Dongxi asked | decryption| archaeology for a hundred years, how can cultural relics promote the "encounter" of Chinese and Western civilizations?

Deciphering the | archaeology for a hundred years, how can cultural relics promote the "encounter" of Chinese and Western civilizations?

China News Service, Beijing, January 13 Title: In the century of archaeology, how can cultural relics promote the "encounter" of Chinese and Western civilizations?

China News Weekly reporter Song Chundan Bao Anqi

In the hundred years since the birth of modern Chinese archaeology, many cultural relics from exotic civilizations have visited China. As the "messenger" of civilization exchanges, how do cultural relics that have crossed thousands of years meet the audience of another ancient civilization across thousands of mountains and rivers? In the "East and West Question" column of China News Agency, the reporter looked for legends and stories about the cultural relics touring exhibitions in Syria, Japan, Peru and other countries in China, and tried to show the "face" of cross-civilization exchanges of cultural relics with "points".

"Narration" writes legends

The origin of the Syrian heritage exhibition dates back to May 2019.

On May 15, Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the opening ceremony of the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations in Beijing and delivered a keynote speech. He stressed that civilizations exchange because of diversity, learn from each other because of exchanges, and develop because of mutual learning. We should break down the barriers of cultural exchanges with a broad mind and absorb the nutrients of other civilizations with an eclectic attitude. He also stressed that China is willing to carry out asian cultural heritage protection actions with other countries to provide necessary support for the better inheritance of civilization.

During the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations, the "Greater America, Asia Minor - Asian Civilization Exhibition", sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, and co-hosted by the National Museum of China and the China Cultural Relics Exchange Center, opened at the National Expo. The exhibition brings together a total of 451 exhibits (groups) from 47 countries in Asia and two ancient civilizations of Greece and Egypt. Through this opportunity, the China Cultural Relics Exchange Center has established direct contacts with the cultural relics departments of 46 countries in Asia.

After the conclusion of the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations, the China Cultural Relics Exchange Center took action to cooperate with the "Asian Cultural Heritage Protection Action". As a two-river basin country and "crossroads of civilization" where human civilization originated, Syria has a high cultural relics value. In view of this, the China Cultural Relics Exchange Center contacted the General Administration of Syrian Antiquities and Museums by email and proposed to hold an exhibition of Syrian cultural relics in China. The Syrian side responded positively.

Exhibits come from the National Museum of Damascus, Aleppo, Deir Ezzor, Jappal, Latakia, Holmes, Tartus, Della, Sveda.

After agreement, the first stop of the Syrian cultural relics exhibition landed at the Nanshan Museum in Shenzhen, and the exhibition period will be from June to September 2021.

Data map: On December 30, 2021, the "Kaleidoscope of Civilization - Syria's Ancient Cultural Relics Exhibition" was unveiled at the Jinsha Site Museum in Chengdu, Sichuan. The picture shows the stone human head attracting visitors. China News Service reporter Zhang Lang photographed

"Expensive" Laihua Road

On March 8, 2021, the China Cultural Relics Exchange Center issued an inquiry letter on its official website to conduct public procurement of the "Lost Paradise - Syria Ancient Cultural Relics Exhibition (tentative name)" exhibit packaging and transportation services.

Finally, Shanghai Huizhan International Logistics Co., Ltd. was identified as the packaging and transportation service provider for this exhibition. The purchase transaction amount was 1.66 million yuan, and the name of the exhibition was changed to "'Syria' Writing Legends - Syrian Ancient Cultural Relics Exhibition".

During the "Great America, Asia Minor - Asian Civilization Exhibition" held in 2019, the Syrian cultural relics were transported by the Shanghai Huizhan Exhibition, and the Huizhan sent two employees to do the handover work.

Cultural relics are called "precious goods", and their transportation costs are several times that of ordinary goods. According to the custom, whether it can be filled or not, the transport of large batches of cultural relics will be packaged at a high price for an entire aviation containerboard. After the airline personnel give the container plate cover the net cover, the whole process is no longer disassembled. Only the 777-class wide-body large aircraft have dedicated cargo compartments to accommodate the air containerboard, while the Syrian airport is small and cannot take off and land large aircraft, so it has to be shipped through a third country.

According to the arrangement of the Syrian side, the thermostatic vehicle loaded with cultural relics was escorted by four people with weapons and jeeps, and the transportation route was completely confidential. During the transport, it was met with local armed forces, and was forced to stop for several hours, and had to temporarily change routes. In the transit of third countries customs, there were twists and turns, and it was only resolved by the Syrian Embassy in the local area.

Compared with the 2019 "GreatEr America, Asia Minor - Asian Civilization Exhibition" Syria only 37 cultural relics came to China, this exhibition has a total of 195 cultural relics, a significant increase in the number. Syria's cultural relics have been plagued by war, and many of them have been restored, which is particularly fragile and needs to be carefully handed over and carefully maintained.

Since Syria is a "Belt and Road" country, the China Cultural Relics Exchange Center also borrowed cultural relics from Xinjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi and other places to cooperate with the exhibition to reflect the cultural exchanges on the Silk Road.

Infographic: On December 30, 2021, the reliefs of figures (left) and the relief of the standing lion stone slab (right) were exhibited at the "Kaleidoscope of Civilization - Exhibition of Ancient Relics of Syria". China News Service reporter Zhang Lang photographed

A new exhibition model spawned by the epidemic

If the Syrian exhibition is due to the epidemic and the variables, then another ukiyo-e exhibition is almost halfway through.

The curatorial work of "Meet ukiyo-expo Edo – Edo period ukiyo-e original collection exhibition" began in 2019. At that time, the China Cultural Relics Exchange Center and several museums jointly planned the introduction of ukiyo-e exhibitions, and approached the Kobe Shimbun, which hosted a large number of exhibitions, and everything went smoothly.

The exhibition outline has been written, the exhibits have been determined, and the plan will be launched at the first stop of the Shaanxi History Museum in May 2020. On the eve of the start, the new crown epidemic swept in.

The exchange center began to look for new exhibit suppliers, and through the Japanese partner found the private collection family business Asai Collection, which agreed to let the cultural relics come to China without anyone accompanying them. The clearing house also experimented with a new model of entrusting the right to hold the exhibition to another company at a price that covers the cost and has a slight surplus.

From March to May 2021, "Meet ukiyo-expo Edo – Edo period ukiyo-e original collection exhibition" was held in Beijing Today Art Museum Hall 3, focusing on nearly 100 original Japanese ukiyo-e ancient paintings. Created during the Edo and Meiji periods, these paintings were exhibited for the first time in China.

Independent folk curation

In contrast, the special exhibition of Peruvian Andean civilization is much luckier. As early as the end of the summer of 2019, this batch of cultural relics entered China from Peru and has been touring many cities in china since then, so it has not been greatly affected by the epidemic.

The exhibition focuses on 155 pieces (groups) of precious cultural relics (groups) such as mummies, stone tools, pottery, gold and silverware, feathers, silk fabrics collected by 11 well-known museums in Peru, spanning from 1500 BC to the 16th century AD, which is currently the most systematic and largest exhibition of Andean civilization in China.

Data chart: On January 21, 2021, the Guangdong Provincial Museum held a guided tour of the "Mystery of the El Dorado - Special Exhibition of Peruvian Andean Civilization". China News Service reporter Chen Jimin photographed

This is also the seventh large-scale foreign cultural relics exchange exhibition planned by Zhao Ou, a folk independent curator. Previously, his company cooperated with well-known museums in the Czech Republic, Italy, Singapore, Japan and other countries, and successfully introduced large-scale exhibitions such as "Mucha - Treasures of the European Art Nouveau", "Millennium Majorica Ceramics Exhibition", "European Glass Art History Treasures Exhibition" and "Edo Famous Porcelain - Ivani Exhibition".

Zhao Ou introduced that there are few private curatorial institutions in China, and even fewer do international exhibitions of classical cultural relics. The company draws on the curator model of foreign countries, has maintained a small personnel scale, and cooperates finely with professional institutions to carry out planning and coordination to assist museums in organizing exhibitions.

Zhao Ou said that from the planning to the landing of an exhibition, the most difficult link is to communicate with all parties. As a private curatorial institution, the communication process with foreign authoritative and well-known museums is cumbersome and long, and the approval process is also complicated.

He had the idea of introducing an exhibition of South American artifacts very early on. To be exhibited abroad, the artifacts of the Peruvian Museum need to be approved by the Peruvian Ministry of Culture. In 2017, he had his first contact with the Peruvian Ministry of Culture. After several communications, the two sides reached a cooperation intention.

After the field investigation, the exhibition framework was determined to sort out the historical and cultural context of the Andean civilization and show the cultural forms of the different historical periods of the Andean civilization. Exhibits were also selected accordingly, such as the selection of mummies to tell the Andean view of life and death and the cosmology.

At the end of the summer of 2019, 155 exhibits (groups) from 11 museums in Peru set foot on the road to China. On September 24th, on the occasion of the centenary of the establishment of the Shanxi Museum, the "Special Exhibition of Andean Civilization" in Peru was launched at the first stop of the Shanxi Museum. Subsequently, the exhibits were exhibited at the Tianjin Museum, the Chongqing China Three Gorges Museum, the Hunan Provincial Museum and the Guangdong Provincial Museum.

In May 2021, Peruvian artifacts arrived from the Guangdong Provincial Museum at the Capital Museum, the last stop of the tour. On May 21, as part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Peru, the exhibition "The Secret Realm: Exploring the Origins of Peruvian Andean Civilization" opened at the Capital Museum and continued until August 22, in the presence of ambassadors and diplomats from 13 Latin American countries to China.

The exotic civilization that has crossed thousands of years and crossed thousands of mountains and rivers has thus met the audience of another ancient civilization head-on. (End)