Just What the Doctor Ordered: Shanghai Museums Create ‘Healing Alliance’ for Mental Health Support

Institutions across Shanghai have established China’s first Museum Healing Alliance, expanding an experimental museum prescription programme into a citywide network of municipal museums, hospitals, universities and cultural institutions dedicated to exploring museum-based mental health support.

Announced on 21 July at the Shanghai Natural History Museum, the alliance builds on a pilot museum prescription programme launched in June by the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum and the Shanghai Mental Health Centre.

Discussing the new initiative at a press conference, Song Xian, who works with several Shanghai institutions including the Science and Technology Museum, said it was established because “museums have a responsibility to care for people”.

Modelled on the concept of social prescribing—where healthcare providers refer patients to cultural or community activities alongside conventional treatment—the initiative is the first in China to create a structured referral system linking hospitals with museums.

Patients join the programme through prescriptions issued by the Shanghai Mental Health Centre or referrals from neighbourhood community organisations. More than 200 prescriptions have already been issued, with around 450 expected to be distributed by the end of August.

“The therapeutic spaces currently available are limited,” said Song Xian. “We hope more museums and hospitals will join [the programme].”

The alliance brings together public museums, botanical gardens, hospitals, universities, libraries, and municipal cultural institutions, including the Duolun Museum of Modern Art, one of Shanghai’s longest-running publicly operated contemporary art museums. 

While no new therapeutic programmes have yet been announced, the existing pilot includes exhibitions combining sensory engagement, music, nature and art. These include Galloping Wonders at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, Only the Trees Know—developed with Pudong Biyun Art Museum—and the Shanghai Astronomy Museum’s Starlight Healing Concert.

Beyond expanding institutional participation, organisers say the alliance will establish a long-term research platform. Elderly participants referred through Shanghai’s cognitive assessment centres will form a cohort for ongoing observation, while neuroscientists and academic partners evaluate the programme’s outcomes.

Drawing on the concept of social prescribing, organisers cited as precedents initiatives by the UK’s National Health Service and museums such as the Phillips Collection in Washington DC. They describe the programme as the first in China to connect hospital referrals, museum participation, and long-term evaluation within a single framework, while exploring the integration of museum prescriptions into the city’s public health system.