Discussion keeps the world turning.
You're listening to Roundtable.
I'm Miao Honglin, joined by Yushan and Yushun.
Coming up soon, our special segment, China Finds.
Here, we start with a small story that opens a very big window into Chinese culture.
At first glance It might seem like a niche topic, but once you look closer it reveals something much larger about how history continues to shape everyday life.
China finds.
Think history is behind us?
Think again. timeless discoveries, modern meanings.
This is China Finds.
China finds.
And today we have something special, because May the 18th marks the International Museum Day.
It's themed museums uniting a divided world this year, and it is a reminder that, cross cultures and centuries, we all share universal human bonds like family love and the pain of loss.
To see this in action.
We are zooming into a recent exhibition at the National Museum of China that reveals a story so personal and powerful.
It resonates with people everywhere they're from.
That's the topic that Yushan picked today, and it's especially for the International Museum Day.
Yeah, so excited I am that I did all the research and tried to present it to all of us.
Because I don't know if it echoes the same with you guys, but when I was a kid, whenever there is a chance to visit a museum, I get excited like three days ahead.
It's such a tour.
But visiting a museum...
20 years ago, and visiting a museum, or rather an exhibition, today can mean very different things, especially now that today is the international museums day.
Yeah, and i think this year makes this day even more special because normally, um you know, monday is the day that most of the museums close for the whole week, right?
And then, as this day, International Museum Day falls on a Monday, like this, traditionally.
So the National Cultural Heritage Administration has called on museums nationwide to break this kind of usual practice and remain open to the public today.
So many of the museums in the country will also open.
So if you are interested, go to a museum, buy a ticket and visit and experience the whole International Museum Day vibe.
Is it just for today?
For today, yes.
Yeah, sure.
So today, what we're going to focus on is, like you mentioned earlier, Hong Lin, a recent exhibition.
And before that, I kind of want to ask you this.
What would you imagine a nine-year-old girl's life would look like like back in 1400 years ago, during the Sui dynasty here in China, from 581 to 618 AD?
It definitely depends on the status of the little girl i'm talking about, whether or not the girl is living in the countryside, or maybe living in the cities, even in the capital, or if it's a girl from the royal family.
Their life could be drastically different, because back then, if we're talking about so long ago, I'm pretty sure the protection of a kid or a childhood did not exist just yet.
So maybe it's... including a little bit of family tour, even if it's just a nine-year-old girl.
She could be cooking for the family, perhaps.
But if we're talking about royal projects, princess or something, then I'm thinking about a lot of friends, designated friends, that they collect from maybe the court to accompany the girl, maybe a lot of school time, maybe luxurious goods that I can never imagine.
I'm imagining now. because of course I read some of the information for today's topic so I'm also thinking about if a royal of a girl in a royal family that would be alive without any worries that you are you have plenty of things to enjoy not only the food Playmate.
Yes.
And also, I think, the environment, the house that they are living.
I think the whole setup of her life would be just luxurious in the way that people can not even imagine.
Yeah, that's so true.
Because well, for today's main character, instead of just playing around with her school friends or carrying a backpack to school 李靖迅, who also known as Li Xiaohai, that literally translates to the little kid of the Li family.
She was raised in an imperial palace as the pearl in the palm of a powerful empress dowager, Yang Lihua of Sui Dynasty.
So it's known as the history's most pampered child, Li Jingxin.
She was eventually laid to rest in a miniature stone palace after sadly passing away at the tender age of nine, surrounded by hundreds of breathtaking gold, jade and silk-rolled treasures.
But that's all kind of just a glimpse of this whole new exhibition we're talking about at the National Museum of China in Beijing.
It started not long ago, in early April, if I'm remembering correctly, and it's under the title Li Jingxun and Her Era.
So the exhibition showcased artifacts that was excavated from Li Jingxun's tomb back in the 1950s.
And also there are so many special relics that many people, so many of us, are trying to just get a ticket to get into the National Museum of China to get a glimpse failed like i did, since it's too crowded and too popular ever since it was first opened.
Because not only because well, there are so many, so rich of a cultural relics that's been well preserved, but also it acts as a time capsule of that time of sui dynasty that really presents itself like a high definition time capsule, or rather the preservation of everything that you can possibly find in a Sui dynasty court.
Yeah, the museum, the ticket for the museum has always been so difficult to get.
Not only for this one, but for everything in National Museum.
Generally, when you want to get a ticket just for the museum, not for a special event like this, it is already very hard.
And then, let alone, there is a very specific and think a very a chance that you can totally have a peek on the history and and as such grand scale.
And yeah, tell us, what can we see in this?
There are overall over 240 original burial items which are now artifacts from the National Museum's own vault.
It also includes Several other pieces, that's over 150 pieces, or rather sets of rare treasures, on loan from over 10 major archaeological and cultural institutions around China.
That's including Shaanxi province, Shaanxi province, Henan province and also Ningxia and Tianjin municipality too.
So that's like a combination of a full narration of Sui dynasty centering on Princess Li Jingxuan's life that's being exhibited in the National Museum of China.
And what was discovered to answer your question include glassware and gold and silver jewelry, as well as every daily necessity that Li Jingxun may have used in her lifetime, from toys and cups to silk textiles.
So there are also of humans and animals which were likely placed in there by her grandmother to keep her cherished granddaughter accompanied in the afterlife.
So one good example would be This one is used as the cover picture of a lot of the promotion for this exhibition a golden crown that's crafted from wire sheets, pearls and gemstones to resemble a cluster of flowers with a golden moth hovering above.
So official records suggest that the crown embodied her grandmother's wish for Princess Li Jingxuan to enjoy many children and lasting prosperity which, of course unfortunately, she didn't really get to have eventually.
That's quite solemn in a way because it's a tomb of a nine-year-old, which means that it's also from a very specific angle.
When we look at the items, the relics in the tomb, it's not necessarily the everyday life of the little girl, but also carries this, the kind of the kind of crown, for example.
Maybe she only use in very specific occasions and the kind of item for example I think there's also a mirror that is exhibits, one of the exhibits in this exhibition, and the mirror also carries very good wishes for her to marry to a good family, to have a better life, and So that is the kind of that.
To start with, definitely elevated the level of the value of that of this exhibition, because we're not looking at everyday necessity, we're also looking at really treasured goods.
And another interesting aspect of this I found is that it has the kind of, for example goblet, the gilt silver flask, the Persian silver coins.
These items are definitely from the overseas area at that time.
And these kind of items show that at that time we can already see for the royal family.
They are enjoying things from the Central Asia area, from the West Asian area.
And it's A blend of technique, of aesthetics and also of lifestyle that is already very, very well emerged together because of the Silk Road.
Yeah, and not only that, but we mentioned the theme of this year's Museum Day, that museums uniting a divided world.
It is the very fact that something like this, an exhibition like this, can demonstrate a feeling or a resonation that can be deeply down felt, so personal, by whoever that sees it, that really rings a bell this year, because there are also some interviews on the visitors.
One of them shared that i can feel the bond between the grandmother and granddaughter across a thousand years and after seeing the exhibition i miss my late grandmother even more.
Another one said those who are loved never truly disappear, no matter how much time passes.
And before the show starts I kind of look at you know other examples to see whether this kind of bond is shared globally.
And it does, of course, it does for sure.
So the story of Princess Charlotte of Wales actually carries some surprising similar emotional echoes with this one.
As the only legitimate child of the future King George IV and the granddaughter of King George III, Charlotte was widely adored, not only by the British royal families but also by the public, her people, who saw her as a symbol of hope for the monarchy during a turbulent political era, all of which made the time when she sadly passed away in childbirth at only the young age of 21 years old.
Back in 1817, the entire Britain entered a period of national mourning so profound that historians often compare it to the public grief later seen after Princess Diana's death.
So, although her case, Princess Charlotte of Wales, really differs from Li Jingxuan's case in so many ways And also it didn't really record in terms of how many burial artifacts were kept until this day
Something really deep and universal is revealed.
That is the way a young royal woman, cherished by both family and society, could become an enduring emotional symbol long after their life was tragically cut short.
So, yeah, really, this is shared.
And I believe whoever sees it will learn about her story and feel yeah, that's the kind of connection that I too can feel yeah, and also i think these kind of exhibitions, they are being very attractive and a lot of people are trying to get a ticket to see it.
It's not only because, of course the, the precious goods, the exhibition itself, right.
But also it's about the story behind it.
It's also about their history backgrounds that can reflect from all of these treasures and i think it is something.
First of all, of course we mentioned it the i think, the emotion between the grandmother and the granddaughter, but also i think it is reflecting the i think the develop, the development of different dynasties at that time.
Yeah, because for so long the Sui dynasty, as we mentioned it, has often been overshadowed by the Tang dynasty.
When we speak of the Tang dynasty, it seems like a lot of people from China or not have already heard of it because of its flourished history and communication between different nations at that time, over a thousand years ago.
It's called Da Tang Sheng Shi, one of the most flourished time of Chinese history.
It definitely makes sense because, if you think about it, The fractured Northern dynasty would be between 439 to 581.
And the unified but really short-lived Sui dynasty is from 581 to 618, which means it's less than 40 years ago.
And then it comes to the flourishing Tang Dynasty from 618 to 907.
That is why I think the Sui Dynasty is overlooked.
And for this specific exhibition we get to take a look at how it's kind of like how the Tang Dynasty is started or is built upon, isn't it?
Yeah really, because it reflects the Sui dynasty's very core, cultural and human side, the societal side of things, which historical records on the period remaining really relatively limited today on paper.
But now that we have this picture just presented right in front of us, it's really something that's really worth looking at and, as a result, public understanding of the Sui era has tended to be quite shallow and is being addressed now because of exhibitions like this are are open to the public more often.
And yeah, just a quick note in case you're a big fan of this part of the history, like I am Li Jingxuan and Her Era the exhibition at National Museum of China.
We kind of needed a little bit of strategy involved in order to get a ticket, you know.
It's so popular.
Yeah, it runs from April the 3rd to October the 8th.
This year sounds like it's not going to change throughout this time, but actually i've heard that there are some cultural relics that's being borrowed and returned and then borrowed from other places, so there are changes happening throughout this time period.
So yeah, grab your ticket as soon as possible if you want to.
You know, get a full look before anything is moved or touched or changed.
And also, tickets kind of need to be reserved in advance.
By advance, I mean seven days ahead of your visit, excluding Mondays, of course, since Yusheng told us that today is the only Monday that they kind of open to everybody.
So yeah, the time slot released is every day at 5 p.m.
And you can get the same day reservation from this date up till seven days later.
So yeah, that's the strategy.
To be honest, what's impressive about this exhibition for me personally is not only the level of the kind of exhibits.
We get to see the artifacts, how valuable they are, but what Yushan has said, that is, visiting a museum now and visiting a museum 10 years ago can be totally different experience.
Now we're looking at this laser focused theme, almost niche, and previously, 10 years ago perhaps, when you visit a museum, you get to see the history of that region, for example, and from from dinosaur age to nowadays.
And it's always organized that way.
The curator would not be this creative.
They would not pick such a sharp angle.
And I was wondering, for this International Museum Day, do you feel the same way?
Or have you ever visited any kind of exhibition or any museum that you found?
Wow, totally changed your understanding of visiting museums or learning history in this way.
I think nowadays, one thing that really shocked me is that the museums itself is not the thing that we go for anymore.
It's also about the whole, first of all, experience to enjoy the whole vibe of connecting with the history.
It's also about whole other economy that related to the museum, for example, the productive and creative products that you can see, the magnet, refrigerator magnets that you can buy around the themes, or it's probably a ancient relic that you can get and stick on the refrigerator.
So this is something i think people are going for, not only for um the museum but also for other entertainment means.
So it is a more diversified and colorful experience.
Um in Right.
And not only is the museum's diverse exhibition is going through quite a drastic change over the years, but also the idea, the very idea of museum is shifting too.
Nowadays it's not just one building you go into and call it a museum and walk through all the exhibitions, but rather the whole city or the whole cultural vibe locally is becoming museums or a combination of the idea of local museum.
I was at Eastern China's Zhejiang Province just not so long ago.
We went to a city called Pinghu and it's a very lesser known city comparing to a lot of the other larger cities, but they have their own local museum that's so modern and have a lot of interactive things you can feel and just get to know Pinghu, this very small city alone.
Then walking outside of that museum body, there's also their branches.
That covers different facilities.
For example, one late Qing Dynasty old wooden house or courtyard they called Mo Shi Zhuang Yuan or the Moor House.
It's also part of the museum.
You can go in and just see how architecture and people's lives were like from 100 years ago, just by, you know, visiting the extended facility or organizations or institutions of a museum, and just to grab a fuller understanding of what this architecture, very small, local city is about.
So really the idea of museum is changing so drastically and it's bringing people a lot more to experience than just merely see what's there.
And that is why you should take the chance, take the precious Monday and the International Museum Day to go and enjoy this cultural experience as much as you can.
And that brings us to the end of today's roundtable.
We'd love to hear your thoughts on today's topics.
Deep dives and nuanced views.
We are clearing the table for now, but may the ideas stay with you.
I'm Niu Honglin with Yushan and Yushun.
Thanks for listening.
Bye.
