The Shanghai Polytechnic Institution was one among many initiatives in the 1870s to bring Western scientific knowledge and technology to China. Its origins were closely connected to the Western community in the Shanghai Settlement, more specifically the North-China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. The Institution’s initial program was to promote the diffusion of useful knowledge through a public library and reading-room. Then, by supplementing the reading-room with scientific equipment and models, the nature of the establishment was changed into a complex kind of school, following the example of the London Polytechnic. The Shanghai Polytechnic Institution thus planned operations on three levels: first, the library and reading-room; second, lectures and classes; and third, the exhibition of machinery, equipment and manufactured goods for educational purposes. This last aspect gained more and more importance, to the point that it absorbed the greatest portion of both the energy and the resources of the Institution's governing board. It also marked the first attempt to stage a public exhibition in China. After efforts that lasted for six years, the board abandoned the exhibition scheme. But many requirements for exhibitions, whether educational or commercial, were revealed in this seeming failure. This article reviews the history of the Institution’s exhibition in relation to the functions of the library and lectures on scientific subjects.