Guangfulin Relics Park

This theme park features attractive and interesting art and architecture in a farmland setting. The focal point is cultural museum built around the premise of portraying Shanghai culture since the Neolithic era, in a somewhat gimmicky building that is partially submerged to give the impression of descending into the archaeological site. 

Non-Chinese speakers should be aware that all of the informational signs are in simplified Chinese, though the recreations of the Neolithic settlement, dynastic culture, and 20th century Shanghai are visually entertaining on their own. The park has been in preparation since the 1970s, after ancient artifacts were found on the site. Various sources report different years when the artifacts were found and people who found them. 

The areas of the park you can visit are relatively close together, so don’t bother with the golf-cart shuttles. Some plants are labeled (in Latin and Chinese), making a more leisurely pace rewarding for those who enjoy botanizing. 

In characteristic local fashion, the park does not distinguish between authentic and reproduction, though many elements are evidently fake, from the “wood” on the sunken buildings to the “artifacts” in the pottery museum. Since the information is in Chinese anyway, foreign visitors should go not to learn about history, but for the ambiance and oddities.