On May 16, 2019, the Exhibition of Selected Gansu Cultural Relics Opens in NMC. Co-sponsored by the NMC, Gansu Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics and Gansu Provincial Museum with support from Dunhuang Research Academy, the exhibition features 516 pieces/sets of cultural heritage from 42 museums of Gansu, including 322 pieces/set of Grade I cultural relics. It is an exhibition where precious artifacts make up the highest ratio among all exhibitions of Gansu cultural relics.
Present at the Opening Ceremony were Wang Chunfa, Director of the NMC, Wang Xudong, Director of the Palace Museum, Song Xinchao, Deputy Director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, Chen Qing, member of the Standing Committee and Director of the Publicity Department of the CPC Gansu Provincial Committee, Ma Yuping, Director of Gansu Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics, Jia Jianwei, Director of Gansu Provincial Museum, Xiao Xuezhi, Party Secretary of Gansu Provincial Museum, and Zhang Xiantang, Deputy Director of Dunhuang Research Academy. The Opening Ceremony was hosted by Chen Chengjun, Deputy Director of the NMC.
Wang Chunfa said in his speech that over recent years the NMC has been implementing the major decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, forging ahead to break new ground, and establishing ties of strategic cooperation with many domestic museums in the principle of stressing the exhibition rather than the collection for mutual benefit and win-win cooperation to stage joint exhibitions of selected artifacts. The Exhibition of Selected Gansu Cultural Relics co-sponsored by the NMC, Gansu Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics and Gansu Provincial Museum is another result of our cooperation with the local museum for holding a series of exhibitions on ancient cultural heritage.
Song Xinchao indicated that Gansu covers an important stretch of the Silk Road and is a big province of cultural heritage in the real sense of the term. The State Administration of Cultural Heritage shall as always support Gansu’s work related to cultural heritage and Ganssu is expected to maintain its lofty stance to carry out the work related to culture and cultural heritage from the perspective of national cultural heritage protection and to grow from a big to a strong province of cultural heritage.
Chen Qing indicated in his speech that the NMC as the top palace of history and art in China has great cultural appeal, influence and dissemination effect. To hold the exhibition on Gansu cultural relics in the NMC with a view of demonstrating the long history and profound culture of Gansu and interpreting the Silk Road spirit with new connotations is very significant since it goes in line with the theme of the First Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations.
Ma Yuping introduced the basic information about the exhibition and made a special recommendation of the major exhibits.
Gansu known as the Golden Stretch of the Silk Road sees the confluence of the Eastern and Western civilizations. Divided into eight units, this exhibition following the timeline of cultural exchanges shows 516 pieces/sets of cultural relics from Gansu in different periods of time to present the long and splendid history, colorful culture and harmonious co-existence of multiple ethnic groups in Gansu, and manifest Gansu’s role and status in promoting the cultural exchanges between the East and the West as well as in the origin and evolution of Chinese civilization.
This exhibition is an important result to implement the 2018 agreement of strategic cooperation between the NMC, Gansu Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics and Gansu Provincial Museum. The exhibition is staged in Galleries S2 and S3, with the ticket priced at RMB30. It will last till July 21, 2019.