"Dream of the King of Chu" -- a cross-ocean exhibition cooperated by two fellow curators

Holding exhibitions of ancient Chinese cultural relics overseas is one of the most intuitive forms of cultural exchange. Xuzhou is the hometown of Liu Bang, the founder of the Han Dynasty. The Xuzhou Museum collects a large number of precious cultural relics of the Han Dynasty. It has participated in many exhibitions organized by the Chinese Cultural Relics Exchange Center and other institutions over the years. Only the exhibitions held independently in cooperation with foreign museums include Melbourne, Australia (1987), Austria Leoben (1998, 2007), Montrison, France (1998), Essex, England (2008), Fitzwilliam, Cambridge University (2012), New York, United States (2017), etc, This is very rare in provincial and municipal museums.

The process of holding the exhibition is very complicated. The procedures are first letters of intent, domestic approvals at all levels, and the total number of cultural relics or the number of first-class cultural relics that exceed the standard must be reported to the State Council for approval. In terms of professional and specific affairs, exhibition planning, selection of exhibits, taking photos or feature films, packaging, domestic transportation, international insurance, customs and so on. Once, a foreign insurance company jointly insured and directly sent personnel from Britain to Xuzhou to inspect each cultural relic one by one. The communication, coordination, understanding and support of both parties during the preparation period are the guarantee for the smooth progress of the work, and some have also established a deep personal friendship. Among all the foreign exhibition projects I presided over, the most smooth one was the cooperation with the Chinese Art Museum of the Chinese Art Association of the United States in New York. Although it was the sincere cooperation between the exhibition teams of the two museums, it was actually a happy cooperation between me and the senior professional sister of the 7th grade and the head of the Chinese Art Museum of the Chinese Art Association of the United States in New York.

Exterior view of the China Art Museum of the Huamei Association

The China Institute in America is a non-profit folk cultural institution jointly established by American Columbia University educators John Dewey and Monroe and Chinese scholars Guo Bingwen and Hu Shi in 1926. It aims to introduce Chinese culture and civilization through various education and publicity activities, and enhance mutual understanding between the people of China and the United States. The most important permanent institution is the Chinese Art Museum.
The origin of the exhibition is the title given by Senior Brother Zhou Xiaolu: two fellow curators worked together to hold a meaningful exhibition in 2009. The preparation of foreign exhibitions has a strict plan and is also a lengthy process. The topic selection must be discussed and approved by the board of directors and the art committee respectively. The curator also made a special trip to report to Mr. Jiang Zanchu about the proposed exhibition, and finally determined the theme of the exhibition as "Dream of the King of Chu: Jade Clothes and Eternal Life". The careful selection makes each exhibit rich in content and has a wonderful historical story behind it. From it, we can see the splendid civilization and prosperity of the Western Han Empire, and reveal that the king of Chu and even the emperor of the Han Dynasty used the golden thread and jade clothing and other mortuary clothes, and buried them with a large number of treasures, hoping that the body would be immortal, enjoy the luxury of life in the underground world, and achieve the dream of immortality in another way.
The preparation of the exhibition lasted for 9 years, which can be described as a sword sharpened in ten years. If the curator didn't keep his promise, he might die prematurely. There are many stories during this period. Here is an example. 2017 can be called the year of Chinese cultural relics in the United States. There are three important exhibitions of Chinese cultural relics in New York and San Francisco, all of which are concentrated in the Qin and Han Dynasties. After the curator of a museum visited Xu Bo, he accompanied the head of the department for the second time, and accompanied the curator and his wife to visit Xu Bo with the minister for the third time. Each time, it is indicated that the cultural relics should be borrowed for exhibition, but it is puzzling that neither the specific cultural relics nor the time of borrowing are mentioned. Since 2014, two American museums have successively borrowed important exhibits from Xu Bo, but the most important cultural relics, such as gold thread and jade clothing, have no skills. Although there are administrative or industrial promotions, I have declined to make an appointment with the Chinese Art Museum. Only on the premise of fully meeting the requirements of the curator of the museum, can we lend some exhibits to the other two museums.

Observe the inscriptions of the Yin Jian, starting from Zhou Xiaolu, Hai Weilan and Li Yinde from the left

Check cultural relics

At the opening ceremony of the exhibition in May 2017, I was already the "honorary curator", and the process of going to the United States was full of twists and turns. The Chinese side, led by Yin Liansheng, deputy director of the Jiangsu Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics, led a delegation from the provincial bureau, Xuzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio and Television and Xuzhou Museum to attend the opening ceremony. Unexpectedly, when handling my visa documents, the specific staff of the Municipal Foreign Affairs Office said that "second line" cadres would no longer arrange visits. In the past, I was familiar with the leaders of the Foreign Affairs Office, and the call showed that I had no problem as a professional. However, a second problem appeared immediately. It was stipulated that the time to visit a country was only 5 days, but the curator arranged for me to travel for nearly 10 days, and the posters of academic lectures had been posted, so it was impossible to compress the trip. Finally, we negotiated not to use official passports, but to go to the United States alone for private passports. The journey was transferred from Lukou Airport to Hong Kong, but at that time, there were frequent delays in large-scale flights in the eastern part of the country. My flight was also delayed without suspense. The flight I had not boarded in Hong Kong had already taken off. I immediately contacted the airline and told me that there was a plan to follow the arrangement of the staff in red vest when disembarking in Hong Kong. After arriving in Hong Kong, I was arranged to take the last flight to New York that day, but the connection time was too tight. It has to go through two security checks and is far from the boarding gate. When I boarded the plane in a hurry, the cabin closed immediately. It was late at night when we arrived at Newark Airport, and we couldn't help feeling at a loss when we just went out. I didn't contact the sea curator here, but the careful sea curator may have inquired about the flight delay and arranged the staff to meet me at the airport, which made me feel relaxed and relieved.
The opening ceremony of the exhibition was grand and warm. All members of the Chinese delegation, including the curator Hai Weilan, the president of the Chinese Association for the Advancement of the United States, Bei Jianzhong, the chairman of the Chinese Association for the Advancement of the United States, Lady Gillian Sechler, and the collector Zhao Meiyu and his wife, attended the opening ceremony. The difference is that the opening ceremony of foreign museums is usually arranged in the afternoon, which is mostly open to directors, members of the art committee, sponsors, media and special guests, and a grand banquet is held in the evening. Open to the public the next day. All the guests were shocked and surprised by the wonderful cultural relics in the exhibition. The golden thread jade dress is the most exquisite of the three jade dresses exhibited in the United States at the same time. In the face of so many treasures of the King of Chu, the Board of Directors decided to immediately increase the security of the exhibition hall. The design of the exhibition is even more refreshing. In the past, we didn't understand that although the curator Hai studied archaeology, she has studied painting since she was a teenager, and the art of painting is her favorite. This makes her have two professional backgrounds of archaeology and art. As an art director, she has a unique perspective. The exhibition environment, exhibition line arrangement, exhibition cabinet specifications, and the building blocks of the exhibits are all appropriate. The colors of the exhibition room, exhibition logo, and exhibition board are elegant and harmonious. I believe that even from a professional perspective, the picky can not be ignored. A guest said that it was better than the so-and-so exhibition. The exhibition was indeed well received. Chinese newspapers, New York Chinese Television and the Chinese Consulate General in New York also reported. After the exhibition ended in New York, it moved to the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, for three months, with an audience of 40000 to 50000.

During my stay in New York, I was highly courted and received by the curator of the sea, and arranged to make a special academic report and travel. He also personally accompanied me to watch dramas on Broadway, visit the Metropolitan Museum, Times Square, Central Park, Central Railway Station, Chinatown, etc. Arrange to appreciate the Ming and Qing jades and furniture collected by Ms. Zhao Meiyu, a Chinese collector, and a large number of jades collected by Mr. Yang Men, a collector. This reminds me of my visit to Europe in 1998, when the curator of the same trade took me to know banks, post offices and police stations. In the next three months, he warmly invited me to have a glass of beer, which is the style of Westerners. The curator often said with her colleagues, "We are the Chinese Art Museum, I am Chinese, and my reception of Chinese colleagues must also be Chinese style!"! Not only that, except for the articles of Professor Wang Zijin, Mr. Ma Nian and the curator of the sea, all the exhibits are written by me. The curator of the sea must sign my name, and she only signs the chief editor. The western countries generally implement the curator system, and the curator coordinates the exhibition, so the status is naturally different. "Dream of the King of Chu" is an original curator of the curator Hai, but she insisted that I be the curator. It's not my style to kill others, but I can't defeat her. I can only see it as her great promotion to my younger brother. There must be a lot of transnational cultural relics exhibitions held by the students' representative units, but the two students have personally organized and cooperated so closely. So far, they have not heard of it. It can be regarded as an example of perfect cooperation between China and the United States Museum of Museum (Art)!

The New York Times' full-page report on the blue sea

Exhibition catalogue

"Dream of the King of Chu" was the last in the original series of "China Exhibition" by the curator of the sea. In the past 14 years since 2003, she has been devising strategies on the macro level, and being specific on the micro level. She has held a total of 15 unique thematic and academic exhibitions. Most of the exhibitions have also published exquisite Chinese and English catalogues. The New York Times has published a full page to introduce her. Because of the success of the "Dream of the King of Chu" exhibition, the Chinese Artistic Association and the Board of Directors continued to request the curator of the Chinese Art Association to plan the original Chinese exhibition. At present, two have been determined on the agenda. She modestly said that she should continue to work hard.
Among the Chinese curators working in Western museums, I am sure that the curator of the museum is the most experienced curator. In recent years, China's museum industry has developed vigorously, and it is urgent to learn from the experience of western curators. Xu Jie, curator of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, the United States, Sun Zhixin, director of the Asian Department of the Metropolitan Museum of New York, Liu Yang, director of the Asian Art Department of the Minneapolis Museum of Art, Shen Chen, deputy curator of the Royal Ontario Museum of Canada, and Cao Yin, director of the Chinese Art Department of the New South Wales Museum of Art, Australia, were invited to hold academic lectures in China or give online lectures in the "Open Course of the Chinese Museum". But the curator of Haiazlan still insists on keeping a low profile. Is this due to her busy life, or her personality, or the style of Nantah University? Maybe we can persuade her to go out in the future.