This year marks the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Palace Museum. The Hong Kong Palace Museum Cultural Museum has specially launched three themed exhibitions on Palace Museum culture, ranging from military relics of the Qing Dynasty, to the evolution of Chinese culinary culture, and to the dynamic presentation of traditional patterns of the Palace Museum through technology, leading the audience to experience the richness and vitality of Palace Museum culture in Hong Kong. As the first important cooperation project of the Palace Museum outside mainland China, the Hong Kong Palace Museum Cultural Museum has received nearly 3.5 million visitors since its opening more than three years ago. On the seaside of the West Kowloon Cultural District, golden buildings paired with red palace gates and Chinese style courtyards have become a popular check-in spot for tourists coming to Hong Kong with precious collections and creative exhibitions. The Hong Kong Palace Museum and the Palace Museum are not only strategic partners, but also have a close relationship like 'brothers'. ”Wu Zhihua, the director of the Palace Museum in Hong Kong, said that the two museums work together to convey excellent traditional Chinese culture. At the same time, the Palace Museum in Hong Kong also carries the expectations of the Palace Museum - to establish its own characteristics and tell the story of Chinese culture from a contemporary and global perspective. On July 3, 2022, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland, the Palace Museum of Culture in Hong Kong officially opened to the public. The opening exhibition showcases 914 cultural relics from the Palace Museum, including 166 national first-class cultural relics, making it the largest and highest standard cultural relic export exhibition since the establishment of the Palace Museum. This is not only about cultural relics' going out of the palace ', but also about bringing Chinese culture to Hong Kong and making Hong Kong a cultural window connecting the mainland and the world. ”Wu Zhihua said that behind this is the Palace Museum's full trust and support for the Hong Kong Palace Museum Cultural Museum. Over the past three years, the Palace Museum has collaborated closely with the Hong Kong Palace Museum Culture Museum to launch nearly 20 exhibitions. The Palace Museum has loaned out over 1600 cultural relics, covering 25 categories, making "appreciating national treasures at home" a daily activity for Hong Kong citizens. The opening exhibition "National Treasures: Calligraphy and Painting of Jin, Tang, Song, and Yuan Dynasties from the Collection of the Palace Museum" brought 35 masterpieces such as "Complete Map of Luo Shen Fu" (Southern Song Dynasty Copy) and Li Song's "Qiantang Tide Viewing Map", attracting calligraphy and painting enthusiasts to visit repeatedly; The "Hong Kong Jockey Club Presentation Series: Yuanmingyuan - Qing Dynasty Royal Garden Residence Culture" exhibited in 2024 recreates the former glory of the "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens" with nearly 200 cultural relics. The exhibition "Purple Forbidden Day - Life and Art of the Qing Dynasty Palace" showcases the daily life from morning to night in the Forbidden City through more than 300 exquisite 18th century cultural relics collected by the Palace Museum; The exhibition "Flowing Light and Colorful - Treasures of Ming Dynasty Ceramics in the Collection of the Palace Museum" selects more than 100 representative Ming Dynasty ceramic treasures from the Palace Museum, showcasing the evolution and brilliance of ceramic craftsmanship at that time. In the past, we only saw these cultural relics in books, but now we can feel the texture of cultural relics up close, which gives us a more intuitive understanding of Chinese history and culture. ”Ms. Chen, a Hong Kong citizen, exclaimed. As an inheritance and extension of the spirit of the Palace Museum, cross-cultural curation showcases ingenuity. The Hong Kong Palace Museum Cultural Museum deeply draws inspiration from the architectural design of the Palace Museum and reinterprets classic elements such as vermilion gate nails, golden water bridges, and glazed tiles in modern architectural language, achieving a unique style that blends ancient and modern elements and combines Chinese and Western styles. Our influence stems from the profound cultural heritage and brand appeal of the Forbidden City, as well as our commitment to becoming a world leading museum. ”Wu Zhihua said that museums are not only guardians of culture, but also creators who connect different civilizations. The curatorial team of the Palace Museum in Hong Kong brings together talents with experience from museums in Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan, and internationally. When curating, not only are treasures displayed, but emphasis is also placed on building a "dialogue" bridge - telling the characters, stories, and historical background behind cultural relics, conveying the message through literature, and enabling audiences of different ages at home and abroad to understand Chinese traditions and values. This can be seen at the special exhibition "When the Forbidden City Meets the Palace of Versailles - Cultural Exchange between China and France in the 17th and 18th Centuries" that will open at the end of 2024. The exhibition gathers nearly 150 precious collections from the Palace Museum and the Palace of Versailles in Paris, France, with the red of the Forbidden City echoing the blue and gold of the Palace of Versailles, allowing Kangxi and Louis XIV to "meet". The team at the Hong Kong Palace Museum did not replicate any palace scenes of the Forbidden City and the Palace of Versailles during the curation, but instead created a new narrative space: allowing the audience to focus on Hong Kong's unique hub value, understand the Sino French exchange stories carried here, and immerse themselves in the exchange history of the two palaces. German tourist Anna said that there are no obscure terms, and the exhibits that blend craftsmanship vividly present the flourishing of Sino foreign exchanges in the 18th century. Since its opening, the Palace Museum in Hong Kong has paid special attention to conveying cultural power to the younger generation as a dual carrier of cultural inheritance and mutual learning of civilizations. The average age of visitors to the Palace Museum in Hong Kong is only 33 years old. Young people are very interested in the excellent traditional Chinese culture. By appreciating cultural relics and understanding history, it can help Hong Kong youth build cultural confidence, "said Wu Zhihua. To this end, the Palace Museum of Culture in Hong Kong will integrate its mission into concrete practice: closely cooperate with schools and educational institutions, and through activities such as exhibition hall visits, experiential workshops, and extracurricular expansion, allow students to step out of the classroom and experience cultural charm; With the support of multiple parties, a series of educational programs have been launched, such as the "Hong Kong Palace Museum Student Cultural Ambassador" program and the "Dual City Youth Cultural Talent Exchange Program" between Beijing and Hong Kong, providing a diverse platform for young people to get closer to Chinese culture. In Wu Zhihua's eyes, the Palace Museum in Hong Kong is not only a "promoter" of Chinese culture, but also a "liaison" connecting Chinese and foreign civilizations. Over the past three years, the Palace Museum in Hong Kong has exhibited and is planning about 10 exhibitions related to foreign cultures. In the exhibition "Arabian Carpet - Interweaving of Islam and World Civilization", the collections of the Islamic Art Museum and the Palace Museum in Doha were showcased on the same stage, allowing visitors to compare the artistic commonalities of different civilizations; In an exhibition in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum in the UK, the Mughal Dynasty's treasures showcase the trajectory of this South Asian dynasty's integration with other civilizations. From the waterfront of Victoria Harbour to the world stage, the Hong Kong Palace Museum of Culture, with its advantageous location, exquisite curation, and original intention of communication, has revitalized the Palace Museum culture through inheritance. As Wu Zhihua said, the Palace Museum in Hong Kong is not only a cultural gift from the country to Hong Kong, but also a vivid business card for Chinese culture to go global. (New Society)