Dragon exhibits fire up museums’ attendance
During this year’s Spring Festival holiday, millions of visitors flocked to museums in Beijing, adding a cultural touch to their itinerary.
Statistics from the Beijing Cultural Heritage Bureau show that museums across the city received 2.58 million visits during the eightday holiday that concluded on Feb 17.
Of those, 2.09 million visited the museums during the first six days of the first lunar month, doubling the number of 2023.
Combining the festive characteristics and the unique features of their collections, museums in Beijing together launched more than 90 exhibitions, 215 cultural events and more than 450 interactive and educational activities.
The Palace Museum, the National Museum of China, the National Natural History Museum of China and Prince Gong’s Palace Museum retained their popularity among residents and tourists. The newly opened Museum of Grand Canal Culture, also known as the Capital Museum East Branch, and the refurbished Capital Museum also attracted many visitors.
In celebration of the Year of the Dragon, various museums put emphasis on the motif of dragon in their exhibitions.
At the National Museum of China, A New Year Guarded by Dragon: Exhibition for the Chinese New Year opened on Feb 6.
Spanning from the Neolithic period to the early 20th century, more than 200 sets or pieces of dragon-themed artifacts from the museum’s collection were on display, with roughly 90 percent of them making a debut.
The objects included bronzeware, jade articles, ceramics, gold and silverware, lacquerware and paintings.
The exhibition interprets the symbolism of the Chinese nation from customs, rituals, historical culture and artistic life, according to a staff member of the museum.
It presents the connotations and values of China’s outstanding traditional culture, creating a harmonious atmosphere for celebrating Spring Festival in the Year of the Dragon, offering New Year blessings to a vast audience, he added.
A highlight of the exhibition was a jade dragon from the Hongshan Culture dating back to the Neolithic period. Carved out of dark-green Xiuyan jade, the jade dragon features a smooth surface.
Dubbed the first dragon of China, it is reported to be one of the earliest dragon images discovered in China, unearthed in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region in 1971, providing important material evidence for the study of the original form of dragons.
Many out-of-town visitors have come to Beijing to see the exhibition. “This is our first time bringing our child here and we did our homework before coming,” said a tourist surnamed Wang.
She and her family bought their train tickets to Beijing only after they succeeded in booking a tour of the National Museum. “It’s so exciting to take a picture with the first dragon of China in the Year of the Dragon,” she said.
Other Chinese New Year museum exhibitions in Beijing were dominated by dragon images, joining hands to present a cultural feast for residents and tourists.