The section featuring early entrepreneurs presented by Shanghai History Museum and eight of its partners in an alliance. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Three exhibitions currently ongoing at the Shanghai History Museum simultaneously stem from its alliance with eight other partner museums in the Yangtze River Delta region.

It is the first project since the founding of the alliance in 2022.Jointly initiated by the Shanghai History Museum, and the museums of Wuxi, Changzhou, Suzhou and Nantong in Jiangsu province, as well as of Ningbo, Huzhou, Jiaxing and Zhoushan in Zhejiang province, the alliance is a pledge to collaborate on exhibitions, training, resource sharing and other aspects.

The first of the three exhibitions jointly presented by the nine museums, Modern Patriotic Industrialist in the Shanghai Metropolitan, is dedicated to the stories of entrepreneurs from the mid-1800s to the early 20th century, who played important roles in public welfare and cultural establishments in Shanghai and the Delta region.

Since the mid-1800s, when Shanghai was the first city to industrialize in China, it has exerted a strong impact on nearby regions, as cities in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces also underwent rapid economic development and drastic social changes.

"Cities in the Yangtze River Delta region share much of the same cultural roots," says Zhou Qunhua, director of the Shanghai History Museum. "A lot of entrepreneurs and important people in Shanghai in the early 20th century came from the Delta region, and their legacy is part of the city's landscape, with landmark buildings on the Bund and schools established through their donations still in operation."