Shanghai Public Security Museum (Shanghai Gong'an Bowuguan)

Frommer's Review

Big Brother's watching. This modern museum surveys the history of Shanghai's "homeland security," with a focus on its police department, originally established in 1854. There are few signs in English, but some very interesting artifacts. The second floor has miscellaneous relics, from uniforms and pistol cases to tiny spy cameras and stuffed homing pigeons, but the going gets good on the third floor with grizzly photos and actual weapons (saws, axes, sawed-off shotguns) from Shanghai's more famous cases. Look for a human skull impaled with a scissor blade, and the stuffed police dog (b. 1946, d. 1957). There are also items deemed threats to public security: gambling devices, opium pipes, pirated videos, drug paraphernalia, and even books on Falungong. The fourth floor has displays on fire fighting and Shanghai's crime busters, while the fifth floor is, oddly, given to temporary art exhibits.

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