The New HKMoA and New Experiences

Established in 1962, as the city’s first public art museum, the Hong Kong Museum of Art witnessed the change of the cultural landscape in Hong Kong for over half a century. From 2015-2019, HKMoA has been closed for a large-scale renovation and expansion, during which the museum also conducted a rebranding exercise and reviewed its role within the ecology of Hong Kong, in the region and the world. Since its reopening in late 2019, the museum offers, apart from a newly renovated building, a new brand and new curatorial approach to showcase Hong Kong’s cultural legacy and art lineage. The talk will offer an overview of the museum’s transformation, its new position and new approaches to tell a Hong Kong Story.

Dr. Maria Kar-wing MOK joined the Hong Kong Museum of Art in 1996 and is currently Museum Director. She specialises in China trade paintings with a research focus on dating and authentication.

Having served as Curator in various departments including China Trade Art, Chinese Antiquities, Modern and Hong Kong Art, and Education and Extension Services, Dr. Mok has extensive experience in curating and spearheading a vast number of exhibitions and educational programmes. She has published extensively on artistic interactions of global trade, and co-authored Images of the Canton Factories 1760-1822: Reading History in Art (HKU Press: 2015). Dr. Mok holds a BA in Fine Arts Studies, an MA in Chinese Historical Studies on Guangdong decorative arts of the Qing dynasty, a PhD in China trade painting, and a graduate diploma in Museum Studies.

Hong Kong Museum of Art

Creating Value: A Case Study of the Bei Shan Tang Rubbings Collection

The Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong houses a total of 3,504 pieces of Chinese rubbings, 60% of which were donated by Lee family’s Bei Shan Tang. Through recent research, we reacquainted this rubbings collection, and in 2015 named 10 exquisite rubbings ‘Ten Treasures of Bei Shan Tang’, plus ‘The Langting Preface from the Grand Councillor You Si Collection’, a total of 20 Song rubbings, got public affirmation. Publication of catalogues, selection for the National Catalogue of Precious Ancient Books and outgoing exhibitions create value for the rubbings collection. In 2023, the special exhibition of rare rubbings jointly organised by the Art Museum and Beijing Palace Museum, and sponsored by the Bei Shan Tang Foundation, showcase the twenty precious rubbings, calligraphy and objects at the symbolic venue the Hall of Literary Brilliance, further enhance the culture value and connotation of the Bei Shan Tang rubbings collection. In addition to the excellent quality, this Bei Shan Tang rubbings collection also marks the continuation and rebirth of the mid-Qing Guangdong collecting culture and tradition in Hong Kong and is a vital and indispensable part of Hong Kong’s cultural history.

Dr. Peggy Pik-ki HO is Research Fellow at Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. In recent years, she has curated exhibitions and published catalogues for the Art Museum’s Guangdong painting and calligraphy collection, and collaborated on the special exhibition of rare rubbings with the Palace Museum, Beijing. Dr. Ho is also a member of Xiling Seal Engraver’s Society, focusing on Chinese rubbings, painting and calligraphy and literati culture.

During her tenure at the Art Museum, Dr. Ho nominated 20 precious rubbings of the museum collection, including ‘Ten Treasures of Bei Shan Tang’ and ‘Lanting Preface from the Collection of the Southern Song Grand Councillor You Si’, which were subsequently approved and included in the ‘National Catalogue of Precious Ancient Books’ by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China. This was the first time that an institution in Hong Kong had been included in the list.

Dr. Peggy Ho obtained her PhD from Taiwan University. Her select publications include Reflections on History of Chinese Calligraphy: Case Studies on the History of Calligraphy in the Qing Dynasty, Rubbings Connoisseurship, and Research Method (2022), Artistic Confluence in Guangdong: Selected Painting and Calligraphy from Ming to Mid-Qing China (Collection of the Art Museum, CUHK) (2021), The History of Model Calligraphy from the Imperial Archives of the Chunhua Era [Chunhua getie shihua] (2017), and The Bei Shan Tang Legacy: Rubbings of Stone Engraving and Model Calligraphy (2015).

The Stele for Xia Cheng (Former Collection of Zhenshang [True Connoisseurship] Studio)
Album leaves, ink rubbing on paper, 11th-12th century
42 leaves, each leaf 26.4 × 15.6 cm
Collection of Art Museum CUHK, Gift of Bei Shan Tang
Accession no.: 1981.0126
National Catalogue of Precious Ancient Books no.: 11471

Lanting Preface from the Collection of the Southern Song Grand Councillor You Si, No. 2 (The Imperial Court Version with the Ling Character Topped by a Shan Radical)
Original manuscript by Wang Xizhi, free hand copy of Zhao Gou, Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty
Album leaves, ink rubbing on paper, 12th century
7 leaves, each leaf 26.2 × 12.5 cm
Collection of Art Museum CUHK, Gift of Bei Shan Tang
Accession no.: 1973.0618
National Catalogue of Precious Ancient Books no.: 11475

Fu Shen
“Ten Treasures of Bei Shan Tang” in Running Script
2015
Ink on paper, vertical scroll
136.7 × 35 cm
Collection of Art Museum CUHK
Gift of Prof. Fu Shen
Accession no.: 2016.0026

Ms. Jan STUART is the Melvin R. Seiden Curator of Chinese Art at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Asia Art (NMAA, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery). A member of the Senior Leadership Team at the NMAA, her curatorial focus is primarily on arts of the Song to Qing dynasty, also with an interest in contemporary art. Her recent research features kuancai (aka Coromandel) lacquer screens, and she is the lead editor for a forthcoming multidisciplinary book the Freer Gallery’s Chinese ceramic collection.

Prior to her current role at NMAA, Ms. Stuart was Keeper of Asia (Department Chair) at the British Museum from 2006 to 2014, and before that a curator at the Freer and Sackler. She received the Secretary of the Smithsonian’s Research Award for her international exhibition and book with collaborator Daisy Yiyou Wang, Empresses of China’s Forbidden City, 1644–1912. Ms. Stuart lectures frequently, including having presented the 2019 Tang Lecture Series at Princeton University on the ‘Art of Assemblage: Interior Display in Ming-Qing China’. At the British Museum, in addition to senior management, Ms. Stuart led projects for a new gallery to house the Sir Percival David Collection of Chinese ceramics and a new gallery display of the painting, Admonitions from the Instructress to Court Ladies. She holds degrees from Yale and Princeton Universities.

Facilitating cross-cultural understanding: China and Europe——The new gallery of Chinese court art at the Museum für Asiatische Kunst in Berlin

In the fall of 2021, the new Museum für Asiatische Kunst reopened its doors in a new location in the city center of Berlin. The new building is a reconstruction of the old Berliner Schloss (Berlin Palace), which served as the main residence of the kings of Prussia and the German emperors. One of the most spectacular galleries in the entire building, the new gallery ‘China and Europe’ takes a cross-cultural approach by illuminating the reciprocal artistic influences between these cultures.

Conceived as a Gesamtkunstwerk by the Pritzker Prize-winning architect Wang Shu, the new gallery was designed as a throne room. It provides insights into Chinese art from multiple perspectives on the role art has played in military conflicts, peace and ever-changing international power relationships. Although focused on the 18th century, it not only encompasses the imperial period; contemporary works in sculpture and video link the past and the present. In addition, comprehensive media stations offer visitors the opportunity to digitally explore historical contexts, art-historical developments, collection history and provenance information for the artworks.

From paintings by or made under the supervision of European Jesuits and works commissioned by the Qianlong emperor (r. 1736–1795) in Paris, to Chinoiserie in Prussian art and 20th century state gifts, by connecting China and Europe, and particularly also China and colonial and postwar Germany and their dynamic history of cultural exchange this talk aims at demonstrating how this gallery plays a pivotal role in fostering cross-cultural understanding through art and invites discussions on how to improve this type of gallery concept.

Dr. Birgitta AUGUSTIN is Curator of Chinese art at the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (SMB; in English: Asian Art Museum, National Museums in Berlin), which recently moved to the city center of Berlin. She is in charge of three gallery spaces: ‘Art and Cult’, sacred arts; ‘Artists and Connoisseurs’, secular arts; and ‘China and Europe’, court arts from China (the latter conceived by the Pritzker Prize-winning architect Wang Shu). Currently, she is curating a two-part exhibition of 17th-century Chinese painting and calligraphy from the former Mochan Shanzhuang Collection, which will be shown from September 1, 2023, to August 30, 2024. Besides curation, she is a contributing member of several task forces on provenance issues, including the SMB Directorate General Roundtable Provenance Research in archaeological Collections, and the SMB Consortium project ‘Traces of the “Boxer War” in German Museum Collections’.

Dr. Augustin was formerly the Associate Curator of Asian Art and Acting Head of the Department of the Arts of Asia and the Islamic World at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA). Prior to DIA, she was a Research Associate in the Asian Art Department at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met). She has co-curated and worked on several loan exhibitions, such as ‘The World of Khubilai Khan’, ‘Chinese Art in the Yuan dynasty’ (Met), ‘Samurai beyond the Sword’ (DIA), and ‘Faces of China, Portrait Painting of the Ming and Qing Dynasties’ (SMB). While co-curating the ‘China and Europe’ gallery at the SMB, she collaborated with contemporary artists such as Wang Shu, Lu Wenyu and Lin Haizhong.

Dr. Augustin received her Ph.D. from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, with research interest focusing on Chinese painting and calligraphy of the Yuan dynasty. Her research has appeared in several art magazines and academic journals in addition to museum catalogue essays and entries. A J. S. Lee Memorial Fellow (2016/17), she spent 6 months at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, where she conducted research on works related to Zhang Yu (1283–1350) in the collection.

View into the gallery ‘China and Europe, Art between War and Peace’. Design by Wang Shu, Museum für Asiatische Kunst © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss / Photograph: David von Becker

Display of a Chinoiserie tapestry made in Berlin (Prussia, 18th century) in the northeast corner of the gallery ‘China and Europe, Art between War and Peace’. Design by Wang Shu, © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss / Photograph: David von Becker

Display of a selection from the state gift of the People’s Republic of China to the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) in 1949 on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of both countries in the gallery ‘China and Europe, Art between War and Peace’. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss / Photograph: David von Becker

Interpretation and Reconstruction of World Civilization: On Suzhou Museum’s International Cooperation Exhibition

Museums play a crucial role as public service institutions, responsible for interpreting and sharing different cultures with the audience by carrying out international exchanges and collaboration in more diversified ways. In September 2021, the West Branch of Suzhou Museum opened its doors to the public. In developing its exhibition structure, the Suzhou Museum placed significant emphasis on fostering international collaboration and set up a special ‘International Cooperation Gallery’. As part of this effort, they dedicated a promising partnership with the British Museum, which focuses on a series of exhibitions highlighting the History of World Civilization. Leveraging visitor research, the Suzhou Museum aims to gradually introduce the public to World Art History by uniquely analyzing, interpreting, and reconstructing various aspects of global civilization. This endeavor takes the form of an annual exhibition series, with each year exploring the themes such as Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, Ancient Babylon and Ancient Egypt.

Ms. XIE Xiaoting currently serves as the Director and Researcher of Suzhou Museum. She is also recognised as a ‘333 High-level Talent’ of Jiangsu Province and serves as Chairman of the Youth Working Committee of the Chinese Museum Association.

Ms. Xie has overseen numerous award-winning exhibitions including the special exhibition ‘Wu School Painting Series: The Art of Wen Zhengming’, named one of the National Top Ten Museum Exhibitions in 2013; ‘Italian Renaissance Drawings from the British Museum’, which won the International and Hong Kong-Macao-Taiwan Cooperation Award from the National Top Ten Museum Exhibitions in 2016; and the special exhibition ‘Dreams and Spirits of Handicraftsmen—The Historical Memory of Neo-Suzhou Style Craft’, selected as a Key Recommended Project for ‘Promoting Excellent Chinese Traditional Culture and Fostering the Core Value of Chinese Socialism’ in 2021. Additionally, the book—Taiping Tianguo Prince Zhong’s Residence, which she served as executive editor, was awarded with the 2010 Top Ten Catalogues of National Cultural Heritage organised by the State Bureau of Cultural Relics. During her tenure as Director of Suzhou Museum, the exhibition ‘Pure Jiangnan Memories of Suzhou Crafts—Permanent Exhibition of Suzhou Museum West Branch’ was recognised as one of the 2022 National Top Ten Museum Exhibitions, and the museum received an ‘excellent’ rating from 2019 to 2021 in the Operational Assessment of National Level 1 Museums.

Ms. Xie has published more than 20 papers, including ‘Practical Experience and Future Prospects of Museum Cultural Product Development—a case study of Suzhou Museum’, ‘Scholarship and Accessibility of Museum Exhibitions’, ‘Museum Exhibitions and Youth Education’, ‘Contributions and Reflections of Museum Education in a Learning Society—a case study of Suzhou Museum’s “Museum School”’ and the publication Concept, Practice and Reflections of Museum Exhibition Planning.

Rome: City and Empire

Ancient Greeks: Athletes, Warriors and Heroes

Cultural Creativity in 19th Century China

The presentation will focus on the current exhibition ‘China’s Hidden Century’. The blockbuster show has been developed from a major research project which has involved an international network of scholars and other professionals. These men and women have supported the project in many ways. The project has challenged many different cultural boundaries and has tried to present some innovative approaches to displaying 19th century history. We hope we have created a platform for conversations about difficult subjects and situations and showcased the extraordinary creativity and resilience of people living through difficult times. The research and its outputs have straddled the years of the Covid pandemic, helping us understand the role physical boundaries play in our daily work. We have also negotiated extraordinarily difficult economic circumstances which provide another form of boundary to activity. The project has been situated within a very new landscape of social media which both transcends boundaries and establishes restrictions. Yet it has emerged as an exhibition and books which have engaged relatively young audiences in their thousands. This has permitted us to engage in conversations which transcend traditional cultural boundaries and hopefully opens up new opportunities for future research.

Ms. Jessica HARRISON-HALL is Head of the China Section, Curator of the Sir Percival David Collection, Chinese Ceramics and Decorative Arts at the British Museum. She was lead curator for 2 permanent galleries at the British Museum—one a beautiful space with 1,700 Chinese ceramics from the Sir Percival David Collection and the other devoted to a history of China from the Neolithic to the present which is shown in the Sir Joseph Hotung Gallery for China and South Asia. She has led 2 major Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) projects—one with Prof. Craig Clunas and Dr. Yu-ping Luk (2012-2016) investigating early Ming courts and their contacts and the other with Prof. Julia Lovell and Wenyuan Xin (2018-2024) researching cultural creativity and resilience in China’s long 19th century. She has authored and co-authored 10 books including China: A History in Objects which is now translated into 6 languages. Most recently she has worked with 400 people across 20 countries to create the blockbuster exhibition China’s Hidden Century. The AHRC research project has resulted in two books edited by Harrison-Hall and Lovell—China’s Hidden Century and Creators of Modern China 100 lives from empire to republic 1796—1912. Both books are currently being translated into Chinese for publication in 2024 together with the conference volume China’s 1800s: Material and Visual Culture.

‘China’s Hidden Century’ gallery views © The Trustees of the British Museum

Shelves of books in the British Museum bookshop

‘China’s Hidden Century’ gallery installation

Echoes with the World: Shanghai Museum's Vision and Practice in International Exhibitions

As an important venue for international cultural exchange in mainland China, the Shanghai Museum has long persisted in introducing Chinese culture and art to the world, and meanwhile it has brought art and civilization from all over the world to China, working as a window to see the world outside. In the past decades, the Shanghai Museum has experienced several stages, witnessing Sino-mania, globalization, and the challenge of the pandemic. In each of the stages, the museum has always adhered to the determination of conducting exchanges and dialogues with the world. This presentation, through the case study of several exhibitions, will elaborate how to express the uniqueness of Chinese art and its connection, contribution to the world, and convey the voice of Chinese museum professionals by demonstrating the thoughts, vision, selection and practice of Shanghai Museum’s international exchanges in different periods.

Dr. CHU Xin is Deputy Head of Exhibitions at the Shanghai Museum, where she specialises in the research of ancient jade and Chinese art history and is responsible for overseeing the planning and implementation of various international exhibition projects. In 2023, she serves as Chief Curator of the blockbuster exhibition Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London. Dr. Chu is also Adjunct Associate Professor at Fudan University.

Prior to Shanghai Museum, Dr. Chu taught in the Department of Cultural Heritage and Museology at Fudan University and served as Guest Curator at the Art Museum, CUHK, as well as Research Scholar at the Huntington Library, Art Gallery and Botanical Gardens in Los Angeles. She has contributed and edited multiple academic books and exhibition catalogues, in addition to translating books and papers in Chinese art from English to Chinese. Since joining the Museum in May 2018, she and her team have delivered more than 30 special exhibitions, 9 of which were awarded Shanghai’s Top Ten Museum Exhibitions and 4 won at the National level. Dr. Chu was once supported by the Shanghai Pujiang Programme and the Overseas High-Level Talent Recruitment Programme.

Tang Shipwreck Exhibition in 2020

Poster of the exhibition ‘West Encounters East: A Cultural Dialogue between Chinese and European Ceramics’

Visitors at the exhibition ‘Masterpieces from National Gallery, London’ in 2023

Prof. XU Xiaodong is Associate Director and Senior Researcher of the Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Her research interests include history of Chinese jade, gold and silver, amber, imperial arts of the Ming and Qing dynasties, export arts and artistic interactions between ancient China and the West.

Prior, Prof. Xu served as Keeper and Researcher at The Palace Museum in Beijing from 2007 to 2013. She has published books including Ancient Chinese Amber Art (2011), Jade of the Liao Dynasty (2003), and Jade in the Collection of The Palace Museum (2014), in addition to more than 60 articles and catalogue entries. Having curated more than 10 exhibitions, she has also served as editor in chief of catalogues including Heavenly Crafted: Selected Mughal Jades from The Palace Museum (2015), Jewels of Transcendence: Himalayan and Mongolian Treasures (2018), Gold of Glory: History, Craft and Interaction (2020), and Sparkle and Charm: Canton Enamels of the Qing Dynasty (2022–23).

Prof. Xu holds a BA from the Department of Chinese at Peking University, and an MPhil and a PhD from the Department of Fine Arts at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Localisation and Internationalisation: On the Operation of Small and Medium-sized Museums

Among the total of 6,565 museums in the country, the majority are small to medium-sized regional museums. The sound management of these small and medium-sized museums is crucial for ensuring the sustainable development and future of the entire museum industry in China.

Taking the serial practice of the Wuzhong Museum as an example, this speech, through the elaboration of exhibitions and activities, including ‘Earthly Paradise: Digital Exhibition of Wu County Cultural Relics’, ‘Sail for Mountains and Rivers: Gorgeous Landscape of Jiangnan’, and ‘Monumentality in Trees: Stories of Ancient Famous Tress in Wu Region’, analyses how small and medium-sized museums can tap local resources, optimise their allocation, serve the audience, and build their brands and core competencies. The speech will also introduce the cultural collaboration between the Wuzhong Museum and different countries such as Italy, Korea, and France, and share how small and medium-sized museums can build an international perspective, develop international collaboration, and enhance the influence of museums while focusing on the local culture.

Mr. CHEN Zenglu has served as the Director and Research Fellow at the Museum of Wu since November 2019, focusing his research on museology and art history in recent years.

From 2003 to 2019, Mr. Chen was Head of the Education Department of the Shanghai Museum, dedicating himself to establishing the museum’s educational brand through leading education products and services. He has published over 40 academic papers and articles, and authored books such as Guide of the Shanghai Museum, Catalogue of the Wuzhong Museum, and Earthly Paradise: Landscape of Daily Life in Jiangnan. He has also curated the publication of over a hundred books in series such as New Knowledge in Museums, World Art, and Museum and Ancient Civilizations of the World. Additionally, he has led and participated in the curatorial work of many displays and exhibitions, and the exhibition design he led at the Museum of Wu was awarded one of the ‘China's Top 10 Museum Exhibitions’ in 2021.

Additionally, Mr. Chen initiated the Shanghai Museum Education Alliance and the Yangtze River Delta Museum Education Alliance. In 2018, he organised and curated the first Yangtze River Delta Museum Education Expo. He has also conducted a series of creative explorations and innovative practices in seeking to promote new operating models for small and medium-sized museums in China. Mr. Chen graduated with a major in archaeology from Peking University.

Exterior of the Museum of Wu

Permanent Exhibition of the Museum of Wu

Special Exhibition of the Museum of Wu: Earthly Paradise—Digital Exhibition of Wu County Cultural Relics

Reverberation: Community-minded Curation

‘Reverberation’ is an exceptional exhibition held at our museum in 2022, where we embarked on a unique journey of inviting members from local communities to respond to our collections through their own artistic expressions. This vibrant collaboration resulted in a thought-provoking and culturally rich exhibition, where both the chosen collections and the artworks created by the communities converged. Among the participating groups, we were thrilled to embrace the local Chinese painting and calligraphy enthusiasts, who found inspiration from our exquisite fan paintings collection and adeptly employed this traditional Chinese art form to immortalize the beauty of local scenes. Their work was poetically titled ‘Where my heat settles is where my home is (吾心安處是吾鄉)’, reflecting the deep emotional resonance they experienced during the artistic process. Community engagement lies at the heart of my curatorial efforts. A key approach I have been employing to foster deeper connections with our audience is through contextualization. By placing Chinese art, and Asian art, within relatable contexts, we ensure that our diverse communities can easily connect and appreciate the artistic expressions on display.

Dr. Heng WU is the Curator of Asian Art at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (AGGV), where she oversees a collection of Asian works—the second largest in Canada. Her curatorial focus has been the interpretation, presentation, and representation of Asian art and culture in global contexts, as well as the museum and its collections as an agent for promoting inter-cultural, trans-boundary, and cross-disciplinary communications. Dr. Wu also serves as Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Victoria teaching undergraduate courses in museum studies.

Prior to AGGV, Dr. Wu served as Associate Curator and Chief International Officer at the Nanjing Museum in China, where she developed and oversaw international exhibitions and programmes. She holds a PhD in museum studies from the University of Bergen in Norway, with a dissertation that explores the changes of regional museums in China during 1949–2009, focusing especially on their correlations with the country’s social political changes. She also received education in journalism and media studies in Shanghai.

Glocal: Blue and White at the AGGV, an exhibition on view at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria from January 2021 to May 2022.

A glimpse of the façade of the historic building that housed the gallery when it was established in 1951, now used as an office building.

Installation shot of the exhibition The Place We Live where Chinese and Japanese landscape paintings were positioned in the exhibition narrative that explores how artists convey their interpretations of the natural world, our place in it, and its place in us.

Collaborative Teaching: The Practice of Museum-school Partnership Programmes

Museums engage in dialogue and communication with their audiences through exhibitions, with the goals of knowledge transmission and audience engagement. To serve audiences of different attributes, museums design age-appropriate educational activities in accordance with the themes of their exhibitions. Both museums and schools have educational functions, but museums have the advantage of utilising cultural artefacts and resources to plan exhibitions on various topics, presenting different historical and cultural narratives from multiple perspectives, thereby enabling a more systematic and diverse learning experience for visitors.

Currently, the education scene in Taiwan emphasizes integrated teaching across subjects. Teachers are gradually shifting from single-subject instruction to topic-oriented thematic curricula, designing interdisciplinary teaching materials and utilising external resources to supplement school instruction. Museums have long maintained a positive relationship with schools, and conducting educational programmes in museums allows students to go beyond the confines of traditional textbooks, enabling them to personally experience the tangible artefacts and exhibition contents while enhancing their aesthetic experiences and broadening their cultural perspectives.

In the rapidly changing 21st century, teachers' instructional models and resource utilisation have become more diverse and abundant. The demand for teaching goes beyond providing guided tour services. For museums, the key lies in how they can collaborate with teachers to optimise school curricula. How can museums encourage teachers to bring children to museums and enjoy a wonderful visiting experience? This presentation will introduce the various resources and collaboration models offered by museums in Taiwan to schools amidst recent policy changes in education. Ms. Deng will speak from her own experience on the process of collaborating with school teachers in designing curricula, allowing participants to understand the various possible forms of museum-school collaboration in the current context.

Ms. DENG Shin-Jye is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Arts and Design Department at Taipei University of Education, specialising in interdisciplinary museum studies. Her areas of expertise cover museum education, audience engagement, and museum-school collaborations. Her current research focuses on how to assist teachers in using museum resources to design interdisciplinary school curricula around topical issues.

Prior, Ms. Deng worked in museum education at institutions in Taipei such as the Evergreen Maritime Museum and the Taipei Confucius Temple Governing Board, with a focus on executing museum-school collaborative projects. She has published journal articles such as ‘Evaluation of Visitor Behavior and Display Strategies for Chinese Artifacts’ (2016), ‘A Study on Visitor Motivation and Learning Satisfaction at the Discovery Center of Taipei’ (2011), ‘I Will Carry You: The Impact of Museums on Formal Education’ (2022), and more.

Ms. Deng holds a Master's degree from the Graduate Institute of Museum Studies Institute of Fu Jen Catholic University and completed an internship in the Department of Chinese Art at the Peabody Essex Museum in the United States during her studies.

Reflection and artwork sharing in the classroom

Close observation of artefacts

Briefing on the learning tasks for the gallery tour

Latitude and Longitude of Curating: Traditional Chinese Art in Contemporary Communal Artspaces

This presentation aims to use the artspace Oi! as an example to explore the intersection of, and connection points between, contemporary art and traditional Chinese art, and to extend the discussion to the feasibility of curating exhibitions with sustainable initiatives. In recent years, incorporating contemporary elements into traditional art displays has become an important trend and process of exploration in major museums. Conversely, can contemporary artspaces serve as a bridge between classical art and contemporary daily life? Oi!, a contemporary artspace established in 2013, invited avant-garde art curators to respond to contemporary art practices.

Since the opening of the new Oi! extension in 2022, we have attempted to break down barriers. In organising the ‘Archaic Curator Series’, we invited traditional Chinese art historians as guest curators to curate themes related to traditional Chinese art in a new architectural space. We also invited contemporary artists to create artworks with their personal artistic style and to respond from a current perspective. Featuring ancient and modern aesthetic experiences in a contemporary artspace that is connected to the community, the exhibition series is an attempt on contemporary narratives and curating.

Dr. Lesley LAU Fung Ha is Head of the Art Promotion Office (APO). She is also the Founding Curator of APO and the artspace Oi! in Hong Kong.

Previously, Dr. Lau held positions at the Hong Kong Museum of Art, the Hong Kong Heritage Museum and the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre, etc. She has extensively navigated both traditional and contemporary art fields, presented and published papers related to her academic research and specialties, which cover the areas of Chinese export art and trade port culture from the 17th to 19th centuries, as well as social innovation and urban regeneration of public art in Hong Kong.

Dr. Lau holds a PhD in Chinese art history from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and a Graduate Diploma in Museum Studies from the University of Sydney. She is a J. S. Lee Memorial Fellow (2010/11) and spent 4 months at The British Museum, where she conducted research on the museum’s Chinese export art collection. She was also a research fellow at the Peabody Essex Museum and its Philips Library.

Oi! contemporary artspace

Education corner of Informa ‘Seon1’ Station

Gallery display of the ‘Archaic Curator Series’ exhibition

Dr. Jay XU has been Director and CEO of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco since 2008 and is the first Chinese American director at a major art museum in the United States. An award-winning scholar of Chinese art, Dr. Xu focuses his academic research particularly on ancient Chinese bronzes and archaeology, and has also worked on topics in Chinese painting and calligraphy, Chinese ceramics, history of Chinese art collecting and museum development, and contemporary Chinese art. He lectures extensively on Asian art, including contemporary art, and on museum practice.

Dr. Xu has had forty years of international museum experience, having served as Head of the Asian Art department and Chairman of the Department of Asian and Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (2003–08), Curator of Chinese art at the Seattle Art Museum (1996–2003), Research Fellow at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1995–96), and assistant to the museum director at the Shanghai Museum (1983–1990). He is a member of the Committee of 100 and the first Asian American museum director elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He also serves as board member or advisor for various institutions in the US and in China, including the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Department of Art and Archaeology at Princeton University, Harvard Art Museums, Tang Center for Silk Road Studies in UC Berkeley, Shanghai Museum, Wen C. Fong Center for Chinese Art & Archaeology at the Tsinghua University Art Museum, Chengdu Museum, and more. Dr. Xu holds an MA and a PhD in early Chinese art and archaeology from Princeton University.

Mirroring the Heart of Heaven and Earth: Ideals and Images in the Chinese Study

The exhibition ‘Mirroring the Heart of Heaven and Earth: Ideals and Images in the Chinese Study’ was held in the Palace Museum from August 30 to October 23, 2022. By combining cultural relics with contemporary artworks, the exhibition revolves around the theme of the connotation and image of the Chinese study, showing the audience the spiritual world of the Chinese people. The exhibition is jointly curated by cultural scholars, contemporary artists, and designers. Through exchanges and collisions between experts and scholars inside and outside the Palace Museum, the past is carried on and serves the present. This exhibition is also a new attempt by the Palace Museum on the relationship between tradition and the present, exploring how to realise the expression, inheritance, dissemination and exchange of traditional culture in a contemporary way. This speech will focus on the thinking and practice during the preparation process of the exhibition, and explore the effective dialogue between traditional art and contemporary art.

Ms. Ren Wanping is currently the Deputy Director and Research Fellow of the Palace Museum, responsible for collections management and academic research. Her major field of interest is the political system and etiquette of the Qing dynasty, with a particular emphasis on the study of historical iconography in recent years. She also serves as the Vice Chairman of the Chinese Museum Association.

Since joining the Palace Museum in 1990, Ms. Ren has served in multiple positions including Deputy Director of the Department of Palace Life and Imperial Ritual, and the Director of Department of Objects and Decorative Arts; she has also served as an expert in the National Qing History Compilation Project.

She has overseen several major comprehensive exhibitions in the Palace Museum, including ‘Dragon and Phoenix: Qing Imperial Weddings’, ‘The World Rejoices As One: Celebrating Imperial Birthday in the Qing Dynasty’, ‘Celebrating the Spring Festival in the Forbidden City’, ‘Everlasting Splendor: Six Centuries at the Forbidden City’, as well as various thematic and comprehensive exhibitions in China and abroad. She is the editor-in-chief of more than 10 books and has independently published dozens of works. She has taken part in numerous cultural programmes, including China Central Television’s ‘National Treasure’, ‘Ancient Melody, New Voice’, ‘Encountering and Appreciating Civilisations’, and ‘China through the lens of Poetry and Painting’, where she presented and showcased the rich heritage of traditional Chinese culture to the general audience.

Poster of ”Mirroring the Heart of Heaven and Earth—Ideals and Images in the Chinese Study”

In Pursuit of Original Contexts: The Making of ‘Eternal Offerings’

The Minneapolis Museum of Art (Mia) recently presented ‘Eternal Offerings: Chinese Ritual Bronzes’, an unprecedented exhibition created in collaboration with renowned art director and film designer Tim Yip. The exhibition showcased a group of 150 ancient Chinese ritual bronze vessels from Mia’s collection and presented them within dramatic, theatrical settings that explored the fascinating rituals in which the vessels were used to make offerings to heavenly and ancestral spirits. This highly unique presentation shed light on the incredible artistry and creativity of the ancient Chinese cultures that created these distinctive objects. Unlike conventional exhibitions on ancient Chinese bronzes that are typically organised in a linear fashion to show the evolution of forms and motifs throughout progressing dynasties, ‘Eternal Offerings’ was divided into several different significant settings that each reflected a core element of ritual bronze culture. Each setting embodied a fantastical interpretation of the spaces in which these objects would have been used, returning them to their original ritual contexts. The exhibition transported visitors into an ancient world. As they explored each gallery, they were led through different ritual processes—from entering the temple where ritual vessels were displayed, to experiencing objects used for sacrificial purposes, to participating in the banquet normally held after the conclusion of the ritual. The entire exhibition featured lights, colors, and pictorial scenes to create electrifying cinematic settings. Video, audio, and special effects created an immersive sensory feast. Through this experience, visitors gained a fascinating glimpse into ancient Chinese ritual culture and a unique understanding of the significance and meaning the bronzes would have held within their original contexts. In this presentation, the curator will share his experience throughout the creation of ‘Eternal Offerings’, discussing his original conceptualization of the show, the storyline arrangement, the designs for each setting, and how lighting, video, and audio were used within the exhibition.

Dr. Yang LIU is Chair of Asian Art and Curator of Chinese Art at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia). He also serves as a member of the Advisory Committee for the China Center at the University of Minnesota and the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, as well as the Vetting Committee Chair (Asian art), Frieze Masters, London.

Prior to his appointment at Mia, Dr. Liu served as the Senior Curator of Chinese Art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney. He was concurrently an Adjunct Professor at the University of Sydney and University of New South Wales.

Since 1998, Dr. Liu has organised more than a dozen travelling exhibitions from China, each accompanied by a scholarly catalogue, including Fragrant Space: Chinese Flower and Bird Painting of the Ming and Qing Dynasties from the Guangdong Provincial Museum (2000), Masks of Mystery: Ancient Chinese Bronzes from Sanxingdui (2000), Translucent World: Chinese Jade from the Forbidden City (2007), The Lost Buddhas: Chinese Buddhist Sculpture from Qingzhou (2008), Homage to the Ancestors: Ritual Art from the Chu Kingdom (2011), Cast for Eternity: Ancient Ritual Bronzes from the Shanghai Museum (2014), etc. His exhibitions of ‘the Qin state and China’s First Emperor’ (2010, 2012) set an attendance record both in Sydney and Minneapolis. Two exhibitions he curated, ‘Power and Beauty in China’s Last Dynasty’ (2018) and ‘Eternal Offerings: Chinese Ritual Bronzes’ (2023), in collaboration with avant-garde theater director Robert Wilson and Oscar-winning film designer Tim Yip, were hailed as unprecedented and ground-breaking. Among many books and catalogues he authored and co-authored, three won awards, including Fantastic Mountains: Chinese Landscape Painting from the Shanghai Museum (the Melbourne University Prize of Art Association of Australia & New Zealand for Best Large Catalogue 2004), The Asian Collections: Art Gallery of New South Wales (the Sydney University Power Institute Prize of Art Association of Australia & New Zealand for Best Book 2004), and The Poetic Mandarin: Chinese Calligraphy from the James Hayes Collection (the University of Western Australia Prize of Art Association of Australia & New Zealand for Best Small Catalogue 2006).

Educated in China and the UK, Liu received his MA from Southwest University and PhD in art history and archaeology from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London respectively.

Scene 3: Temple

Scene 4: Ritual

Scene 5: Banquet

The Dialogue between Old & New: Displaying Contemporary Art at the Asian Pavilion in the Rijksmuseum

Since its grand reopening in 2013, the Rijksmuseum has been displayed contemporary art at its new Asian art gallery (Asian Pavilion). The first part of this presentation will first review its display history in the past 10 years; analyse its display strategy; and evaluate the effect of the display. The second part of this presentation will focus on the issues, such as the function of selected contemporary art pieces and their roles at the exhibitions (and displays) of the Asian Pavilion, Rijksmuseum. This presentation aims to discuss questions, such as: through different ways of displaying, do contemporary art pieces help its audiences understand the traditional Asian (and Chinese) art and history better? What’s the difference between displaying contemporary art pieces in the conventional ‘white cube’ or ‘black cube’ and displaying them in the Asian (or Chinese) art gallery?

Dr. Ching-Ling WANG is Curator of Chinese art at Rijksmuseum. His research interests focus mainly on Chinese literati painting, Ming and Qing court art and questions concerning visual, material, cultural and artistic exchanges between China and Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Prior to Rijksmuseum, Dr. Wang served as Curator of pre-modern Chinese art at Museum für Asiatische Kunst (Asian Art Museum) in Berlin from 2015 to 2016, also overseeing the Chinese collection of Ethnologisches Museum (Museum of Ethnology), both part of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Preußischer Kulturbesitz (National Museums in Berlin, Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation). From 2012 to 2013, he was Research Fellow of ‘Connecting Art Histories in the Museum’, a joint research and fellowship program of the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz (Museum of Art History in Florence), Marx-Planck-Institut and the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Dr. Wang received his doctoral degree in East Asian art history from Freie Universität (Free University) in Berlin in 2013.

1) Edmund de Waal, An Idea (for the Journey), 2013, Rijksmuseum

(2) Zhan Wang, Artificial Rock No. 94, 2006, Dutch private collection & Ken'ichiro Taniguchi, Hecomi Study- Green Remains, 2016.

Strategies for Modern and Contemporary Asian Art at The Met and M+: Some Case Studies

For the 153-year-old Metropolitan Museum of Art, ‘modern and contemporary art’ has always been at the core of its existential query. Though the encyclopedic museum began to collect and display ‘art of the present’ in the early 20th century, and the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art has been in operation since 1967, contemporary art at The Met has often been treated with intense scrutiny. As the Modern and Contemporary Wing prepares for an architectural overhaul, I will lay out some of the challenges and opportunities ahead by looking at a few of the museum’s recent presentations of contemporary Asian art. The discussion will be viewed in parallel to the collection and display strategies of Hong Kong’s M+, a new museum focusing on 20th and 21st-century global visual culture with an Asian perspective. By examining the curatorial visions for modern and contemporary Asian art in the collections and programming of the two institutions, I hope to offer some fruit for thought in creating dialogues across time and continents on the topic of the contemporary.

Dr. Lesley Wei-chung MA joined The Metropolitan Museum of Art in Spring 2022 as the inaugural Ming Chu Hsu and Daniel Xu Associate Curator of Asian Art in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art.

From 2013 to 2022, Dr. Ma was founding Curator, Ink Art at M+, Hong Kong and a core member of the team that built the collection, organised the opening exhibitions and edited the inaugural publications. In addition to M+’s opening display, she curated ‘The Weight of Lightness: Ink Art at M+’ (2017–2018). Prior to M+, she co-curated ‘Great Crescent: Art and Agitation in the 1960s—Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan’ at Para Site, Hong Kong, which toured to Tokyo and Mexico City (2013–2016). Formerly, she was Project Director at Cai Guo-Qiang’s studio in New York and Curatorial Coordinator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. A recipient in 2015 of the Yishu Award for Critical Writing on Contemporary Chinese Art, Ma's Ph.D. in Art History, Theory, and Criticism from the University of California, San Diego, focused on abstract painting in postwar Taiwan.

Michael Lin 林明弘, Pentachome
Commissioned by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2022
Photo by Paul Lachenauer/Courtesy The Met

M+ Commission: Tong Yang-tze, 2021
Photo by Paul Lachenauer/Courtesy The Met

The International Dunhuang Programme (IDP): An Outline of Its Recent Activities and Future Plans

My talk will focus on the latest achievements and developments of the International Dunhuang Programme (IDP), including the recently completed Lotus Sutra Manuscripts Conservation and Digitisation Project at the British Library, generously funded by the Bei Shan Tang Foundation.

The IDP, previously known as International Dunhuang Project, is a pioneering international collaboration established in 1994 by a number of institutions across the world holding items from Dunhuang and other sites along the Eastern Silk Roads that were dispersed in the early decades of the 20th century. The shared ambition of these institutions was to support the preservation and documentation of the collections under their responsibility, and to enable access to information and images of all items through an online platform for the benefit of researchers, professionals and learners all over the world. The IDP now brings together the collections of more than 35 institutions, as well as promoting academic activities, professional exchanges and cultural events that aim to advance our knowledge and understanding of the histories and cultures of the Eastern Silk Roads.

After almost three decades of operations, the IDP maintains the original vision and ethos of an international collaboration that connects institutions committed to share resources and expertise in a spirit of cooperation, friendship and mutual understanding. At the same time, it continues to grow and evolve, responding to new needs and advancements in research, learning and professional practices in a fast changing digital landscape and an increasingly connected world. The British Library has played an active role in developing the IDP digital infrastructure, including the recent redevelopment of the IDP website in English, and its IDP team is now working on new resources and programming aimed at the wider public, whilst exploring new research strands and building a strong network of professionals, academics and researchers.

Dr. Luisa Elena MENGONI is Head of the Asian and African Collections Department at the British Library (the ‘Library’), where she oversees all projects and partnerships related to these collections, including the International Dunhuang Programme (IDP) and its associated activities. Additionally, Dr. Mengoni is responsible for the Visual Arts section, which encompasses prints, drawings, and photographs, as well as works of art from the India Office and the Library's public art collection.

Prior to the Library, Dr. Mengoni served as the Curator of Chinese collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). During her tenure at the V&A, she played an instrumental role in major gallery and exhibition projects, such as the permanent Ceramics Galleries that opened in 2010. She also served as the Head of the V&A Gallery at Design Society, Shenzhen, from 2014 to 2017, when she oversaw the collaboration between the V&A and China Merchants Shekou and the establishment of the new gallery, which opened in 2017. Prior to her time at the V&A, Dr. Mengoni contributed to the development of the new Percival David Foundation Gallery while working at the British Museum. She also served as a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at University College London (UCL) from 2004 to 2007.

Dr. Mengoni holds a degree in Chinese Studies from Università degli Studi L'Orientale in Naples, Italy, and a PhD in Chinese Archaeology from University College London. Her research interests include the history of Chinese collections, Chinese export art and the Sino-European trade in the 17th to 19th century, cultural heritage and cultural property.

A pothi manuscript of the Vajracchedika Prajnaparamitasutra (Diamond Cutter Perfection of Wisdom Sutra) in Khotanese, bearing a date equivalent to 941 CE (IOL Khot 75/1).

A manuscript of the Thousand Buddhas of the Present Kalpa Sutra (Book of Buddha's Names), dated to the 9th – 11th centuries (Or.8210/S.253).

A conservator repairing a manuscript of the Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtra (Lotus Sutra).

Anyang: China's Ancient City of Kings

The National Museum of Asian Art is currently presenting ‘Anyang: China’s Ancient City of Kings’, the first major exhibition in the United States dedicated to Anyang, the capital of ancient China’s Shang dynasty (occupied ca. 1250 B.C.–ca. 1050 B.C.), the source of China’s earliest surviving written records, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the birthplace of Chinese archaeology. Composed of objects exclusively from the museum’s collection, ‘Anyang’ will be on view in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery from February 25, 2023 to April 28, 2024. Organised by Curator of Ancient Chinese Art J. Keith Wilson, assisted by research curator Kyle Steinke, ‘Anyang: China’s Ancient City of Kings’ brings together more than 200 artefacts—including jade ornaments, ceremonial weapons, ritual bronze vessels, bells and chariot fittings—to examine the Shang state and artistic achievements of those who lived in its capital some 3,000 years ago. The exhibition also features a series of digital explorations, many developed in partnership with award-winning production studio UNIT9, that help visitors revisit the discovery of the city almost a century ago and explore life in the ancient Shang capital as it was some three millennia earlier.

Mr. J Keith Wilson is the Curator of Ancient Chinese Art at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art (NMAA) and a specialist in early Chinese bronzes and jades. He is the curator of the exhibition ‘Anyang: China's Ancient City of Kings’, organised for the centennial of the Freer Gallery of Art and currently on view at NMAA.

Prior to NMAA, Mr. Wilson was Curator at the Cleveland Museum of Art (1988—96) and Chief Curator of Asian art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (1996—2006). Since joining the NMAA in 2006, he has reinstalled the ancient Chinese art galleries in the Freer twice and launched a comprehensive digital catalogue dedicated to the museum’s early jade collections. Also interested in Chinese and Korean Buddhist art, Wilson co-organised ‘Echoes of the Past: The Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan’ (2011). He initiated a digital imaging and research tool dedicated to the Freer Gallery’s renowned Cosmic Buddha, the subject of the monographic exhibition entitled ‘Body of Devotion’ (2016—17) and now an online feature on Northern Qi sculpture. Two of his significant Goryeo Buddhist art projects are Goryeo Buddhist Painting: A Closer Look, a digital catalogue dedicated to the sixteen examples in US public collections, and ‘Sacred Dedication’, an exhibition focused on a thirteenth-century gilt wood sculpture of Avalokiteshvara (Gwaneum) and the dedication materials found inside it; the proceedings of a scholarly symposium on the subject will be published by Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press in 2024.

Mr. Wilson received his BA in Chinese Studies from Williams College in 1978 and completed his PhD coursework at Princeton University in 1988 after receiving MAs in Chinese art and archaeology from both the University of Michigan and Princeton. He was also a research fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia at the University of Tokyo from 1985 to 1986.

Exhibition entrance showing immersive digital feature Anyang Underground and first object gallery dedicated to early Anyang period objects beyond; Anyang Underground is a synchronized digital feature spread across four screens developed by the museum in association with the digital design studio Unit9; images courtesy of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica.

Objects from exhibits of Anyang: China's Ancient City of Kings: Bronze ritual wine cup (gu), inscribed in the foot, Zi Wei 子衛 (“Prince, Security Officer”), middle Anyang period, ca. 1150–1100 BCE, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution; ritual wine warmer (jue), inscribed under the handle, middle Anyang period, ca. 1150–1100 BCE, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution; and ceramic wine cups (gu) and wine warmers (jue), late Anyang period, ca. 1100–1050 BCE, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Objects from exhibits of Anyang: China's Ancient City of Kings: Anyang jade (nephrite) collared disks and objects made from them: Round axe, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution; Collared disks, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution; Small axe and Bracelet, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution; Pair of fish pendants, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution.

The Dresden Royal Porcelain Collection: A Digital Approach to Exceptional Holdings

The Porzellansammlung of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Germany, has preserved one of the largest and most important holdings of Chinese and Japanese porcelain dating from the late 16th and early 18th centuries in Europe. Acquired during the reign of Augustus the Strong (1670—1733), Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, these East Asian porcelain treasures were exceptionally well documented. The original, written inventories are still largely extant today. This combination of an early, extensive collection of more than 8,200 East Asian ceramic objects and their contemporary recordings presents a unique time capsule of the history of collecting and trade between Europe and Asia.

To research and catalogue this exceptional cultural heritage, ‘The Dresden Porcelain Project’ was established as an international collaborative project in 2014. The objective has been to develop a digital platform to showcase the entire reference collection with the extant archival material. For the very first time in the history of the Porzellansammlung the entire historical collection will be made freely available. This way, the project and its platform will enable future research and appreciation for the exchange of Asia and Europe in the early modern period.

This presentation will offer an insight into the vision and experience in building the digital platform ‘The Royal Dresden Porcelain Collection’ which will launch in January 2024.

Ms. Cora Würmell is Curator of the East Asian ceramic holdings at the Porzellansammlung, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (SKD). Currently, she is the project leader of the ‘Dresden Porcelain Project’, the international research project on the East Asian royal porcelain holdings at the Porzellansammlung. There, she manages the study, research and digital publication of this collection by a team of more than 35 international senior and junior experts from Europe, China, Japan, Taiwan and the US. She has presented the project at conferences in Europe, Japan and Taiwan.

Since 2009, Ms. Würmell has published and lectured on the Dresden holdings internationally and has joined various study and exchange programs, organised by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Tokyo National Museum in Japan. In the contexts of the research programme ‘Europa/Welt’ at the SKD, she has co-organised the exhibition ‘Women Cross Media. Photography, Porcelain and Printed Graphics’ at the New Green Vault, together with Prof. Sarah Fraser (Institute of East Asian Art History, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg). This close collaboration was accompanied by lectures, study days and symposiums in Dresden and Heidelberg.

Ms. Würmell has practised ceramics while living and studying in France, Germany, Ghana, Japan, Spain and the US. Her MA thesis focused on contemporary Japanese ceramics.

Homepage of The Royal Dresden Porcelain Collection. © Porzellansammlung, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.

Catalogue ‘Historical Palace Inventory 1721’, The Royal Dresden Porcelain Collection. © Porzellansammlung, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.

East Asian gallery with Chinese Porcelain at the Porzellansammlung. © Porzellansammlung, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.

Chinese Iconography Thesaurus: Towards a Subject Indexing Standard for Chinese Art

A controlled vocabulary is an organised arrangement of words and phrases for indexing and retrieving content through searching or browsing. Given the primary goal of today’s cultural heritage institutions is to improve the quality of access to visual and material culture, the creation and use of controlled vocabularies have become essential for museums, libraries, and archives. This presentation shall provide an update on the Chinese Iconography Thesaurus (CIT), an ongoing vocabulary project for indexing subject matters of Chinese art. The project has been carried out by a research team based at the V&A since late 2016 thanks to the generous support from DCMS of the UK government and Bei Shan Tang Foundation. The presentation shall focus on the progress of the project made in recent years and outline the project’s forward plan and ultimate goal.

Dr. Hongxing Zhang is the Senior Curator of the Chinese collections at the V&A. Currently, he is the Chief Editor of the Chinese Iconography Thesaurus, hosted by Brill (2019–), the first alternative classification scheme designed for Chinese visual culture with a complementary image archive. His other research interests include the technical history of Chinese scroll painting, aspects of Qing court art, especially the representation of war in the late Qing court, the history of collecting and display in the Qianlong reign, and the provenance of the Admonitions scroll attributed to Gu Kaizhi during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

During his 20-year tenure at the V&A, Dr. Zhang has been the lead curator of several headline exhibitions such as ‘Masterpieces of Chinese Painting 700–1900’ (2013) and ‘China Design Now’ (2008). He served on the editorial board of Art History: Journal of the Association of Art Historians from 2004 to 2007.

A Screenshot of the CIT Database Homepage

A 3-Layered Tree Structure of the CIT Terminology

Dr. Chen SHEN is Co-Chief Curator, Art and Culture and Senior Curator of Chinese Art and Culture at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). He is responsible for the research and management of a collection comprising nearly one million artifacts—representing cultures from around the world across the centuries into the modern era—of which more than 43,000 are Chinese artifacts. He is the curator of ROM’s engagement of ‘Death: Life’s Greatest Mystery’, on show from October 28, 2023, to April 7, 2024. A specialist in the material culture of Early China, prehistory technology, cultural heritage study, and museology, Dr. Shen also teaches courses at the Department of East Asian Studies including Art and Archaeology of Early China and Technology and Material Culture in Ancient China at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Shen joined the ROM in 1997 as the inaugural Bishop White Curator of Chinese art and archaeology. His curatorial research focuses on making ancient Chinese objects relevant to our understanding of Chinese cultures in contemporary society. Dr. Shen has curated many exhibitions at ROM, including 2002’s critically acclaimed ‘Treasures from a Lost Civilization: Ancient Chinese Art from Sichuan’, and 2014’s popular ‘The Forbidden China: Inside the Court of China’s Emperors’. ‘The Warrior Emperor and China’s Terracotta Army’ (2010) garnered one of the highest attendances in ROM’s history. Among his numerous publications include Relevance and Application of Heritage in Contemporary Society (2018) and Entering the World of Wonder: Thoughts on Contemporary Museum (2018). Dr. Chen holds a BA in archaeology from Wuhan University, an MA in anthropological archaeology from the Tulsa University in Oklahoma, and a PhD in archaeology from the University of Toronto.

Dr. Qin CAO joined the Oriental Museum, Durham University, England in 2022 as their first Curator of Chinese collections. Currently, she is leading the UK government funded re-display of the MacDonald China gallery, to be opened in Spring 2025. With specialisms in Chinese Bronze Age material culture and numismatics, she is inspired to promote and deepen understanding of China material culture through museum objects, how collections reflect the circumstances and historical contexts of their collecting, and their relevance to the present.

Prior to the Oriental Museum, Dr. Cao was a Senior Curator at National Museums Scotland where she served as lead curator for the permanent ‘Exploring East Asia’ gallery’s China displays and curated a 'Chinese Oracle Bones' exhibition in 2019. She has also worked widely across the Chinese archaeology, museums and cultural heritage sectors, including the British Museum, National Museums Scotland, and UNESCO Bangkok. She has published for both academic and public audiences and her first research monograph Weapons in Late Shang (c.1250–1050 BCE) China: Beyond Typology and Ritual was published by Routledge in 2022. Qin Cao completed her PhD in Archaeology in 2016 from the University of Oxford in collaboration with the British Museum, researching Chinese Shang dynasty weapons.

Dr. Tianlong JIAO is the Head Curator at the Hong Kong Palace Museum. His research specialty is early Chinese art and archaeology.

Prior to his current role, Dr. Jiao served as Josef de Heer Curator of Asian Art at the Denver Art Museum, Head and Curator of Chinese Art at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Chief Curator of the Hong Kong Maritime Museum, and Chairman of the Department of Anthropology at Bishop Museum. He also served as faculty or visiting professor at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, Xiamen University, Chinese University of Science and Technology and Shandong University. Dr. Jiao has curated many international traveling exhibitions in collaboration with major museums worldwide, including The Palace Museum in Beijing. He also conducted archaeological projects in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Hawaii, and Honduras. He has authored/co-authored seven books and more than ninety research papers both in Chinese and in English. His book The Neolithic of Southeast China (Cambria Press 2007) was the winner of the 2007 Philip and Eugenia Cho Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Asian Studies. Dr. Jiao received his BA from Peking University in 1987 and PhD from Harvard University in 2003.

Dr. Katherine Anne PAUL is the Lead Curator and the Virginia and William M. Spencer III Curator of Asian Art at the Birmingham Museum of Art in Alabama, USA. A specialist in the arts of Tibet, she lectures and publishes widely and has curated numerous exhibitions—showcasing both classic and contemporary art originating from Asia.

Dr. Paul has held positions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Textile Museum in Washington, DC. A Fulbright scholar, she has performed field research in 26 nations during the past 20 years. Her recent publications include: Handheld Landscapes: The Four Seasons in Chinese Painting from the Birmingham Museum of Art (2023); Expanding Darshan: Manjari Sharma, To See and Be Seen (2022); Beyond Zen: Japanese Buddhism Revealed (2021); Arts of South Asia: Cultures of Collecting (2019); Implements for Enlightenment: Tibetan-Buddhist Ritual Arts (2019); Extending Enlightenment: Buddhist Art of Meiji and Edo Japan (2019); Wondrous Worlds: Art & Islam through Time & Place (2018); Occidentalisms in Japanese Fashion (2018); Connecting to the Cosmos: Jewelry of the Himalayas and Mongolia (2018); and Korea: Highlights of the Newark Museum’s Collections (2016). She has curated exhibitions including ‘Ming to Modern, Elevating the Everyday in Chinese Art’; ‘Secrets of Buddhist Art: Tibet, Japan, and Korea’; ‘Tiaras to Toe Rings: Asian Ornaments’; ‘Red Luster: Lacquer and Leatherworks of Asia’; ‘Why the Wild Things Are: Personal Demons and Himalayan Protectors’; and ‘Gilding the Lotus: Enriching the Himalayan Collection’. She has also accomplished the reinstallation of the permanent Asian galleries of the Birmingham Museum of Art and the Newark Museum of Art. Dr. Paul holds a BA from Reed College and an MA. and PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Dr. Christina Yu YU is the Chief, Curatorial Affairs and Conservation as well as the Matsutaro Shoriki Chair, Art of Asia at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA). A member of the MFA's leadership team, she oversees the Museum's curators, conservators, registrars and collection care specialists, and exhibition and gallery designers and managers. A specialist of Chinese art, she also leads a team of curators in managing the MFA's collection of more than 100,000 works from the Continent of Asia and the Islamic world and crafting strategies for Asian art programs at the MFA.

Prior to joining the MFA, Dr. Yu served as the inaugural Director of the Pacific Asia Museum at the University of Southern California and Assistant Curator, Chinese and Korean art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She had also held positions at the Chambers Fine Art gallery, and Japan's Yokohama Museum of Art. Dr. Yu attended Wellesley College for her undergraduate studies and completed her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago after earning her M.A. from Boston University.

Dr. Daisy Yiyou WANG is the Deputy Director of the Hong Kong Palace Museum (HKPM). Dr. Wang leads HKPM’s curation, research, publication, exhibition planning and management, collection, conservation, design, and learning programmes. Under the leadership of Museum Director Dr. Louis Ng and Deputy Director Dr. Wang, the HKPM team has collaborated with The Palace Museum in Beijing to deliver 9 high-quality opening exhibitions, showcasing over 1,000 priceless treasures from The Palace Museum, the Louvre Museum, and Hong Kong collections.

Prior to her tenure at the HKPM, Dr. Wang served as Curator of Chinese and East Asian Art at the Peabody Essex Museum, and Chinese Art Specialist at the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, participating in the curation of more than 10 travelling exhibitions in China, Korea, and Japan. A specialist of the history of art collecting, Ming lacquer, and Qing imperial portraiture and textile, Dr. Wang has published internationally and received numerous awards, including a Getty Museum Leadership Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, and a Smithsonian Scholarly Studies Award. Dr. Wang co-curated with Jan Stuart the ground-breaking exhibition ‘Empresses of China’s Forbidden City’, which was named the ‘Most Influential International Exhibition from Chinese Museums’ in 2019 and the ‘Best Thematic/Historical Show’ in 2018 by the Boston Globe. Wang co-edited this exhibition’s catalogue with the support of Bei Shan Tang Foundation and won the Smithsonian Secretary’s Research Prize. A leader in international museum professional exchange, she has served as the founding Chair of the American Alliance of Museum’s China Program.

Mr. Doryun CHONG is the Deputy Director, Curatorial and Chief Curator at M+. He oversees all curatorial activities and programmes at M+, including acquisitions, exhibitions, learning and public programmes, and digital initiatives encompassing the museum’s three main disciplinary areas of design and architecture, moving image, and visual art, as well as the thematic area of Hong Kong visual culture. Since joining M+ as the inaugural Chief Curator in 2013, Mr. Chong has led the transformative growth of the M+ Collections and steered the curatorial direction and pedagogical practices of the museum’s exhibitions and programmes to foreground the transcultural and transnational narratives of 20 and 21-century visual culture.

Prior to joining M+, Mr. Chong worked in various curatorial capacities at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco (1999–2000), the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis (2003–2009), and the Museum of Modern Art in New York (2009–2013), curating several landmark exhibitions including major retrospectives of Tetsumi Kudo, Huang Yong Ping, and Haegue Yang, and the post-war survey Tokyo 1955–1970: A New Avant-Garde (2012). He also coordinated the Korean Pavilion at the 49th Venice Biennale in 2001. Mr. Chong has served on numerous award juries and public panels across Asia, North America, and Europe.

Mr. Richard KENDALL has been Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Maritime Museum since March 2023.

Prior to his current role, Mr. Kendall had a 38–year commercial career with the Swire group. Despite being involved in many different industries in his career, his lifelong passion has been for maritime matters, and he spent five years at sea with the British Royal Navy before moving to Asia in 1984. While leading Swire’s shipping company in the 2000s, he spent three years as a Trustee of the Hong Kong Maritime Museum, fueling his initial interest in Hong Kong and South China’s rich maritime history. Now more directly involved in the museum’s management, he is focused on developing the storytelling around the museum’s important collections and in developing an education programme to generate interest amongst Hong Kong’s young people in both the history and future development of Hong Kong’s maritime heritage; the ambitious programme centres around developing maritime themes of History, Art and Science (with the latter enhanced by the recent completion of the Swire Marine Discovery Centre). He has lived in many countries in Asia Pacific, in the process developing a strong respect for local arts development and the cultural interaction between civilisations in the region. He holds a Master of Arts degree from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom.

Dr. Florian KNOTHE is the Director of the University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG), The University of Hong Kong (HKU). He studies and teaches the history of decorative arts in the 17th and 18th centuries with particular focus on the social and historic importance of royal French manufacture. He has long been interested in the early modern fascination with Chinoiserie and the way royal workshops and smaller private enterprises helped to create and cater to this long-lasting fashion. Dr. Knothe is currently working on a study of the scientific and technological development of art objects, bringing together results from both historical and chemical analysis, and launching UMAG_STArts that teaches the science and technology of art.

This year, Dr. Knothe also became the director of a new and distinguished Museum Studies programme at HKU. The ambition of this taught postgraduate degree course is to train young ambitious future cohorts of museum professionals who will shape the growing scene of cultural institutions in greater China and beyond.

Dr. Knothe started his career at The Metropolitan Museum of Art focusing on European Sculpture and Decorative Arts. Prior to UMAG, he was the Curator of European glass at The Corning Museum of Glass overseeing the European and East Asian departments. Dr. Knothe lectures internationally on cross-cultural influences in art and workshop practices in Western Europe and East Asia.

Dr. Maria Kar-wing MOK joined the Hong Kong Museum of Art in 1996 and is currently Museum Director. She specialises in China trade paintings with a research focus on dating and authentication.

Having served as Curator in various departments including China Trade Art, Chinese Antiquities, Modern and Hong Kong Art, and Education and Extension Services, Dr. Mok has extensive experience in curating and spearheading a vast number of exhibitions and educational programmes. She has published extensively on artistic interactions of global trade, and co-authored Images of the Canton Factories 1760-1822: Reading History in Art (HKU Press: 2015). Dr. Mok holds a BA in Fine Arts Studies, an MA in Chinese Historical Studies on Guangdong decorative arts of the Qing dynasty, a PhD in China trade painting, and a graduate diploma in Museum Studies.

Ms. Alice MONG has been the Executive Director of Asia Society Hong Kong Center (ASHK), an independent non-governmental educational organisation established in 1990, since August 2012.

Prior to ASHK, Ms. Mong worked in New York for almost a decade in the non-profit sector in senior management positions. She was the Director of the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) from 2009 to 2011, overseeing the expansion project of the 30-year-old organisation. She stepped down as Museum Director in July 2011 after successfully transforming the museum from a New York Chinatown institution into a leading national museum dedicated to preserving and presenting the history, heritage, culture and diverse experiences of people of Chinese descent in the United States. Ms. Mong also served as the Executive Director for the Committee of 100 in the United States, a Chinese-American non-profit membership organisation founded by architect I.M. Pei and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. She began her career at the Ohio Department of Development in Ohio, and later became Managing Director of the Ohio Office of East and Southeast Asia in Hong Kong. Ms. Mong worked for Hang Lung Property Group from 1995 to 2002. She serves as a Member of the Board of Directors of The Ohio State University Alumni Association.