China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Exhibitions help forge closer cultural links between HK and mainland
Acollection of precious items from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) is currently on display in Hong Kong. The items have never left Beijing before, and have been made public only once at the Capital Museum last year.
The artifacts are from the Hall of Mental Cultivation in the Forbidden City, China’s imperial palace from 1420 to 1911, now known as the Palace Museum.
The ongoing exhibition, called the Hall of Mental Cultivation of The Palace Museum: Imperial Residence of Eight Emperors, which began on June 29, is presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government and the Palace Museum.
It is one of the key events marking the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China.
When visitors enter the exhibition at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, they see a space resembling the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
The ongoing exhibition on the Hall of Mental Cultivation in Hong Kong is just one sign of the deepening links between the Palace Museum in Beijing and Hong Kong.
Separately, another major exhibition on Chinese royal rituals, Longevity and Virtues: Birthday Celebrations of the Qing Emperors and Empress Dowagers, is on at the Hong Kong Museum of History.
And in a related development, the Hong Kong Palace Museum, to be set up in the West Kowloon Cultural District, will become a permanent venue to display Chinese royal treasures in 2022.
In 2012, Beijing’s Palace Museum signed an agreement with Hong
There, the exhibits, ranging from paintings and other art pieces to furniture and plaques hang above the thrones in the hall.
Articles like imperial seals and stationery are also on display.
The Hall of Mental Cultivation was built in 1537 within the inner court of the Forbidden City during the Ming Dynasty (13681644).
The hall was the residence of eight Qing rulers, starting with Emperor Yongzheng (1722-35) and ending with Puyi (1906-67), who is best known in the West for the Oscar-winning biographic film The Last Emperor by Italian master Bernardo Bertolucci.
The hall takes its name from a line in The Chapter of Dedication by third-century (BC) Chinese philosopher Mencius, which says: “Leading a frugal life is the best way to cultivate the mind”.
The exhibition portrays the Central Hall where the emperors received their ministers, the East Warmth Chamber where the Empress Dowager Cixi attended to the affairs of state from behind Kong’s Leisure and Cultural Services Department to regularly hold exhibitions in Hong Kong.
Exhibitions from Beijing have typically done very well in Hong Kong, and according to LCSD statistics, the four concluded exhibitions, which were brought to Hong Kong by the Palace Museum since then, attracted half a million visitors.
“Hong Kong is an international cultural metropolis with a distinct identity grounded in Chinese tradition,” says Cheung Kin-chung, the chief secretary for administration in Hong Kong.
“By presenting the invaluable collections of the Palace Museum and its rich history, these highly acclaimed exhibitions have a curtain, and the West Warmth Chamber, from which Emperor Yongzheng worked.
“It (the hall) was not only a living room, but the emperors’ ‘home office’,” says Tang Hingsun, a curator of the exhibition from Hong Kong Museum of Art. strengthened our cultural ties.”
Tam Mei-yee, director of the Hong Kong Museum of Art, says the
“Yongzheng favored a simple life and considered himself a public servant,” Tang says.
Yongzheng moved from the bigger Palace of Heavenly Purity to this hall, and he was said to handled more than 192,000 documents during his time in the West Warmth Chamber. events make Hong Kong a platform for the Palace Museum artifacts to make their global debut.
“The hall was the centerstage of politics during the Ming and Qing dynasties,” says Tang.
Meanwhile, multimedia has also been used to re-create the past, says Tang, pointing out that the different rulers’ personalities are reflected through the exhibits.
For instance, Emperor Qianlong, who ruled from 1736 to 1796, was known for collecting exquisite artworks, and the vases and enamel articles on display reveal his preference for flamboyance.
Qianlong was keen on Tibetan Buddhism, which is portrayed through the statues of the Buddha from his prayer room.
The Hall of Mental Cultivation also had a private study called the Room of Three Rarities, which is described by Tang as Qianlong’s own little corner to appreciate paintings and calligraphy.
The emperor had three rare pieces of calligraphy in this room. A replica of this room is also at the exhibition, and features 13 vases.
Tang says that the Hong Kong Museum of Art also contributed some of its treasures, like a scroll, attributed to the Song Dynasty (960-1127).
According to Shan Jixiang, the head of the Palace Museum, visitors to the original Hall of Mental
Connections between the Beijing Palace Museum and Hong Kong can be traced back to the time when Hong Kong philanthropist Ronnie Chan helped the Beijing museum reconstruct the Jianfugong Garden, which was burned down in 1923.
Chan then continued to sponsor other renovations within the Forbidden City.
For the ongoing renovation of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, his fund has donated 100 million yuan ($14.8 million), and this was followed by donations by other philanthropists from Hong Kong.
Other organizations in Hong Kong are also linking up with the Beijing Palace Museum.
For example, the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust is a regular Cultivation are now able to have only a glimpse of its interiors through locked windows. But, the public will be allowed into the rooms in the future.
As part of the preparations, a major renovation project is now on and will be completed by 2020.
The ongoing renovation means that cultural relics have been moved out of the hall. The exhibits in Hong Kong are part of the collection.
In 2007, the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China, the Palace Museum took its Along the River During the Qingming Festival landscape painting to the city for a major exhibition called Pride of China.
“But this time, we want to show other treasures,” says Shan.
“We’d like to tell the emperors’ stories.”
Before becoming the abode of the emperors, the Hall of Mental Cultivation was used for other purposes.
The Ming Emperor Jiajing, for instance, had his elixirs made there, and Emperor Kangxi, father of Yongzheng, used it as a workshop to produce artifacts. sponsor of the exhibitions.
The Beijing Palace Museum, besides introducing cultural relics to Hong Kong, is also helping it boost its global cultural links.
Last week, a two-day summit co-organized by the LCSD and the Beijing Palace Museum was held in Hong Kong. It was Hong Kong’s first such summit.
Cheung says: “With our unique geographical position as a cultural hub where East meets West, Hong Kong is committed to assuming the role of super connector by acting as a platform for professional exchanges among overseas museums and institutions on heritage conservation and museum practices.” Beijing museum’s