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“Dunhuang╳Palace Museum╳Hong Kong” Seminar

2022-10-26

The “Dunhuang╳Palace Museum╳Hong Kong” Seminar organized by the Maritime Silk Road Society (MSRS) was held onsite and online on 26 October. Dr Cheung Shin Yee, editor-in-chief and cultural travel expert, was the speaker of the seminar.

In July, the Hong Kong Palace Museum opened to showcase more than 900 precious artifacts from the Palace Museum, while the Hong Kong Heritage Museum exhibited "Dunhuang – Enchanting Tales for Millennium" in late August. Dunhuang and the Palace are both on display in Hong Kong.

Dr Cheung explained why Dunhuang and the Imperial Palace are two of the greatest treasures of ancient art in China, she used paintings to illustrate how Dunhuang and the Imperial Palace, which are thousands of miles apart and of different eras, seem to be unrelated but are intriguingly connected. For example, the picture of the Goddess of Luo in a chariot in the Painting of Goddess Luo Rhapsody in Imperial Palace has a common composition origin with Dunhuang's Xi Wang Mu Painting; the color-coding of the Sui Dynasty murals is the same as the draft of the Qing dynasty costume, and so on. Dr Cheung went on to explain the relationship between Dunhuang, the Imperial Palace and Hong Kong since artifact research was formally institutionalized, and the promotion of the cultural treasures of Dunhuang and the Imperial Palace in Hong Kong after China's reform and opening-up. Long before the government museums held their exhibitions and the Hong Kong Palace Exhibition, scholars, publishers, and other private cultural institutions had already seized the opportunity to introduce these cultural treasures to Hong Kong people.

Spatial coincidence makes the intimate bondage among Dunhuang, the Imperial Palace and Hong Kong happen, which forms an integral part of Hong Kong history. Hong Kong is promoting its cultural and creative industries, and this seminar will explore how the treasures of Dunhuang and the Imperial Palace can be used to enhance the cultural horizons of Hong Kong people.

Then Dr Chan Man-hung, Life Honorary Chairman of HK Publishing Federation joined the seminar and shared the joy and challenges in the process of editing the collections of Dunhuang and Palace Museum together with Dr Cheung. He opined that art appreciation of people could only be enhanced by promoting the overall art atmosphere of the society.

During the Q&A session, participants responded enthusiastically with suggestions on how to learn about Chinese arts and what kind of preparation is necessary before visiting museums.

Click here to read speaker's Chinese article: (敦煌X故宮X香港：回顧一段香港文化史 - 張倩儀)

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