# Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum

> The Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum occupies the former Ohel Moshe Synagogue in Hongkou and tells how about 20,000 Jews escaped Nazi Europe to Shanghai. Tickets cost CNY 20 and are issued against your passport. It's open Tuesday to Sunday, 9:00–17:00, last entry 16:00, closed Mondays. Allow one to two hours.

Web page: https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/shanghai-jewish-refugees-museum

- City: [Shanghai](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai), China
- YesGo score: 36/100 (Yes, if nearby)
- Time on site: 1 h
- With kids: Fine with kids
- Tickets: CNY 20; students CNY 10, 60+ CNY 15
- Free: Children up to 1.3 m with an adult (two per adult)
- Hours: 9:00–17:00, last entry 16:00
- Closed: Mondays; holiday hours announced separately
- ID: Real-name tickets — bring your physical passport
- Where to buy: Ticket desk with your passport, or the museum's WeChat account — unofficial
- Address: 62 Changyang Road, Hongkou District
- Metro: Tilanqiao, Line 12, Exit 1
- Audio guide: CNY 10
- Time needed: 1–2 hours; up to 3 with a walk around the area
- Coordinates: 31.25617, 121.50500
- Facts checked: 04.11.2026

## Key facts

- **≈ 20,000** — European Jews found refuge in Shanghai in the 1930s and 1940s (source: English and Russian Wikipedia; The Paper)
- **1927** — Ohel Moshe Synagogue was built by Shanghai's Russian Jewish community (source: museum's official website; English Wikipedia)
- **Monday** — weekly closing day; open Tuesday to Sunday, 9:00–17:00 (source: museum's official website)
- **2007** — the synagogue was restored from archive drawings and opened as a museum (source: museum's official website; English Wikipedia)
- **Dec 2020** — reopened after an expansion to about 4,000 m² (source: museum's official website; The Paper; SmartShanghai)
- **≈ 1,000** — objects and documents on display, with more than 160 personal stories (source: museum's official website; The Paper)
- **18 Feb 1943** — Japanese authorities proclaimed the Designated Area for Stateless Refugees in Hongkou (source: English and Russian Wikipedia)
- **3 Sep 1945** — the refugee area was liberated after Japan's surrender (source: English and Russian Wikipedia)
- **Name wall** — over 18,500 refugees' names in the courtyard, and the list keeps growing (source: museum's official website; The Paper)
- **One of two** — surviving synagogue buildings of old Shanghai (source: museum's official website; English Wikipedia)

> **Closed Mondays, passport needed** The museum shuts every Monday, and the ticket desk stops selling at 16:00, an hour before closing. Tickets are real-name, so carry your physical passport — a photo or photocopy won't do. Hours change around Chinese public holidays and are announced separately, so check the official website or call ahead during holiday weeks.

## Tickets: how much and how to buy

Adult tickets are **CNY 20**. Full-time students up to 23 pay CNY 10 and visitors aged 60 and over pay CNY 15. Children up to 1.3 m get in free with an adult (two per adult), as do visitors with a disability card. All of this comes from the museum's official visitor guide.

Every ticket is issued in your name, so foreigners show a passport. Unofficial reports say the easiest route is simply buying at the desk with your passport; the museum's official WeChat account also sells tickets, but booking there can fail without a Chinese phone number. The official site no longer mentions compulsory advance booking — that was a 2020 pandemic rule.

Bring some cash yuan in small notes, or set up Alipay or WeChat Pay with your foreign Visa or Mastercard before the trip. That also covers the audio guide and a coffee at the museum café.

## Opening hours

The museum opens Tuesday to Sunday, 9:00–17:00, with ticket sales and last entry at 16:00. It's closed on Mondays, and public-holiday arrangements are posted separately. Older listings give last entry as 16:30; the museum's own site now says 16:00.

Free guided tours in Chinese start at 10:00 and 14:00, though times can shift on busy days. Groups of 20 or more can book a paid tour by phone three to five working days ahead. Weekday mornings are the calmest time to see the small synagogue rooms.

## What was the Shanghai Ghetto?

In the late 1930s, as Nazi persecution in Germany and Austria escalated, most countries closed their doors to Jewish refugees. Shanghai was the exception: the International Settlement could be entered without a visa. Around 20,000 refugees arrived, mostly by ship from European ports and later overland via Siberia and Japan, with the biggest wave in 1939.

Some officials risked their careers to help. **Ho Feng-Shan**, China's consul general in Vienna, issued visas for Shanghai that let Jews leave Austria; Yad Vashem has recognised him as Righteous Among the Nations. In Lithuania, Japanese consul Chiune Sugihara issued transit visas that brought, among others, the Mir Yeshiva to Shanghai by way of Japan.

Most refugees settled in poor, crowded Hongkou, north of Suzhou Creek, alongside Chinese neighbours. On 18 February 1943, under German pressure, the occupying Japanese authorities proclaimed a Designated Area for Stateless Refugees there, and everyone who had arrived after 1937 had to move into it. Life meant cramped rooms, passes to leave the area, and scarce food and work.

The area was liberated on 3 September 1945. Within a few years nearly all the refugees had moved on — to Palestine and Israel, the US, Australia and Canada. Ohel Moshe, built in 1927 by Russian Jews, had been a place of prayer and community for them; since 2007 it has told their story.

## What to see inside

- **Ohel Moshe Synagogue** — a three-storey grey-brick building with a red roof, restored from archive drawings, with its Torah ark, reader's platform and original floor tiles. It's no longer used for prayer.
- **Escape to Shanghai** — routes, ocean-liner documents and the story of consul Ho Feng-Shan.
- **Life in Hongkew** — a reconstructed refugee dormitory room (a "Heim"), shop signs, family photos and displays on cafés, schools and sports clubs.
- **The 1943 Designated Area** — an interactive map showing how the neighbourhood changed under the Japanese order.
- **After the war** — departures after 1945 and the return visits of refugees' families since the 1980s.
- **Courtyard and Name Wall** — a copper wall of refugees' names and a memorial sculpture, plus a café.

## How to get to the Jewish Refugees Museum

1. From the Bund, walk west along Nanjing Road for about 10 minutes to **East Nanjing Road** station (Lines 2 and 10).
2. Take **Line 10** north one stop to **Tiantong Road**. Contactless foreign Visa and Mastercard cards work at the metro gates.
3. Change to **Line 12** and ride two stops — International Cruise Terminal, then **Tilanqiao**. Allow about 20 minutes in total.
4. Leave by **Exit 1** (the museum's own advice; one guide says Exit 2). 62 Changyang Road is a few minutes' walk.
5. Alternatively, take Line 4 to **Dalian Road** and walk about 10 minutes west. A taxi or DiDi from the Bund covers roughly 3 km; parking at the museum is scarce.

## Walking the old refugee quarter

The museum sits in the Tilanqiao historic area, where some wartime houses still stand, though many have gone. Across the street at 67 Changyang Road is a full-size 2015 rebuild of the **White Horse Café**, opened in 1939 by a refugee family from Vienna.

A few minutes away, **Huoshan Park** holds a 1994 memorial stone in Chinese, English and Hebrew marking the refugee district. At 119–121 Huoshan Road, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee opened its Shanghai office in 1938 and ran hostels, canteens and a hospital. Give the neighbourhood an extra 30–60 minutes.

## Is the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum worth visiting?

Yes, if you're interested in WWII, Jewish history or a side of Shanghai far from the skyscrapers. It's small, cheap and personal — passports, letters and family photos rather than grand displays — and combined with the surrounding streets it makes a rewarding half-day.

On a first one- or two-day visit focused on the Bund, Pudong and the old town, it's a reasonable skip: it's off the main tourist circuit. The subject is heavy for young children, but school-age kids can manage it with a parent: the focus is on rescue and everyday life, and you can move quickly past the hardest documents.

## Refugees museum vs other Shanghai museums

|  | What it covers | Admission | Closed |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Jewish Refugees Museum | 1930s–40s refugees in Hongkou, 1927 synagogue | CNY 20, passport | Monday |
| Shanghai Museum East (Pudong) | Permanent collection of ancient Chinese art | Free with passport | Tuesday |
| Urban Planning Exhibition Center | Shanghai today and tomorrow: models, screens | Free, booking required | Wednesday |

Refugees museum details are from its official website. The other two are from YesGo's pages on those places; free entry to the planning centre is unofficial.

## Before you go

- [ ] Not going on a Monday
- [ ] Physical passport with me
- [ ] Arriving before 16:00
- [ ] Cash yuan, Alipay or WeChat Pay ready
- [ ] Neatly dressed — the rules allow refusing untidy visitors
- [ ] Time left for the White Horse Café and Huoshan Park

## Historic places in Shanghai: compare and choose

Every historic place in Shanghai that YesGo has rated.

- [The Bund](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/the-bund) — YesGo score 59/100 (Yes, go) · 1 h · Free
- [Oriental Pearl Tower](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/oriental-pearl-tower) — YesGo score 49/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 1 h 30 min · ¥199 — two spheres
- [Shanghai Maglev](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/shanghai-maglev) — YesGo score 46/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 30 min · ¥50, ¥40 with a same-day flight
- [Nanjing Road](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/nanjing-road) — YesGo score 46/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 1 h · Free
- [Yu Garden](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/yu-garden) — YesGo score 46/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 1 h 15 min · ¥30–40 by season
- [Shanghai Museum](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/shanghai-museum) — YesGo score 43/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 2 h · ¥148 show; Museum East free
- [People's Square](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/shanghai-peoples-square) — YesGo score 42/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 30 min · Free
- [People's Park](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/shanghai-peoples-park) — YesGo score 42/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 40 min · Free
- [Shanghai Old City](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/shanghai-old-city) — YesGo score 42/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 1 h · Free
- [Xintiandi](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/xintiandi) — YesGo score 41/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 1 h · Free
- [Tianzifang](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/tianzifang) — YesGo score 39/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 1 h · Free
- [City God Temple](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/shanghai-city-god-temple) — YesGo score 38/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 30 min · ≈ ¥10 (one guide says free)
- [Former French Concession](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/shanghai-french-concession) — YesGo score 38/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 2 h · Free
- [Wukang Road](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/wukang-road) — YesGo score 37/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 45 min · Free
- [Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/shanghai-jewish-refugees-museum) — YesGo score 36/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 1 h · CNY 20; students 10, 60+ 15
- [Suzhou](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/suzhou) — YesGo score 36/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 4 h · Train ≈ ¥30–45, garden ¥70–80
- [Jing'an Temple](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/jingan-temple) — YesGo score 36/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 40 min · ≈ ¥50
- [Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/shanghai-urban-planning-center) — YesGo score 36/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 1 h 15 min · Free, booking required
- [Jade Buddha Temple](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/jade-buddha-temple) — YesGo score 33/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 45 min · Free; Jade Buddha hall ≈ ¥10
- [Longhua Temple](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/longhua-temple) — YesGo score 29/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 45 min · ≈ ¥10 (one guide says free)
- [Zhujiajiao](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/zhujiajiao) — YesGo score 24/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 3 h · Free entry; three sights ¥60
- [Xitang](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/xitang) — YesGo score 16/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 4 h · ≈ ¥95 by day, free in the evening

## Hongkou, the Bund and Pudong in a day

The museum and refugee quarter in the morning, then the metro to the Bund, the tunnel under the river and a tower for sunset. Add them to your route — YesGo fits in the timing and transfers.

1. [Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/shanghai-jewish-refugees-museum) — YesGo score 36/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 1 h · CNY 20; students 10, 60+ 15
2. [The Bund](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/the-bund) — YesGo score 59/100 (Yes, go) · 1 h · Free
3. [Bund Sightseeing Tunnel](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/bund-sightseeing-tunnel) — YesGo score 40/100 (Yes, if nearby) · 20 min · ≈ ¥50 one way, ¥70 return
4. [Shanghai Tower](https://yesgo.io/china/shanghai/shanghai-tower) — YesGo score 58/100 (Yes, go) · 1 h 30 min · ¥180; students and 60+ ¥120

## Don't confuse it with

Two synagogue buildings of old Shanghai survive: Ohel Moshe in Hongkou is this museum, while Ohel Rachel stands in a different district and isn't part of the refugee quarter. Harbin and Tianjin had their own Jewish communities — the museum gives them only a short introductory section.

## Tips

- Start with the courtyard and synagogue, then follow the halls in order — the exhibition runs chronologically from escape to post-war departures.
- The CNY 10 audio guide was Chinese-only according to unofficial reports, so read up on the Shanghai Ghetto beforehand.
- Photos are fine without flash, tripods or selfie sticks; some rooms ban photography — follow the signs.
- Leave big bags in the self-service lockers at the entrance.
- Afterwards, have a coffee at the rebuilt White Horse Café across the road and stroll to Huoshan Park.

## Questions

### How much are tickets to the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum?

CNY 20 for adults, CNY 10 for full-time students up to 23 and CNY 15 for visitors aged 60+. Children up to 1.3 m go free with an adult.

### What are the opening hours?

Tuesday to Sunday, 9:00–17:00, last entry 16:00. Closed Mondays; holiday hours are announced separately.

### Do I need to book in advance?

The official site doesn't require advance booking now, but tickets are real-name, so bring your passport. Unofficial reports say foreigners buy at the desk without trouble.

### How do I get there by metro?

Line 12 to Tilanqiao, Exit 1. From the Bund, take Line 10 from East Nanjing Road one stop to Tiantong Road, then Line 12 two stops.

### Is it worth visiting?

For anyone interested in WWII or Jewish history, yes — it's personal, inexpensive and pairs well with a walk around the old refugee quarter. On a short first trip focused on the skyline, it can wait.

### How long do I need?

One to two hours for the synagogue and halls; about three with the White Horse Café and Huoshan Park.

### What was the Shanghai Ghetto?

The Designated Area for Stateless Refugees in Hongkou, proclaimed by Japanese authorities on 18 February 1943. Refugees who arrived after 1937 had to live there until liberation on 3 September 1945.

### Are there English tours?

The official site lists free tours in Chinese only, at 10:00 and 14:00. For English, come with a private guide or join a Jewish-heritage walking tour.

### Where exactly is it?

62 Changyang Road, Hongkou District, about 3 km north-east of the Bund.

## How we checked

The English core comes from search results and related questions: tickets and price, opening hours, how to get there, whether it's worth it, how long, the Shanghai Ghetto and walking tours. Hours, closing day, prices, concessions, real-name tickets, tours, audio guide and metro exit are official, from the museum's website. Compulsory booking, reported in 2020, isn't mentioned on the official site now; buying at the desk with a passport and booking via WeChat are unofficial. Older listings giving last entry at 16:30, and one guide naming Exit 2, conflict with the official site, so we use the official data. Historical dates and numbers are checked against English and Russian Wikipedia; estimates of how many people lived in the Designated Area differ between sources, so we leave them out. Metro and walking times are our estimate; distances are from Wikipedia coordinates.

## Sources

- Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum official website — visitor guide: hours, closing day, prices, concessions, real-name tickets, tours, audio guide, metro, visitor rules
- Museum official website — about page: Ohel Moshe Synagogue, 2020 expansion, Name Wall, White Horse Café, Huoshan Park, JDC office
- The Paper (澎湃新闻), 8 December 2020 — reopening after expansion, floor area, number of exhibits
- Shanghai Information Office, 21 August 2020 — expansion plans
- English Wikipedia: Shanghai Ghetto, Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum; Russian Wikipedia: Шанхайское гетто; Wikidata Q11078482
- SmartShanghai, February 2021 — the halls after the expansion, time needed
- East China Trip and Travel China Guide — price, hours, metro exit
- English Wikipedia: Shanghai Metro Lines 10 and 12 — stations and interchanges
- YesGo's Shanghai Museum and Urban Planning Exhibition Center pages — comparison data

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