Exhibition Includes Peking Opera Costumes, Replicas Of Villages, Wooden Imperial Palace Entry#
Through next week, the China Academy of Arts, one of China's top arts institutions, is holding an exhibition of ancient Chinese relics in Taiwan. The "Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Show," which kicked off last weekend, features over 200 exhibits alongside in-person demonstrations of traditional sugar sculpture, loom weaving and dying, wood carving, and puppetry.
According to the show's Taiwanese sponsor, the free exhibition has attracted around 600 visitors daily since its opening. From Reuters:
The Chinese National Academy of Arts displayed 230 rare items in ethnic Chinese Taiwan this week so the public could take a closer look at its neighbor, often regarded as a military threat, and consider helping save their common heritage.
Some works displayed at the free-entry show in Taipei are listed as Chinese national treasures. A few are marked by the United Nations for preservation. Some date back 2,000 years.
Other items, such as a giant loom, still work so well that the academy brought 22 craftspeople to give live demonstrations.
"The two sides come from the same roots," said Tian Qing, an academy professor managing the exhibit, suggesting that Taiwan's youth should study the treasures, then act to save them.
"One aspect is to tell people we have this beauty from the past and another is to let them know it needs protection," Tian said. "On the path to modernization, don't let it get lost."
China lost some of its best pieces in the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), when signs of wealth and status were wiped out, he said. Taiwan, for its part, should be mindful of the cultural influences from outside the region, such as that from the United States, Tian said.