Shanghai Daily news

From the earliest inhabitants that roamed the region of Qingpu 6,000 years ago to the migrants who eventually made Qingpu their home, each has contributed to the rich heritage of Qingpu District.
The newly built Qingpu Museum is an interesting place to get a better sense of what the district and the city looked like over the past several thousand years.
The 100-million-yuan (US$12.05 million) museum was designed to resemble a huge butterfly based on the topography of Qingpu, which is similar to a butterfly.
With a total construction area of more than 9,000 square meters, the museum houses a rich collection of more than 2,000 cultural articles, of which some 500 items on display from the early Neolithic Age (6000-2000BC) to the early 1920s are elaborately arranged to expose the brilliance of ancient cultures.
A great deal of archaeological evidence unearthed in Qingpu is some of the most important discoveries to date in the country and may debunk the long-accepted assertion that Shanghai started out as a fishing village during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD).
"The cultural relics from Qingpu show that early settlers started living and breeding in the region as early as over 6,000 years ago," said Zhang Lihua, a museum official.
The museum is divided into two exhibition halls, each with a different theme, covering ancient civilization in Shanghai and the city's watertown culture.
It all starts with a few rooms vividly depicting Shanghai's early days in the Neolithic Age. On display is a precious collection, including a red sandy pottery fire grate, the tomb of a husband and wife, and a bird-shaped black pottery kettle. Other items on display include various unique jade implements either for ritual use or personal ornaments produced during the Neolithic period.
Most of the typical Neolithic relics unearthed in the city are from Qingpu and 12 archaeological sites have been found in the district so far.
Earlier this year, the skull of a man believed to have lived more than 6,000 years ago was dug up in the district's Songze Ancient Culture Ruins, which is the origin of the famous Songze Culture (3900-3200 BC), one of the city's earliest important cultures. This newly excavated skull is the earliest evidence of the city's history.
The district is also home to a large mound raised exclusively for Liangzhu burials named Fuquanshan Ancient Culture Ruins. The mound contains massive numbers of elaborate tombs, with servants and slaves buried alive with their masters 4,000 years ago.
An interesting diorama on display depicts an altar during the Liangzhu period (3000-2000 BC), showing a pronounced social structure, a reckless consumption labor and extensive human sacrifice.
"Liangzhu Culture is one of the highly developed primitive cultures in pre-historical periods, but it suddenly declined," said Zhang. "The reason for the decline has remained a mystery through the ages."
As Shanghai's history progresses, however, so does the quality of the exhibits. With more life-size models in the watertown culture hall, the exhibitions expand to explore the ups and downs of Qinglong Town - the original name of Qingpu - during the Tang and Song dynasties (618 AD-1279).
Blessed with its sophisticated river network and abundant production, Qinglong Town stood out economically as a rich land in the southern part of the Yangtze River during the Song Dynasty. Its prosperity was even compared with Hangzhou, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) and the area was dubbed "little Hangzhou."
A large number of articles displayed in the hall highlight the historic watertown character in Qingpu. Several models of famous old bridges in Qingpu, including the Puji Bridge and the Wan'an Bridge from the Southern Song Dynasty, offer people an unusual look at the long-lasting bridge culture.
To re-create the appearance of former local civilizations, the museum does offer a nice array of interactive exhibitions scattered around the facility to move back through time and space. There are some fun and creative set-ups, including antique telephones.
Each section offers computer terminals with touch-activated introductions offering background information, articles, and photographs relevant to the topic.

Address: 1000 Huaqing Road S., Qingpu District
Admission: 10 yuan (US$1.20) for adults, 3 yuan for students
Tel: 6971-9900