"We long for face-to-face communications with international colleagues," Chu says. "This will help us to improve our professional practice, learn about different cultures as well as distinctive working styles."

Now that China has adjusted its policies regarding international travel, the Shanghai Museum has extended an invitation to the National Gallery in the United Kingdom, hoping that their British counterparts can visit the exhibition in Shanghai, notes Chu.

"This exhibition is like a textbook, because it not only presents renowned artists' works, such as those by Botticelli, Raphael, Rembrandt and Monet, but more importantly, it traces the development of the art history," she adds, noting that it is the responsibility of a museum to guide and educate the public.

Guo Liang, a professor of Western art history at the Academy of Fine Arts of Shanghai University, was among the first visitors to the exhibition. He claims that the exhibition is "the best in Shanghai in the past 10 years".