To stop reading books is to stop thinking
23 June – 13 September 2026
On 23 June 2026, an exhibition dedicated to Fyodor Dostoevsky opens in Shanghai at the State Museum of Modern Chinese Press and Publishing. The St. Petersburg F.M.Dostoevsky Literary-Memorial Museum will present materials from its collection to Chinese audiences for the first time.
The exhibition was created by staff of the St. Petersburg museum in collaboration with colleagues from the Shanghai museum, with the aim of offering an insight into Dostoevsky's life and work and revealing the complex, contradictory world of his characters. Visitors will follow the writer's entire life — from his first literary successes, through Siberian hard labour and years of painful creative searching, to loss, family happiness, and finally the recognition that came only gradually.
The exhibition features first editions of Dostoevsky's works published during his lifetime, copies of manuscripts, archival materials, portraits of the writer, as well as paintings and illustrations to his works by renowned artists. Of particular value are Dostoevsky's personal belongings from the collections of the Dostoevsky Museum and the Literary Museum of the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences: a cigarette case, a hat, medicine bottles, an inkstand — and the pen with which The Brothers Karamazov was written.
Dostoevsky's works became known in China more than a hundred years ago and immediately found their readers. Today, museum professionals from Russia and China have joined forces to bring the world of the great Russian writer and his characters to life through the language of museum exhibition — telling an eternally relevant story of a human being, their suffering, and their search for salvation.
The Museum of Modern Chinese Press and Publishing in Shanghai is the first and only museum in China dedicated to the history of national print and book publishing. Its collection comprises over 600,000 items, including the century-old library of Zhonghua Book Company — the country's largest monument to publishing history.
Museum address: 3678 Zhoujiazulu Street, Yangpu District, Shanghai.
Opening hours: daily 9:00–17:00, last admission 16:00. Closed on Mondays.
Admission is free. Lectures and educational events held as part of the exhibition require prior registration.
Organisers:
F.M.Dostoevsky Literary-Memorial Museum
Chinese Centre for Cultural Exchange
State Museum of Modern Chinese Press and Publishing
YI MI Culture and Art Distribution Company (Tianjin)
