The Shanghai Museum will remain open for 168 hours straight from Monday to Sunday during the final week of its "On Top of the Pyramid: The Civilization of Ancient Egypt" exhibition.
To attract late-night visitors, the museum is offering half-price tickets and a promotion with discounts of at least 50% on nearly 500 cultural products, leading to a surge in sales.
In the early hours of Monday, people gathered outside the Shanghai Museum as it launched a week-long event to keep its doors open for 168 consecutive hours during the final stretch of its "On Top of the Pyramid: The Civilization of Ancient Egypt" exhibition.
The unique "museum sleepless night" marathon, which began at midnight on Sunday, will run through to August 17, offering uninterrupted access to the exhibition for seven days and nights. During the late-night hours, discounted tickets were available for 74 yuan ($10.30), half the regular price, with 3,000 tickets offered each night from midnight to 6 am.
The first night’s session sold out all tickets in advance. Despite the late hours, crowds remained consistent. Visitors like Su Jie, 29, seized the opportunity to avoid daytime crowds, enjoying the quieter, half-price late-night sessions. “I knew it had been packed during the day, but thought the night session would be calmer,” she shared. Many families with children also took advantage of the nighttime hours.
Bin Cai, 40, shared similar sentiments, deciding to attend after hearing the exhibition had been crowded throughout its run. Despite arriving at midnight, he found the line to be long. Shan Weile, 31, attracted by the museum's WeChat promotions, waited 20 to 30 minutes to enter, appreciating the novel concept of the "sleepless night."
The exhibition has been a major success, drawing over 2.6 million visitors as of late July, with the final count expected to exceed 2.7 million. A large portion of visitors have come from outside the city, many specifically traveling for the exhibition. As a sculptor, Bin Cai was particularly impressed by the craftsmanship of the ancient artifacts, especially the carvings.
Co-hosted by the Shanghai Museum and Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, the exhibition showcases 788 artifacts from Egypt, including those from the Bubasteion of Saqqara dedicated to the cat goddess Bastet. It also features ancient Chinese artifacts to foster a cultural dialogue between the two civilizations.
The exhibition has gained attention for its innovative elements, including events where visitors could bring their cats and a popular virtual reality experience offering a tour of the Pyramid of Khufu. Curator Chu Xiaobo described it as a significant cultural exchange between China and Egypt, calling it one of the most notable exhibitions of recent years.