"The Majesty of All Under Heaven: The Eternal Realm of China's First Emperor" & "A Lofty Retreat from the Red Dust: The Secret Garden of Emperor Qianlong"

Date :
28 September 2012, Friday
Time :
09:45 Coach pickup at General Post Office, Central OR 10:30 meet at entrance of the HK Museum of History, 100 Chatham Road South, TST; 10:30–12:00 Guided tour at Museum of History; 12:00–12:30 Coach transfer to HK Cultural Centre; 12:30–13:30 Dim sum lunch on share-cost basis; 13:30–14:30 Guided tour at Museum of Art
Cost :
$250 Member; $300 Non-member; Free for student with valid ID
Limit :
25
Note :
The day's activity ends at the HK Museum of Art
Enquiries :
Yvonne Choi at [email protected] or 9132-1669

To celebrate the 15th anniversary of the establishment of HKSAR, the LCSD is presenting two important cultural exhibitions. The first exhibition, The Majesty of All Under Heaven: The Eternal Realm of China's First Emperor, is jointly presented with the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau and the second, A Lofty Retreat from the Red Dust: The Secret Garden of Emperor Qianlong, is jointly presented with the Beijing Palace Museum.

The Society is privileged to organize two guided tours with curators of both exhibitions – Curator Brian K.F. Lam and Assistant Curator Nai-kwan Wong from the Museum of History, and Curator Rose Wing Chong Lee from the Museum of Art.

At the HK Museum of History – The Majesty of All Under Heaven: The Eternal Realm of China's First Emperor

Qin dynasty was an epoch-making era in Chinese history that witnessed the unification of China. The first Emperor established a centralized bureaucracy and a unified political system; standard laws were enforced over the country; the systems of weights and measures, currency and writings were standardized; and cross-border transportation and communication were improved by introducing the chidao (expressways) system. The completion of the Great Wall fortified frontier defense. All these policies reinforced the central administration that eventually emerged as the prototype of China's imperial rule for the following millennia.

This exhibition presents about 120 sets of cultural relics of the Qin, including terra cotta warriors and horses, lifelike acrobat figures, and rarely seen bronze objects.

Speaker
Brian K.F. Lam joined the Hong Kong Museum of History in the 1990s. Between 2004 and 2006, he was posted to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum. Returning to the Museum of History in 2007, he took up his present post in the Research and Exhibition unit and helped arrange special exhibition programmes for the museum, including Heavenly Horse: The Horse in Chinese Art and Culture; Legends of Luxury and Elegance: Lifestyles of the Han Nobility; and Centenary of China's 1911 Revolution.

At the HK Museum of Art – A Lofty Retreat from the Red Dust: The Secret Garden of Emperor Qianlong

The Qianlong Garden, also known as Ningshougong Garden, is located in the northeastern corner of the Forbidden City. It is a complex built by Emperor Qianlong for his enjoyment after his retirement and has long remained unknown to the public. Now that the Garden has been restored to its former splendour, some of the beautiful objects in it have been revealed to the world.

Featuring 75 sets of paintings and calligraphy, furniture, mural paintings, architectural elements and religious art, the exhibition attempts to study the cultural significance of the traditional Chinese royal garden, as well as the Emperor's philosophical thoughts and religious beliefs, his pursuit of longevity and eternal bliss as reflected in the intriguing design of the Garden and its artifacts. The exhibition gallery is designed to reproduce the sense of intimacy and the allure of the Garden.

Speaker
Rose Wing Chong Lee graduated from the Department of Fine Arts at the HKU and later obtained the Graduate Diploma in Museum Studies from the University of Sydney. She has participated in the International Curatorial Training Programme of the British Museum. Lee is currently the Curator of Chinese Antiquities at the HK Museum of Art, looking after the collections and the programme of Chinese Antiquities, Historical Pictures and the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware. She actively collaborates with collectors and museums in the mainland and overseas. In addition to curating A Lofty Retreat from the Red Dust – The Secret Garden of Emperor Qianlong, Lee has handled numerous other exhibitions, including Heaven's Embroidered Cloths; National Treasures – Gems of China's Cultural Relics; Egyptian Treasures from the British Museum; and The Art of Mark Rothko.

* Above information sourced from the museums' websites.