Source: China News Network
Zheng Xinmiao: Why should cultural relics exchanges be both going out and bringing in?
China News Service, Beijing, 5 January: Why should cultural relics exchanges be necessary to go out and bring in?
Dictation / Zheng Xinmiao Former Vice Minister of Culture, Former President of the Palace Museum Collation / China News Weekly reporter Bao Anqi
At the end of 1998, I left the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and walked into the Old North Red Chamber to serve as the deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and began my career as a cultural artist. In September 2002, I was transferred to the Vice Minister of Culture and Director of the Palace Museum, from "noodles" to "points", but this is not an ordinary point. The Forbidden City has the identity of both "palace" and "courtyard", is a world cultural heritage, and is also an internationally renowned museum.
The Palace Museum in Beijing, photographed on September 10, 2020. Photo by Du Yang, a reporter from China News Service
I am a "halfway monk" in cultural relics work, but I have broadened my horizons through continuous research and study, and I have a deeper understanding of ancient Chinese civilization. As the carrier of history and civilization, cultural relics carry our cultural memory, are the witness of materialized history and civilization, are realistic and long-term spiritual and cultural resources, and are also the most concrete and perceptible bridges for communicating human culture and emotions in different time and space.
In May 2006, Mr. Zheng Xinmiao gave a special lecture entitled "The Forbidden City and Young Students" at the Museum of Ancient Architecture in Beijing. China News Service reporter Zhang Qin photographed
Cultural relics "breaking the ice": "difficult for the king" beads are combined
During my tenure at the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Forbidden City, I have participated in many exhibitions, but I am most impressed by the two exhibitions. I am very fortunate to be able to seize the opportunity, the big waves of the times, the waves of life, and a lot of emotions.
In 2008, the National Palace Museum in Taipei was preparing for the Yongzheng Exhibition, and with plans to borrow exhibits from the Forbidden City in Beijing, he took the opportunity to come to Beijing to participate in a cultural event to explore the possibility of borrowing the exhibition. After hearing the report, I immediately agreed and expressed the hope that the two chambers would cooperate further in the future.
After consultation, Zhou Gongxin, president of the National Palace Museum in Taipei, visited the Palace Museum in Beijing in February 2009, which was called the "ice-breaking journey". The two sides reached eight consensuses and established an exhibition exchange mechanism.
In October 2009, the "Yongzheng - Qing Shizong Cultural Relics Exhibition" was held in the National Palace in Taipei, and 37 cultural relics were loaned out of the Forbidden City in Beijing. The theme of this exhibition is "Difficult for the King", and the opening cultural relic "For the King" seal is the collection of the Forbidden City in Beijing. The "Twelve Beauties" lent by the Forbidden City in Beijing shows a Ruyao kiln oval pot, which is the collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei. The precious cultural relics of the two sides of the strait reunited at this exhibition, so that the exhibits have extraordinary integrity and representativeness, making this exhibition a veritable exhibition. Colleagues from the Forbidden City on both sides of the strait also reunited after separating for a whole year.
On October 6, 2009, Zheng Xinmiao, then president of the National Palace Museum in Beijing, presented the "QingQianlong Dynasty Qingwen Dazang Classic" to the National Palace Museum in Taipei, and Zhou Gongxin, then president of the National Palace museum in Taipei, returned the "Qing Kangxi Dynasty Tibetan Literature Dragon Classic". "Yongzheng - Qing Shizong Cultural Relics Exhibition" was launched at the National Palace Museum in Taipei on the 7th. Photo by Huang Shaohua, a reporter from China News Service
Cultural Relics Diplomacy: "Sheng Shi Hua Zhang" Re-Launches "China Fever"
Another exhibition that impressed me was the exhibition "Sheng Shi Hua Zhang: China: 1662-1795".
In the past hundred years, the Burlington Palace at the Royal College of Art in London has played an important role in the cultural and artistic exchanges between China and britain.
In 1935, the Burlington Palace held the "International Exposition of Chinese Art", and China selected and sent 1,022 cultural relics from a number of cultural institutions and individuals, including 735 pieces of the Forbidden City. This is the first time that Chinese cultural relics have been exhibited abroad in Chongyang, and it has also opened the first page of the Palace Museum's foreign cultural exchanges. The Exhibition of Cultural Relics Unearthed in the People's Republic of China in September 1973 was also held at the Burlington Palace in the United Kingdom, and the response was strong.
In 2005, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the Palace Museum, it cooperated with the Royal College of Art to select more than 400 cultural relics and held the exhibition "Sheng Shi Hua Zhang China: 1662-1795" at the Burlington Palace, which once again set off a Chinese cultural fever in the UK.
What I felt most deeply about this exhibition was that the two sides attached great importance to communication and full consultation.
The British side originally proposed a catalogue of exhibits including many famous calligraphy and paintings in the past, there are too many first-class products, it is unlikely to be approved, and some cultural relics are not suitable for overseas exhibition due to their own storage status. To this end, the Forbidden City held friendly consultations with the British side, proposing to take the achievements of the Kang, Yong, and Qian dynasties as the main theme, culture and art. After repeated consultations, the understanding was unified, and the final result was satisfactory to both sides.
In order to coincide with President Hu Jintao's state visit to the United Kingdom in early November 2005, the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom did its work on the Royal Academy of The United Kingdom, and the Palace Museum also agreed to lend precious exhibits and give preferential treatment in fees, which finally prompted the other party to withdraw from the scheduled other exhibitions and withdraw from the venue to carry out in advance.
As the head of the Chinese delegation, I went to London to attend the opening ceremony. On November 9, 2005, President Hu Jintao and his wife and Queen Elizabeth jointly attended the opening ceremony and cut the ribbon. During the visit, President Hu Jintao happily introduced the exhibits to the Queen, and his pride and pride overflowed into words, especially he made a detailed explanation of the characteristic cultural relics such as the "Huichang Jiulaotu" Jade Mountain and Tibetan Buddhist Cultural Relics, which felt like a host receiving the Queen's visit.
The exhibition was a successful "diplomacy of antiquities" campaign. In this process, you can feel the other party's respect for Chinese and Chinese culture.
In 1935, the exhibition of English objects was on the eve of the "Lugou Bridge Incident", and the cultural relics of the Forbidden City were moved south, and the cultural relics for the Exhibition in Britain were selected from the cultural relics moved south. At that time, the country was weak and poor, the Chinese nation had reached the most critical moment, and China, with a glorious history of civilization, had no place in the international community. A gentleman from the Palace Museum who went to the United Kingdom to hold an exhibition said with great feeling: "The husband art exhibition in Britain has been a sensation, if it is said that it can increase diplomatic relations and enhance international status, although it is not a matter of wood seeking fish, it is also such as mirror flowers and water moons." ”
Cultural "soft power": speaking from real "things"
After the founding of New China, the Chinese nation stood on its own among the nations of the world, and after the reform and opening up, China's comprehensive national strength was increasing, its influence was increasing, and the long-standing Chinese culture became China's "soft power".
On October 30, 2013, the "'Ink China' Chinese Painting Masterpieces British Exhibition" opened at the Royal College of Art. Photo by Zhou Zhaojun, a reporter of China News Service
Norman Rosenthal, director of the exhibition department at the Royal Academy of Arts, said in an interview with the media that people now have a strong interest in China, especially in the business world. Everyone is saying "China is the future" and everyone wants to connect with China. Its opening over the past 20 years has been truly impressive. He said that the Forbidden City has an astonishingly large collection, that everything is boxed up in Taiwan is purely untrue, and that most of the masterpieces of the Qing Dynasty remain in the Forbidden City.
Mr. Rosenthal also said the exhibition wanted to tell a story about China and its history. In the 18th century, China was one of the two most important empires in the world, and in Europe it corresponded to the world of France and Versailles. In order to tell this story well, exhibition boards, guides, explainers, etc. are prepared, but all of this is an auxiliary means, and ultimately depends on the audience. He said: "You can't indoctrinate, and I don't want to do that. ”
On October 21, 2014, the "Han Feng - Chinese Han Dynasty Cultural Relics Exhibition" was grandly opened at the Asian Art Museum in Kyrgyzstan, France. Photo by Long Jianwu, China News Service
I think he spoke particularly well. We say "cultural relics diplomacy", but holding exhibitions is only an auxiliary means of diplomacy. Culture is a subtle thing, cultural relics are spoken through real "things", which is different from ear to ear to face to teach people, but silent is better than sound, spring wind and rain.
Since entering the 21st century, China's cultural relics exchanges and cooperation with foreign countries have become increasingly active, the exhibition work has entered the track of rule of law, and the exhibition of cultural relics has become a "national business card" for China to spread Chinese culture to the world, which not only plays a special role in foreign cultural exchanges, but also becomes a highlight in bilateral activities such as the National Year and the Cultural Year.
I think that the exchange of cultural relics must go out and be introduced, which is a must-have mind in China. World civilizations are diverse, and it is precisely because they are integrated with each other that they are wonderful. As General Secretary Xi Jinping said: "Civilizations exchange because of diversity, learn from each other because of exchanges, and develop because of mutual learning." (End)
On November 28, 2019, the first Civilization Exchange and Mutual Learning Dialogue was held at the Palace Museum in Beijing. The participants exchanged and discussed the theme of "building a beautiful world of exchanges and mutual learning and harmonious coexistence among different civilizations". Photo by Du Yang, a reporter from China News Service
Respondent Profiles:
Zheng Xinmiao, born in 1947, is a special researcher of the Central Museum of Culture and History. He once served as vice governor of Qinghai Province, deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, vice minister of culture, and president of the Palace Museum. He is the author of "Introduction to the Forbidden City", "Lu Xun and Religious Culture", "New Theory of Socialist Culture", "Policy Science" and "Zheng Xinmiao's Poetry Manuscript".