Tokyo, 28 Mar (Xinhua) -- With the joint efforts of China and Japan, the three-year-old exhibition of cultural relics entitled "Terracotta Warriors and Horses and the Heritage of Ancient China -- The Legacy of the Qin and Han Civilizations" recently opened in Kyoto, Japan.
On the day of the first exhibition, a Xinhua reporter saw such a scene in the Terracotta Warriors exhibition hall of the Kyocera Art Museum in Kyoto: A Japanese old man looked up slightly at the Qin armor samurai figurines, and the samurai figurines stood with their heads bowed, as if their eyes were facing each other. In an instant, time and space seem to travel back to more than 2,000 years ago, and the glorious civilization of the ancient Chinese Qin and Han dynasties reappeared in front of us.
On March 25, the audience visited the exhibition "Terracotta Warriors and Horses and Ancient China : The Legacy of Qin and Han Civilization" held in Kyoto, Japan. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Xiaoyu
The lineup is luxurious
On the day of the first exhibition of "Terracotta Warriors and Horses and Ancient China - The Heritage of Qin and Han Civilization" on the 25th, an hour before the official launch, the Japanese people lined up early in the exhibition hall of the Kyocera Art Museum to wait for admission.
The exhibition exhibits a total of 121 cultural relics (groups) from 16 cultural institutions in Shaanxi Province and 1 cultural institution in Hunan, dating from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Eastern Han Dynasty, involving stone tools, bronzes, gold, jade, Qin Jian and other types of heavyweight cultural relics and treasures, of which first-class cultural relics account for 20%.
The exhibition is divided into three parts: "Qin on the Eve of Reunification", "The Birth of a Unified Dynasty" and "The Prosperity of the Han Dynasty", focusing on some significant characteristics of China's development from the Spring and Autumn Warring States to the Qin and Han Dynasties from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Qin and Han Dynasties, as well as the historical and cultural research results of the Qin and Han Dynasties represented by the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin and the Tomb of the Emperor Yang of the Han Dynasty in recent years.
According to Mori Mitsuhiko, a research librarian at the Kyocera Art Museum, the biggest attraction of this exhibition is that not only can you see the large terracotta warriors such as the Qin Dynasty, but also enjoy the small-size terracotta warriors before and after the Qin Dynasty, and through these precious cultural relics, you can understand the historical changes of the terracotta warriors.
Visitors stopped in front of the Terracotta Warriors of Qin Shi Huang, the Small Terracotta Warriors of Yangjiawan in Xianyang, the animal figurines excavated from the funeral pit of the Hanjing Emperor Yang Mausoleum, the gilded bronze horses collected by the Maoling Museum, the Han portrait stones unearthed in the Yulin area of northern Shaanxi, and the display cabinets of precious cultural relics such as Ye Qinjian in Hunan Liye, and refused to move for a long time.
In the last exhibition hall, 10 display cases are placed with the highlights of this exhibition - armored samurai figurines, armored military warrior figurines, standing samurai figurines, sitting figurines and other Qin terracotta warriors with different forms, and the warrior general figurines exhibited for the first time in Japan are particularly interesting. Visitors can not only see it up close at 360 degrees, but also take a group photo with the Qin Terracotta Warriors.
Good things grind more
In 1976, Qin Terracotta's first overseas exhibition was in Japan. This year coincides with the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, and the Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses shoulder the mission of "Revisiting the Homeland", and the exhibition "Terracotta Warriors and Ancient China - The Legacy of Qin and Han Civilization" has naturally become one of the important cultural exchange projects between China and Japan.
The exhibition is organized by the Shaanxi Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics of China and the China-Japan Shimbun Tokyo Headquarters (Tokyo Shimbun), and co-organized by the Shaanxi History Museum (Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Exchange Center), the Qin Shi Huang Emperor Mausoleum Museum, and a number of cultural institutions and news organizations in Kyoto, Shizuoka, Nagoya, and Tokyo. After the Kyoto station ends on May 22, it will also tour Shizuoka, Nagoya and Tokyo, and the entire exhibition will last for nearly a year.
This is also the first time that the Qin Terracotta Warriors have been exhibited overseas since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic. In the summer of 2019, Tokyo Shimbun officially approached the Shaanxi Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics and reached a preliminary intention to hold the exhibition. However, the COVID-19 pandemic that engulfed the world shortly thereafter brought unimaginable difficulties to the exhibition.
The epidemic once blocked personnel exchanges between the two countries, and the Japanese side could only select cultural relics for exhibition through photos. In addition, due to issues such as the safety of the First Class Cultural Relics of the Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses and the assembly of copper carriages and horses, the Chinese personnel could not hold the exhibition without going to the exhibition site, so the Japanese side had to change the original plan and change the first exhibition to be exhibited in Tokyo in December 2021 to be held in Kyoto in March 2022.
However, the near-extension period regenerates the waves. In December last year, Xi'an implemented strict epidemic control measures, and the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Exchange Center was forced to interrupt the work of seconding cultural relics from various cultural and museum units, and after the Spring Festival, the center assigned 5 groups of personnel and horses to quickly adjust all the exhibited cultural relics in only one week, and encountered heavy snow on the way. The epidemic has caused tight transport aircraft warehouses, and the last batch of cultural relics was not shipped until March 18.
Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Exchange Center exhibition staff assembling copper carriages and horses (photo provided by the organizers)
Aspirations for Yoyo
China and Japan have high hopes for this hard-won exhibition. Chinese Ambassador to Japan Kong Xuanyou delivered a written congratulatory message, hoping that more Japanese people can enter the museum to understand Chinese history and culture, and believe that the exhibition will further promote mutual understanding between the Chinese and Japanese peoples and deepen friendship and cooperation between the two countries. In a written speech, the Japanese organizers said that they sincerely hope that this exhibition will become an opportunity to deepen further friendship between Japan and China.
Kazuyuki Tsuruma, an advisor to the exhibition and honorary professor of Gakuin University, told reporters that although Japan-China relations fluctuate from time to time, the Japanese people are very interested in ancient Chinese culture and hope that through this exhibition, they can further promote the stable and friendly development of Japan-China relations. He also said that he was very pleased to see that many young Japanese people came to see the exhibition and looked forward to the next generation being able to build a new Japan-China relationship.
Chinese cultural relics such as the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin are like bridges for mutual learning among civilizations, allowing the world to better understand Chinese culture. Tang Qishan, curator of the exhibition and special director of the Japan-Chinese Association, has a deep understanding of this: "The cultural relics exhibition brings pride to the Chinese and at the same time makes foreigners sincerely worship China. When you see the Surprise and Can't help but marvel at the Japanese people when they watch the exhibition, when you learn that many people like China and are interested in Chinese history through watching the exhibition, you will find that such an exhibition is the best and most practical cultural bond. (Editors: Ma Xiaoyan, Tang Zhiqiang; Intern: Liu Xinran)
Produced by the International Department of Xinhua News Agency
Produced by Xinhua News Agency's International Communication Integration Platform