Shanghai Science & Technology Museum was the most popular museum in 2017, followed by Shanghai Natural History Museum and Shanghai Museum.

Nearly 4 million people visited the Science and Technology Museum last year, and 2.3 million made the trip to the natural history museum, the Shanghai Administration of Culture, Radio, Film & TV said yesterday.

Shanghai Museum attracted 2.1 million art enthusiasts last year, largely due to the three-month exhibition by the British Museum that alone attracted nearly 400,000 visitors, the administration said.

“I take my daughter to various museums every weekend to broaden her horizon. And I have also learnt a lot from these trips,” said Xu Jiahua, who works for a local pharmaceutical company.

The city has 126 museums and memorial halls, including 45 state-owned museums.

“Currently, 190,000 locals can share one museum, a 50 percent higher proportion to the nation’s average,” said Yu Xiufen, director of the bureau. More museums will be built to increase the proportion to one museum for every 160,000 inhabitants within three years, she said.

More than 100 museums will be free to the public this weekend to celebrate the International Museum Day tomorrow. But the Science & Technology Museum, Shanghai Film Museum, Shanghai Guanfu Museum and Natural History Museum are offering discounted tickets.

Several museum clusters have been planned along the Huangpu River, Suzhou Creek, the North-South Elevated Road and Yangshupu Road in Yangpu District, Yu said. A number of museums and art galleries, including the Long Museum and Yuz Museum have sprung up at the Huangpu River waterfront in Xuhui District, known as the West Bund.

Sites and venues involving the history of Communist Party of China and the establishment of the nation are among those that are popular, Yu added.

The number of visitors to the site of the CPC’s first National Congress were double than in 2016. With an exhibition space of 450 square meters and featuring 148 historic exhibits, it welcomed about 830,000 visitors last year, the administration said. It ranked fifth in terms of popularity after Jiading Museum, a historical site that was established in 1959.

Special themed Metro Line 10 train launched

A Metro Line 10 train, themed on International Museum Day, was launched at the Laoximen Station yesterday.

The No. 10005 train, painted in orange color, has photos and introductions of a number of museums in the city. The museums’ logos, along with their QR codes, have been splashed on the ceiling and handrails. Passengers can scan the QR codes for information on the museums. The theme of this year’s International Museum Day has also been posted in the carriages to encourage commuters to visit the museums.

The special train will run until the end of this month.