On May 18, the 2024 "International Museum Day" will be held in the Qinhan Pavilion of the Shaanxi History Museum. At 11 o'clock on the same day, the Qin and Han Pavilion of the Shaanxi History Museum opened and the series of exhibitions of "Qin and Han Civilizations" opened.
This series of exhibitions includes the basic exhibition "The Same World: The Theme Exhibition of Qin and Han Civilizations", as well as two thematic exhibitions, "City and Mausoleum" and "Technology and Beauty", which systematically tell the historical process of the gradual realization of national, ideological and cultural identity from political unification in the Qin and Han dynasties, as well as the social outlook, life philosophy and spiritual pursuit under the pattern of great unification.
Key cultural relics to check in:
The treasure of the town hall is the ancient ship of the Han Dynasty, and the "pre-Qin lacquer pig" that symbolizes wealth
Among all the exhibits, the "Silk Road No. 1" Han Dynasty ancient ship is the "treasure of the town hall" of the Qin and Han Pavilions. The ancient ship was unearthed in the north of the Han Dynasty Chang'an City Weiqiao site, the hull is 9.71 meters long, 1.98 meters wide, composed of 16 ship boards, carrying capacity of 3 to 5 tons, is the earliest wooden board ship in the age of discovery in China. Why is an ancient ship so important? Peng Wen, curator of the Qin and Han Dynasty Pavilion of the Shaanxi History Museum, said that this technology of using a large number of wooden mortise boards and wooden nails in parallel with ship boards was very popular in the ancient Roman period and was widely used on wooden boats in the Mediterranean, but it was discovered for the first time in mainland China and even East Asia. This phenomenon of using the same technology in two locations of similar times and far apart is a symbol of cultural exchange along the Silk Roads. The largest cultural relics in the Qin and Han Dynasty Pavilion of the Shaanxi History Museum have witnessed the large-scale exchanges and interactions between the Qin and Han dynasties in the mainland and the world.
Another noteworthy cultural relic is the pre-Qin lacquer pig unearthed in the No. 1 tomb of Qin Gong in Fengxiang County, the lacquer pig is 21 cm high and 34 cm long, and the color painting pattern is smooth, the color is bright and rich, showing the superb lacquer painting technology level of the craftsmen at that time. Peng Wen said that the production and preservation of lacquerware is not easy, and it shows the superb craftsmanship of the pre-Qin period.
Why is there a "pig" in the tomb? It turns out that pigs are one of the earliest domesticated animals by humans, and unlike dogs, primitive people raised pigs purely for food, so pigs have become a symbol of wealth. Since the beginning of the Cishan culture, Chinese prehistoric ancestors have consciously buried pig mandibles and pig teeth in tombs. In the Han Dynasty, the deceased was buried with a jade grip, and the grip was made into a pig shape, which meant that the deceased did not want to go away empty-handed, and the burial of the "pig grip" was actually to bring the wealth of life to another world to continue to enjoy.
In addition, a number of heavyweight and wonderful exhibits with high value for archaeological and historical research, such as the sealing mud, the Qin terracotta warriors and horses, and the Du Hu Fu, are waiting for the audience.
The Qin and Han Dynasty Museum is currently the only museum in China with the purpose of focusing on the origin, development and contribution of the Qin and Han civilizations, aiming to focus on the foundational role of the Qin and Han civilizations in the development of Chinese civilization based on the collection of the Shaanxi History Museum, based on the archaeological discoveries and research results in Shaanxi over the years, and with innovative exhibition design. The pioneering nature of the Qin and Han dynasties opened a new chapter in Chinese history.
Check in to the main exhibition
What do you think? What's the point?
Check in the basic exhibition of the Qin and Han Dynasty Pavilion of the Shaanxi History Museum, and "The World is the Same - Qin and Han Civilization Theme Exhibition" is a must-check-in, so what do the audience of this exhibition think? What's the point?
According to the curator, the exhibition preface hall begins with "'System' Enlightens China", which places the changes in China's territory during the Qin and Han dynasties in the world pattern at that time, places the chronology of the major events of the Qin and Han dynasties in the overall development system of Chinese civilization for more than 2,000 years, and explains the importance of the Qin and Han dynasties as the foundation era of China's various systems.
"The World is the Same - Qin and Han Civilization Theme Exhibition" is the key exhibition of the Qin and Han Dynasty Pavilion of Shaanxi Calendar. The Qin and Han dynasties were a period of great change and development of ancient Chinese society, the era of the establishment of China's ancient political system, and the era of laying the foundation of Chinese academic thought. In this era, the national and cultural identity gradually achieved by political unification has had an important impact on social development.
The first unit of the exhibition takes the construction of institutional civilization as the core, and explains the establishment of the Qin and Han dynasties from multiple perspectives, which is the cornerstone of the development of Qin and Han civilizations, and is also the starting point and fundamental point for the major achievements made in the economy, ideology, culture, science and technology, and exchanges during the Qin and Han dynasties. In this part, the exhibition uses a number of exquisite cultural relics such as tiger charms, terracotta warriors and horses of Qin Shi Huang, group portraits of Han warriors, bronze weapons, as well as a map of the territory of the Qin and Han dynasties, to create a strong national image for the audience, rather than emphasizing the strength of its force.
From the perspective of economy, the second unit explains the important role of pioneering, innovative and unified economic policies in the Qin and Han dynasties in the development of Qin and Han civilizations from multiple dimensions. The exhibition tells the theme of the economy of the Qin and Han dynasties through a combination of exhibition panel content, high-quality cultural relics, multimedia interactive installations and other exhibition methods.
The third unit, "WTO Accession -- The Establishment of the Dominance of Confucianism," tells how Confucianism "joined the WTO" step by step according to the characteristics of the unit's contents, in a time-bound and progressive way.
The fourth unit takes the power of culture as the core of the story, through the sorting and analysis of the rich material relics, excavates the spiritual core contained in it, explains how the culture of the Qin and Han dynasties shaped society, influenced overseas, and irradiated to the present, showing the audience the continuity and longevity of Chinese civilization.
The fifth unit, "Kinetic Energy - The Boost of Scientific and Technological Achievements", describes the creativity and innovation of the Qin and Han dynasties from the perspective of science and technology, and shows the scientific and technological strength of Chinese civilization at that time, which can be said to be displayed in all aspects of social development. Through the content of the exhibition panels, high-quality cultural relics and a large number of multimedia installations, the audience can have a more comprehensive understanding of the scientific and technological achievements of the Qin and Han dynasties in an interesting way.
The sixth unit focuses on the exchange and mutual learning between the Qin and Han dynasties and the outside world, with "mutual learning" as the core, focusing on the collision and integration of the Qin and Han dynasties in all aspects of material culture and spiritual culture with the foreign world. In this part of the content, the most noteworthy is the ancient ship unearthed from the site of the North Weiqiao Bridge in Chang'an City of the Han Dynasty, which is also a must-see point for the audience.
The curator said that the exhibition ends with "China Daning", which echoes the "'system" of "Qihuaxia" in the prologue hall, once again points out the theme of the exhibition, emphasizing that through the way of museum narrative, we can adhere to the attitude of national and cultural self-confidence with the audience.
The exhibition also uses the glass of the low-reflection museum display case in Bomingtang to bring a better visiting experience to the audience.
Since May 18, the implementation of daily reservations to visit the museum, the general public can make an appointment on the WeChat public account of the Shaanxi History Museum.
(Source: Xi'an release)