The opening ceremony of the exhibition Age of Empires: Chinese Art of the Qin and Han Dynasties (221 B.C. – A.D. 220) was held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) in New York on the evening of March 27, 2017. Chinese Vice Premier of the State Council Liu Yandong sent a congratulatory message to the event. Chinese Minister of Culture Luo Shugang, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai, Consul General of China in New York Zhang Qiyue, Chinese Deputy Director General of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) Gu Yucai, Director of MET Thomas P. Campbell, as well as over five hundred government officials and experts in the arts and culture field from China and the United States gathered to celebrate the landmark exhibition's grand opening.
In the opening ceremony, Minister of Culture Luo Shugang addressed to audience the congratulatory message from Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong, and presented the message to Director Campbell. The Vice Premier said in the message that Chinese Art of the Qin and Han Dynasties Exhibition is a major outcome of President Xi and President Obama's meeting during the G20 Hangzhou Summit in 2016, as well as an important project realized by the seventh round of China-U.S. High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange. Liu hopes that the exhibition will allow more people in the United States to see the treasures from China, further deepen the friendship between the people of the two countries. The congratulatory message emphasized that the year of 2017 witnessed the 45th anniversary of the Three Joint Communiqués. China-US friendly relations are powered by the people, and rooted in the people. It is expected that both sides take the success of Chinese Art of the Qin and Han Dynasties Exhibition as a new start, and continue strengthening cultural exchanges, promoting mutual understanding, constructing a friendly foundation for societies and public opinions to improve China-U.S. relations.
Minister of Culture Luo Shugang also delivered a congratulatory speech in which he thanked crucial cultural and art institutes in the U.S. such as MET for their contribution to China-U.S. cultural exchanges and cooperation. He hoped that the two countries would continue seizing opportunities enabled by China-U.S. cultural exchanges and high-level consultations to promote cultural prosperity in both countries.
Director Campbell stated in his speech that the Age of Empires: Chinese Art of the Qin and Han Dynasties Exhibition was the third important event featuring exquisite Chinese relics in recent years held at MET. The exhibition will reflect the political unity and cultural diversity of Chinese historical origins. Viewers could easily sense from the exhibition that China and the U.S. would not be rivals but partners in the long term.
The exhibition Age of Empires: Chinese Art of the Qin and Han Dynasties (221 B.C. – A.D. 220) has gone through five years of planning and preparation. The 160 pieces of art works in the exhibition including extremely rare ceramics, metalwork, textiles, sculpture, painting, calligraphy, and architectural models, are drawn exclusively from 32 museums and archaeological institutions in 13 Chinese provinces and cities. A majority of the works have never been exhibited in foreign countries before. The exhibition is open to the public from April 3 to July 16, 2017.
