Till recently, Beijing’s Palace Museum, located in the centre of the Forbidden City, has a vast collection of Chinese art and artefacts and the collection spans 5000 years of history. Of these, 900 precious objects are on display at the brand-new Hong Kong Palace Museum.
This display, provided as a gift by the Chinese government is on display to mark the 25th anniversary of the city’s handover from English to Mainland Chinese rule. The museum sparked controversy when Hong Kong’s then leader – Carrie Lam announced it in 2016, due to the government not consulting with the public on the decision.
The Beijing Palace Museum (boasting of a 1.8 million strong collection), has, on a long-term loan, provided the Hong Kong Museum with rare paintings, calligraphic works, ceramics, jade and more. It is “unprecedented at every level,” according to Hong Kong museum’s chairman Bernard Chan.
“This is the first time ever that large quantities of these national treasures are being taken out … to another cultural institution, so you can imagine the complexity behind it,” he adds, citing challenges around transportation, security and insurance, which itself took a collection of around 100 insurance companies worldwide to resolve.
The new museum, built using a $3.5 billion HKD ($450 million) donation by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, opened just in time for this week’s handover anniversary. With the pandemic raging, curating proved a difficult task. “When I was a curator in the United States, I spent three years working on one exhibition. Now I have three years to work on nine exhibitions,” said deputy director Daisy Wang Yiyou.
According to the CNN, the stunning artifacts, 166 of which are considered “grade-one national treasures,” feature in thematic shows, including one exploring aspects of imperial life in the Forbidden City and another focused on innovative design and production techniques. Elsewhere, an exhibition of art inspired by horses juxtaposes works from the Forbidden City with pieces on loan from the Louvre in Paris. Some of the objects have never been seen in public before, including two recently restored sketches of empresses.
The museum is in line with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s vision of the “Chinese Dream,” or “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” This envisions an economically strong and influential China intertwined with its past glories.
