On September 4, “Boats Floating Afar: Maritime Trade of Ancient Chinese Ceramics” is opened in the National Museum of China (NMC). This exhibition was planned and sponsored independently by NMC through tapping the resources in its collections. Among all the 294 pieces (sets) of exhibits, the cultural relics coming from the collections of NMC accounted for more than 95%.
The National Museum of China seeks to voluntarily shoulder the mission in the new era to connect the history, present and future by holding this exhibition. NMC made full use of the resources of its collection to present the thriving sea trade on the Maritime Silk Road in a comprehensive way by cultural relics, the evidence of history. It tells the story of the Silk Road about going towards each other, meeting and understanding each other, and developing together; it carries forward the Silk Road spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit.
The exhibition is divided into three parts: “Endless Shores: Maritime Trade of Ceramics in the Tang and Five dynasties,” “Sea of Sails: Maritime Trade of Ceramics in the Song and Yuan Dynasties,” and “Expansive Waves: Maritime Trade of Ceramics in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.” It showed a complete chain of maritime trade of ceramics to the audience by displaying the shipwrecks, ceramics in trade and other relevant cultural relics along the Maritime Silk Road as well as the archaeological materials and relevant research results about important sites and sunken ships at home and abroad. The exhibition made great efforts to restore the prosperity of maritime trade of ceramics in ancient China, emphasizing China’s leading role in the global ceramics trading system in history; meanwhile, it presented the rich fruits obtained by the National Museum of China in underwater archaeological work to the public.
The exhibition is located at N16 Exhibition Hall of the National Museum of China. It is expected to run for 3 months.