The Shanghai Museum on the city's famous People's Square (fig.), houses a collection of about one million Chinese objects, of which about 130,000 are national treasures (fig.).

The museum building has a round top and a square base, reminiscent of a cong (fig.), an ancient Chinese artifact in which the square shape represents the earth and the circular form heaven, a perception also found in ancient fang kong qian coins (fig.), although the building is purportedly designed in the shape of an ancient bronze cooking vessel.

The building is guarded by a number of white creatures from Chinese mythology, all placed on a squarish base and reminiscent of certain types of Chinese seals known as yin zhang, namely those of which the handle is carved into a mythological animal.