal.

Live in Taihui| New Chinese-style hotel adjacent to the museum

If you feel like you want to spend the whole day in the museum and don't want to rush home, you can stay for the night at the Thai Hotel behind the museum or in the Thai Hui Life and Culture Park. In other words, there are many things related to life, including food, accommodation, transportation and travel. We truly integrate "going to museums and watching exhibitions" into our most daily lives.

The hotel is in a new Chinese style, consistent with the style of the museum. Although there was not much publicity to the outside world, the facilities inside were surprisingly good. The especially elegant and elegant new Chinese style should be very popular among the literary and artistic young people who come to the exhibition.

Strolling in Taihui| Cultural creation is the museum's "accompanying gift"

With the precedent of cultural creation in the Forbidden City, it seems that museums are engaged in cultural creation nowadays, and the King Kong Museum is naturally the same. When traveling, you need to bring accompanying gifts home, and when traveling to the museum, you naturally need to bring special cultural creations home! The Cultural and Creative Store of the King Kong Museum is located next to the lobby on the first floor. The store is not small and has a rich variety. It is worth visiting for friends who love cultural and creative creation.

There are relatively expensive porcelain and tea sets, as well as relatively affordable books, phone case, refrigerator stickers, badges, etc. Everyone can be "frugal" and choose their favorite cultural and creative products. For example, after I experienced the tea culture here in the museum, I was more interested in the Tea Fairy series of books.

The "Thousand Miles of Mountains and Rivers" element that many national shops love most is like the big IP in the cultural and creative world. Fans are the most common form of cultural and creative creation. The hemmed round fan is suitable for decoration and personal use.

The Japanese Masai silk is dazzling and beautiful under the lights; seeing it used as table flags in some tea rooms of the King Kong Museum complement each other with the Chinese tea sets.

Practical guide

Address: No. 888 Yuanzhong Road, Pudong New District, Shanghai

Transportation: Line 16 Wildlife Park Station, change to Bus No. 1095 after exiting the station, and get off at the "Yuanzhong Road Yuanshun Road" Stop

Because the museum is located in the suburbs, there is free parking lot and sufficient parking spaces. It is highly recommended that you drive here by car. If you have enough time, you can also visit other nearby attractions.

Admission: 100 yuan (half ticket for students, military personnel, elderly people over 60 years old or free ticket for preschool children, elderly people over 70 years old, disabled people)

Opening hours: 9:30-17:30 (ticket sales will stop after 17:00)

Supporting facilities: Free guided tours (14:00 every Saturday), mother and child room, baby stroller rental, wheelchair rental, etc.