01
Why China
On January 25, 2022, under the guidance of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the "Why China" exhibition organized by the Palace Museum and the Central Radio and Television Corporation, together with 29 museums, opened in the Wenhua Hall of the Palace Museum in Beijing.
The exhibition is divided into three units: "Source", "Flow" and "Hui", each of which has three sections under the three units, which are combined into "Nine Chapters", exhibiting a total of more than 130 pieces/sets of precious cultural relics, from the Upper Stone Age to the Qing Dynasty, including stone tools, ceramics, jade, bronzes, gold and silverware, calligraphy and painting, ancient books and rare books, seals and other categories (limited by the exhibition hall environment, most of the paper and silk cultural relics are reproductions), including He Zun, Changxin Palace lamps, Tibetan "Four Medical Classics" and other well-known national treasures.
On January 25, the audience admired the Changxin Palace lights of the Han Dynasty. Photo by Jiang Dong, a reporter from China Daily
On January 25, the audience enjoyed the Neolithic Hongshan culture jade dragon. Photo by Jiang Dong, a reporter from China Daily
There are three sections under each of the three units, which are combined into "nine chapters".
The first unit, "Source", is divided into three sections: "Between Heaven and Earth", "Birth and Work", and "Foundation of Enlightenment", which begins with the geographical analysis of China, explains the motives of the productive forces of Chinese civilization, and uses China's unique material culture to show the philosophical ideas, values, and institutional systems contained therein, thus laying the foundation for the unification of the multi-ethnic country;
The second unit, "Flow", is divided into three sections: "Blood Dependence", "Harmony and Solidarity", which explain the glorious course of Chinese civilization in building a Chinese national community, a community of human destiny and a community of life on earth through the exchange and integration of various ethnic groups in the region, the reflection and mutual learning with civilizations outside the region, and the dialogue and interaction with natural things;
The third unit, "Hui", is divided into three sections: "People's Ben Bangning", "Gewu Restoration" and "Convergence Chengjian", which respectively explain the traditional concept of the Chinese nation of respecting benevolence and respecting courtesy and integrating the family and the country, the spirit of exploration that pursues the ultimate and the courage to innovate, and the Chinese wisdom of the Chinese language that stretches the vein and the full range of culture and culture, not only shows the excellent achievements of Chinese culture in a large way, but also more clearly reveals that all civilization history is created by the people, enjoyed by the people, and inherited by the people.
On January 25, the Neolithic Hongshan Culture Jade Dragon (left), the Western Zhou Dynasty He Zun (middle), and the Neolithic Liangzhu Culture Jade Dragon (right) simultaneously appeared in the exhibition. Photo by Jiang Dong, a reporter from China Daily
On January 25, the audience enjoyed cultural relics from the Spring and Autumn Period. Photo by Jiang Dong, a reporter from China Daily
Wenyuan Pavilion on the north side of the Wenhua Hall will also be the last "exhibit" of this exhibition, echoing the last cultural relics in the Wenhua Hall exhibition hall, "Four Libraries complete book" (printed materials). Wenyuan Pavilion is the largest royal library in the Qing Palace, completed in the forty-first year of Qianlong (1776), and collected here after the completion of the first "Four Libraries". In the middle of the hall on the first floor of Wenyuan Pavilion, there is a plaque of "Convergence Chengjian".
Since this exhibition originated from the creativity and efforts of holding a special exhibition in the "National Treasures" program, the Central Radio and Television Corporation, as one of the organizers of the exhibition, gave great support and assistance to the special exhibition. In addition to the main exhibition, the West Side Hall of the Mandarin Hall simultaneously exhibits a derivative group exhibition of "National Treasures and Performance Season" launched by the Literary and Art Program Center of the General Station, and the exhibits are 12 "National Treasure Identity Cards" created for the national treasures created by the intangible cultural heritage and local folklore of each of them.
In the Forbidden City Wenhua Hall to hold the "Why China" exhibition, reflecting the inheritance and development of Chinese civilization and vigorous vitality, it is reported that the national cultural and expo system will focus on this main line, hold a series of boutique exhibitions and related activities, "Why China" exhibition opened, for the series of activities officially opened.
02
Zhong Ming Shengshi: The Forbidden City and Chengde Mountain Resort Tibetan Clocks and Watches Joint Exhibition
On the afternoon of the 25th, the press conference of "Zhong Ming Shengshi: The Forbidden City and Chengde Summer Resort Tibetan Clocks and Watches Joint Exhibition" was held in the Jianfu Palace Garden of the Palace Museum. The exhibition, jointly organized by the Palace Museum and the Chengde Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics, will be open to the public from January 26 to May 8. The exhibition is located in the Exhibition Hall of the Qianqing Palace of the Palace Museum, according to the needs of epidemic prevention and control, the exhibition implements reservation admission, with a daily limit of 1,000 people, until the quota is full.
This exhibition selects the representative clock collections of the Palace Museum and the Chengde Summer Resort Museum, and exhibits them together, of which 40 clocks and watches are exhibited by the Palace Museum and 20 clocks and watches are exhibited by the Chengde Summer Resort Museum. The production age of these clocks continued from the 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century, covering not only the works of famous artists in Western countries such as Britain, France, switzerland, etc., but also the domestic products of the Qing Palace, Guangzhou, Suzhou and other places. The exhibition also specially exhibits 10 pairs of clocks and watches collected by the two museums on the same stage, so that the audience can not only appreciate the colorful clocks of different periods, different cultures and different regions, but also fully understand the status of the Qing Dynasty court clock collection and furnishings, and perceive the trajectory of the development and change of the Qing Dynasty court concept of time.
The clocks and watches of the Chengde Mountain Resort Museum exhibited this time are the most important parts of the museum's collection, which moved south with cultural relics in the 1930s and 1940s, and walked out of the summer resort for the first time with a holistic appearance after being transported back to Chengde from Nanjing in 1956. The exhibition site is the East Temple of the Qianqing Palace, which used to be the self-chiming bell of the Qing Palace in history. On the occasion of the Spring Festival in 2022, the clocks of the Forbidden City and the Summer Resort are gathered here, and the crisp bells meet through time and space, playing a magnificent chapter of the bell ringing.