EXPO brings antiques of old Shanghai back home

Tushanwan Archway, a 100-YEAR-OLD wooden doorway originating from Shanghai will return to the city later this month after 96 years overseas.

The piece, which was created by teachers and students at the Tushanwan Orphanage, a school run by French Missionaries in the Xuhui district of Shanghai, has been exhibited in three World Expos, and is considered a masterpiece.

Over time, the archway had been broken up and sold off to collectors worldwide. In 1986 a Swedish expert collected all the fragments and began restoring the piece. The archway is being shipped back from Sweden in thousands of pieces, before reconstruction in Shanghai.