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Photo: Livelikerw, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The Race Club building (1934) has an imposing, 10-storey tall tower which was long a landmark of central Shanghai. The clubhouse's exterior has a neo-classical structure, with eclectic details. Read more on Wikipedia about the Shanghai Race Club. - The museum's large collections focus on the approximately a hundred years in the history of Shanghai from the opening of the port in 1843 to the communist take-over in 1949. The museum's oldest relics are from 6,000 years ago. It features a cannon used in the first Opium War, a sedan chair, and two bronze lions that used to "protect" the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp on the Bund. Other exhibits teach us about the history of art, culture and industrialization. Technical info: There are two buildings: east and west. The main block is the east building, entrance is below the tower (north). English audio guide, available for ¥20 (+¥200 deposit), covers only the east building.
The Shanghai History Museum, or Shanghai Revolution History Museum, is a museum dedicated to the history of the city of Shanghai, China.
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The Opera Palace is often listed as one of the ten best opera houses in the world. Performances are normally "classic" Western-style opera.
An art gallery by the park.
人民公园 Rénmín Gōngyuán
Entry into People's Park on the north half of the square is free, but all attractions listed below are on the edges of the park, not inside.
上海城市规划展示馆
More interesting than you'd expect given its name, this museum documents the history of Shanghai and attempts to chart its future, with changing exhibits on the first two floors and a permanent exhibition on the rest. Many historic pictures from the 19th century introduce still-existing historic places. There is a heavy focus on eco-friendly satellite cities with spacious public centres and loads of greenery. Particularly worthwhile is the massive scale model of what Shanghai should look like in 2020. Plan to spend two hours or more here.
上海博物馆 Shànghǎi Bówùguǎn
The museum has a huge collection of ancient Chinese antiques, including bronze, ceramics, calligraphy works, painting, jades and sculptures. The Gallery of Ancient Bronze on the first floor is particularly impressive, containing some of the best antiques in China. The exterior evokes a bronze urn, which is appropriate since the museum holds the world's greatest collection of Chinese bronzes. The collection is well-presented and state-of-the-art. Directions and information are presented in Chinese and English, and the facilities are world-class. The multilingual audio guide, ¥40, is excellent, especially if you do not know much about Chinese art. Also, there are often volunteer tour guides providing free service. Some of them speak English.
Beijing Opera or jīngjù (京剧) can be seen in the opera house on Fuzhou Lu 701, on the first corner on your right if you walk down Fuzhou Lu coming from Renmin Square. Chinese opera is very different from its Western counterpart, and you may want to listen to a sample to decide if you'll survive for three hours. Some operas include acrobatic stunts or martial arts displays (Jackie Chan was trained in Chinese opera), other focus more on singing, and sometimes a tourist-oriented mash-up is performed that includes "the best bits" from various works. Interest for this art-form is low from tourists and Shanghainese alike, so getting a ticket is not a problem. Show listings and staff are Mandarin-only though. Price is around ¥80.