Wang Xiaojia's museum, called Shanghai 1937, displays a variety of things that showcase the golden days of old Shanghai. Photos by Gao Erqiang / China Daily

She started to collect the old-fashioned items and accumulated so many things that they piled up in a storehouse. Her brother, a photographer, had a vacant photo studio that she thought could be a perfect space to display her collection.

The 200-square-meter studio was transformed into a tiny museum that unexpectedly became a popular destination for those who are fond of local culture and seek old Shanghai flavor.

"These exhibits are not expensive or rare, but people feel intimate with them," Wang says. "Visitors are reminded of the times past and beautiful memories."

Wang recalls a middle-aged woman who bought a cassette of Fei Xiang, or Kris Phillips, the renowned Chinese-American pop icon who was popular on the Chinese mainland in the 1980s.

"She said the singer was her idol when she was young but she could not afford the cassette. Now she had fulfilled her girlhood dream, although the cassette was shabby and the sound quality not satisfactory," Wang says.

Wang works as a stylist but contributes most of her spare time to the museum. She calls herself a "retro-holic" and is proud that she has saved precious items and their stories from fading from history.