Synopsis

A century after the establishment of the Palace Museum in 1925, a museum 2,000km to the south at the Victoria Harbour arises in 2022 to present the finest objects among the 1.86 million in the Beijing collection. Beginning with introducing the making of the Hong Kong Palace Museum and its architectural design by Rocco, this talk discusses challenges of the museum which houses 5,000 years of history but targets a global audience who lack a collective memory of the Chinese culture.

As a ‘baby’ urban heritage, the museum, like other rising public venues, innovates interpretations of ancient art and archaeological discoveries, and contributes to the identity, cultural landscape, and evolving memory of the city. Interestingly, this relates to another question of balancing loans from cultural institutions around the world, and the acquisition need of the young museum. Weaving the history of collecting in Hong Kong into the discussion, this talk reflects upon the role of cosmopolitan museums like HKPM in the cultural and economic development of the city and Greater China at large. With an inter-disciplinary brush, the talk reveals how museums can strengthen the local cultural legacy and improve a shared understanding of art and history in global context.

About the Speaker

Shengyu Wang is the Associate Curator at the Hong Kong Palace Museum, curating and publishing on early Chinese art and archaeology. She received her DPhil in archaeology from the University of Oxford, and double-majored in Museology and Chinese Literature in Peking University as an undergraduate.

About the Discussant

Florian Knothe is Director of the University Museum and Art Gallery and the Museum Studies Programme at the University of Hong Kong. As professor in museum studies, he develops a unique postgraduate programme to train ambitious future cohorts of museum professionals who will shape the growing scene of cultural institutions in greater China and beyond.