HK Palace Museum showcases cultural treasures

At the newly opened Hong Kong Palace Museum, a white-glazed ceramic pillow featuring a boy lying on a couch attracts countless visitors who marvel at its exquisite moulding.

Dating to the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the artefact is a rare masterpiece that delighted numerous dignitaries in ancient times. During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Emperor Qianlong (1711-99) wrote many poems about it.

With more than 900 national treasures on loan from the Palace Museum of Beijing, the ceramic pillow is on display to mark the Hong Kong institution’s opening.

The items, ranging from paintings and bronzeware to embroidery, span China’s rich civilisation and 5,000-year history. Some have never been on public display before.

The loan of the treasures to Hong Kong is also the largest since the Beijing Palace Museum was established in 1925.

After a planning and construction period of more than six years, the much-anticipated Hong Kong museum, which is situated in the West Kowloon Cultural District, opened to the public on July 3, 2022. Even though the arrival of a typhoon delayed the opening by a day, this failed to dampen enthusiasm among art lovers in the city.

Before the museum opened at 9 am, eager visitors lined up to view the treasures. Timothy Chan, a 29-year-old museum lover who lives in the city, was among the first group of visitors. He said it was an unforgettable experience to see the treasures in Hong Kong, adding that he used to visit the Palace Museum of Beijing to view its cultural relics.

By establishing a foothold in Hong Kong, the museum can help Chinese culture go global, bridging the world’s diverse civilisations, said Louis Ng Chi-wa, director of the new museum.

After hosting its opening displays, the Hong Kong museum will stage a special joint exhibition with a European museum, featuring the collections of Chinese emperors during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing dynasties, along with those of European royalty spanning 600 years, Ng added.

He also hopes to showcase other overseas cultures, such as those in Central Asian and Islamic regions, which have rarely been on display in Hong Kong.

Beside exhibitions, plans have been drawn up by Ng’s team to strengthen the museum’s educational role. To attract public interest, a space of about 1,900 square yards has been designated to host activities such as the restoration of cultural relics.

Heralded as Chinese culture’s “window on the world”, the new museum resembles an ancient Chinese square cauldron called ding with a gold façade. Rocco Yim, the architect responsible for the project, stresses that he was inspired by Chinese tradition, but not enslaved by it.

Yim has designed many prestigious landmarks in Hong Kong, including Tai Kwun, the former Central Police Station compound that was transformed into an arts hub.

“The Hong Kong museum is not going to be a heritage building for another 200 or 300 years. For now, it acts as a piece of contemporary architecture that reflects the cultures of our time, both urban culture and the way we appreciate things. So, this building is part of a city and a piece of the jigsaw that has to fit perfectly with the original thinking behind the West Kowloon Cultural District,” Yim said.

Li Bingcun, Zou Shuo and Tracey Furniss contributed to this story.