Helping in the effort pull China's center of artistic gravity south from Beijing to Shanghai, the Duolon Museum of Modern Art is a relatively new addition to the Shanghai art scene and the Duolon Art District near Lu Xun Park, where you'll also find the Lu Xun Museum, devoted to the famous Chinese poet.  

Devoted to modern art and promoting "culture and art exchanges between China and foreign countries" it's a great place to spend an afternoon, one that can easily extend to a pleasant stroll through one of Shanghai's nicer parks and the lovely neighborhood of well-kept traditional shikumen (stone gate) housing just to the Lu Xun Park's east.

The museum building's corduroy-brown exterior and trapezoidal shape make it quite unmistakable, and inside you'll find some of the best video installation spaces and exhbits anywhere in China (there are six professional video rooms on the fourth floor).

Ther'es also a magazine and bookstore where you can browse and purchase both domestic and international art publications. Huge slanted walls of glass look out over the park and nearby buildings in this historic area, where Chinese literary masters Lu Xun, Mao Dun and Guo Moruo once congregated amidst kong, bai and tong style residences to carve out China's artistic future.

An accessible and fun museum in a part of Shanghai that's slightly off the usual tourist map, the Duolon is a great place to get a sense of the city's contemporary art scene.