Palace Museums in Beijing and Taipei Plan to Continue Cooperation

Photo taken on Nov. 7, 2021 shows the Palace Museum in Beijing. Photo: CGV

The Taipei Palace Museum and the Beijing Palace Museum are “like brothers”, and there should be discussion and exchange of ideas with colleagues from the Taipei Palace Museum in many fields such as the improving academic research and strengthening the protection of cultural relics, Wang Xudong, director of the Beijing Palace Museum and one of the delegates to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said Thursday on the sidelines of the 20th CPC National Congress.

The two museums previously maintained frequent and extensive communication and cooperation, but these exchanges have been temporarily suspended due to the impact of COVID-19. However, Wang said that with the normalization of epidemic prevention and control, museums will further increase the exchange of scholars, cultural relics and other aspects.

These exchanges can promote mutual understanding between scholars and even between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, Wang said. He hopes to have the chance to visit the Palace Museum in Taipei soon.

“We share the same root and we are like brothers,” Wang said. It is hoped that the Palace Museum in Beijing, the Palace Museum in Taipei and the Palace Museum in Hong Kong can jointly plan some exhibitions in the future, he said.

The Hong Kong Palace Museum officially opened to the public on July 3, showcasing more than 900 precious cultural relics from the Beijing Palace Museum’s collection. There have been more than 420,000 visits so far, which reflects local residents’ interest in traditional Chinese cultural relics, and also shows that they hope for a chance to learn more about traditional Chinese culture. , according to Mr. Wang.

It is a very important platform and window, which plays a vital role in cultural and artistic exchanges in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Wang said.

China draws its confidence from its 5,000 years of civilization, but this cultural confidence does not come from a “closed culture”, Wang said, adding that it is forged through constant interaction with other civilizations.

In the field of cultural exchanges with foreign countries, the Beijing Palace Museum will continue to plan exhibitions of cultural relics.

The Palace Museum has a history of over 600 years, exhibiting 5,000 years of Chinese civilization, through which we can see the exchange and integration of people from different geographical, ethnic and religious backgrounds. Chinese civilization has been able to stay alive thanks to this openness and tolerance, which inspire us today, Wang said in an interview at the “Delegates Corridor”.