The T-shaped silk painting that has anchored the summer at China Art Museum in Shanghai is going home, and the museum has turned its final two evenings into a Hanfu night. On August 15 and 16, the “Qianjin Zhijia” (千金之家, “A Home of a Thousand Gold”) exhibition on the lifestyle aesthetics of the Mawangdui Han tombs stays open until 22:00 instead of its usual 18:00 close, adding four hours of night viewing each day — eight hours in total, admission to the night sessions between 18:00 and 21:00, no reservation required.
Night tickets carry their own price ladder. A Hanfu special ticket costs 58 yuan for you and up to two companions at the same 58-yuan rate; regular adult and concession tickets are 68 yuan; flash-sale, early-bird, concession and children’s tickets already purchased are also valid. Book through any of five platforms — Damai, Ctrip, Maoyan, Douyin or the Huyou app. Each ticket admits one person for a single entry, and once issued it cannot be refunded or exchanged. Children under 1.2 meters enter free with a paying adult; children between 1.2 and 1.4 meters need their own ticket plus an adult escort, with one adult allowed no more than two children. Visitors with disabilities, firefighters, active-duty military personnel and family members of martyrs enter free on presentation of credentials.
Why the urgency around a farewell? Yu Yanjiao (喻燕姣), director of the Mawangdui Research Institute at the Hunan Museum, explains that the Tomb No. 1 T-shaped painting demands strict control of temperature, humidity and light. Once it returns to Hunan it will enter long-term conservation and is unlikely to be shown publicly again any time soon — which is why the extended hours have been framed as “borrow it one more day” and “miss it and it is gone.”
For the night sessions the museum is dressing the hall in period atmosphere, built around its own slogan for the occasion: one set of Hanfu for a date with the silk painting. Han-style NPCs portraying Xin Zhui (辛追), the tomb’s occupant, her husband Li Cang (利苍), their son Li Xi (利豨) and palace ladies roam the galleries for photos, recreating the residence of the Marquis of Dai. A Chinese-style trading market adds a collect-and-trade layer: every visitor draws blind-box cards printed with Mawangdui motifs — the T-shaped painting, the plain gauze garment, Han cloud patterns — and can swap cards with other visitors or with the NPCs to complete a set. The exhibition’s “Qianjin Zhijia” commemorative stamp is free to press, a keepsake of the last encounter with the painting.
One more chapter follows immediately: starting August 18, the T-shaped silk painting from Tomb No. 3 takes over the showcase, a larger canvas with even richer content.
Practical note for the weekend: arrive before 21:00, and if you own a set of Hanfu, this is the evening to wear it. The painting has one Shanghai encore left — two of them, actually, four hours each.