Exhibitions

An exhibition about the history of ancient China will be displayed in the museum permanently. The exhibition, which is still being prepared, will be displayed in 10 exhibition halls. Nearly 3,000 extremely precious artifacts from the Stone Age to the prosperous Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911) displayed in this section will reveal the brilliance of the time-honored Chinese civilization over the ages.

On March 27, six exhibitions were opened to the public, including exhibitions of ancient China's bronze art, Buddha statues and porcelain, along with art exhibitions of Pan Tianshou (1898-1971), Li Keran (1907-89) and Huang Zhou (1925-97), well-known Chinese contemporary painters.

The museum's bronze collection includes 103 pieces from different ages in the Chinese history, showing the evolution of China's casting art from ancient techniques to modern practice.

The most important exhibit in the bronze art exhibition is the Houmuwu Tetrapod, a rectangle bronze vessel of the late Shang Dynasty (1400 -1100 B.C.) excavated in Anyang, central China's Henan Province. Formerly known as Simuwu Tetrapod, the bronze ware weighs 832.84 kg, the largest and heaviest bronze artifact in the world. It is the treasure's first appearance since being shown during the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.

Archaeologists said the Houmuwu Tetrapod held special status in ancient China: It was an important vessel used during sacrificial ceremonies and a symbol of royal power. The vessel is also an invaluable bronze ware reflecting the superb skill of Chinese craftsmen during the Bronze Age.

Other state-level treasures, such as the Grand Tripod, a three-legged bronze vessel of the early Western Zhou Dynasty (1046-771 B.C.) and the Zilong Tripod, a round bronze ware of the Shang Dynasty, are also on display.

The Grand Tripod is the biggest Western Zhou Dynasty bronze vessel. It is about 1 meter high and weighs 153.5 kg. The ware is famous for the inscriptions on the inside of it, which includes 291 Chinese characters.

The Zilong Tripod is 103 cm high and 80 cm in diameter, weighing 230 kg. It is the largest round bronze tripod of the Shang Dynasty discovered in China. It consists of two upright ears and three legs. The upper parts of the feet are engraved with patterns of beasts; the neck is carved with a group of six beasts; and the main body is covered with lines of clouds. The patterns on the tripod are delicate and robust, reflecting the advanced artistry in bronze-making at that time.

The 91 Buddha statues displayed in the museum include rock-carved statues from west China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, stone and wooden Buddha figures from central China and gold-coated Tibetan Buddhist statues from Tibet Autonomous Region, Qinghai Province and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The 2-meter-high wooden statue of Guanyin, Buddhist Goddess of Compassion, of the Song Dynasty (960-1279) is a peerless object in China's museums. Because of exquisite carving, perfect proportion and rarely seen overall size, the elegant work is beyond comparison.

The porcelain exhibition is divided into four parts: celadon porcelain, blue and white porcelain, colored glaze porcelain and painted porcelain. The 136 pieces of delicate porcelain displayed enable visitors to enjoy the charm of China's porcelain art from ancient to modern times.

The art exhibitions of the three painters, who were representatives of traditional Chinese painting especially in flower and bird, landscape and figure painting, display 100 of their works, some of them shown to the public for the first time.

The exhibitions of ancient bronze art and Buddha statues will be displayed permanently at the museum, while the porcelain exhibition will be open until September 26, 2011, and the painting exhibitions last to June 25 this year.

International cooperation

Four international exhibition halls are set up in the new museum, which are dedicated to Asia, Africa, Europe and America, showing the museum's additional focus on foreign exhibitions and cultures.

"Museums are good platforms for cultural diversity," said Su Donghai, a research fellow with the museum. "The new national museum will introduce diverse cultures instead of merely displaying Chinese culture."

On April 2, the Art of the Enlightenment exhibition kicked off in the museum, a joint effort of the NMC and the Berlin National Museum, the Dresden National Art Collection Museum and the Bavarian State Picture Galleries in Germany. This is the first international exhibition held in the NMC after its reopening and it will run for a year.

"Thanks to the substantial support from the NMC, visitors can enjoy the charm of German art from the Age of Enlightenment, and learn about European history in the process," said Hermann Pazinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.

Nearly 600 items—oil paintings, statues, clothes, books, furniture as well as some other famous artworks of Germany—are displayed in three exhibition halls spreading over 2,700 square meters.

"This is the largest exhibition project so far between China and Germany, and also the largest exhibition related to the art of the Age of Enlightenment in the world," said Lu.

Besides the Art of the Enlightenment exhibition, the NMC's website said that an exhibition about ancient Peru from the first century to the seventh century will be shown from April 28 to October 28 this year in the America room. A total of 180 cultural relics, including pottery, textiles, metal objects and stones, will be displayed.

In addition, an exhibition to display artistic treasures of Italy during the Renaissance is under preparation.

Where History is Housed

Located on the east side of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the National Museum of China (NMC) is a four-story building with two symmetrical wings, running more than 300 meters north to south. It is the largest comprehensive museum in China which displays material and non-material collections and exhibits.

The NMC was reorganized in 2003 out of two separate museums that had already occupied the building—the former Museum of the Chinese Revolution established in 1959 and the former National Museum of Chinese History, which dates back to 1912. Between March 2007 and late 2010, the NMC underwent renovation work to triple its original size.

The NMC has rich collections covering Chinese history from the early Paleolithic Age to modern China. The museum's collection includes 1.06 million pieces, including famous fossil remains of the Yuanmou Man, the first hominidae found in China, who lived 1.7 million years ago, painted pottery and jade ware of the Neolithic Age, the largest bronze artifact in the world, porcelain, paintings and statues of Buddha. The museum's exhibits and depth of research are the best in China.