Ming Dynasty Culture Forum 2024 Opens in Changping, Beijing, with more than 100 national treasures on display
15 July 2024 - 2:11PM
UK Regulatory
Ming Dynasty Culture Forum 2024 Opens in Changping, Beijing, with
more than 100 national treasures on display
BEIJING, July 15, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Ming Culture
Forum 2024 was recently held in the district of Changping in
Beijing. With the theme of "The Splendid Age of the Colorful
Ming," it is composed of forums, one international academic
seminar, cultural relics exhibitions and cultural activities, with
more than 30 of them in total which will be held throughout the
year. More than 100 national treasures were unveiled at the opening
ceremony. The event on the whole has reached a new height in terms
of scale, embodies a broader cultural perspective, gathers a wealth
of cultural relics of the Ming Dynasty, and features a series of
wonderful activities. It aims to give full play to Changping's
abundant Ming cultural resources, do a good job in the protection
and inheritance of the Ming Tombs, a world cultural heritage site,
and help enhance Beijing's reputation as a famous historical and
cultural city.
The event brought together more than 600 Chinese and foreign
experts and scholars to share their wisdom on the Ming culture,
according to the Organizing Committee. In the international
dialogue session of the main forum held on July 13, Lyu Zhou,
professor and doctoral supervisor of Tsinghua University and
director of Tsinghua's National Heritage Center, and Marie-Noël
Tournoux (French), project director of the World Heritage Institute
of Training and Research for the Asia and Pacific Region under the
auspices of UNESCO, exchanged ideas on the theme of "Inheritance
and Mutual Learning: The Contemporary Value of Ming
Culture," and shared their understanding of the Ming culture.
The dialogue laid a solid foundation for cooperation between the
two sides, promoted two-way friendly exchanges, and helped explore
a new path for the development of Ming culture.
During the main forum, at the "Magnificent Ming Dynasty
Treasures" exhibition dedicated to the cultural relics of Ming
Dynasty, more than 100 pieces of national treasures were on
display, including Emperor Wanli's golden mesh crown, the
empress' phoenix coronet, authentic calligraphy works by Dong
Qichang, a gold box from the Royal Archives Center, and a copy of
the Jiajing era's Yongle Encyclopedia. All of them are
national treasures rarely seen by the general public.
The main forum also released a number of major plans, including
the comprehensive opening plan of the Ming Tombs, the call for
designs of the culture-museum-tourism complex featuring the Ming
culture, and the study tour routes at the Ming Tombs Scenic Area,
with the aim to promote tourism development through cultural
research and development.
The Ming Tombs Scenic Area will gradually open more tombs to the
visitors, and all of them by 2030. This will be done in three
phases from 2024 to 2030. The first phase is from 2024 to 2025, to
open Siling (Tomb of Emperor Sizong) and Yongling (Emperor
Shizong); the second phase, from 2026 to 2028, to open Maoling
(Emperor Xianzong), Tailing (Emperor Xiaozong), Deling (Emperor
Xizong) and the ruins of the New Imperial Residence; the third
phase is from 2029 to 2030, to open Xianling (Emperor Renzong),
Yuling (Emperor Yinzong), and Qingling (Emperor Guangzong). After
all the tombs are open to tourists, physical cultural relics will
be displayed as they are with signs and explanations, including not
only ancient buildings, tombs, and the Sacred Way, but also
cultural heritage elements such as the former architectural sites
and the Sacred Way, to comprehensively represent the whole
construction process of the Ming Tombs, and their architectural
characteristics and construction skills.
In addition, the Forum issued a call for designs of a
culture-museum-tourism complex featuring the Ming culture. The
complex will be located in Shisanling Town of Changping, with
abundant cultural and tourism resources, business services and
scientific research industries, including the Ming Tombs,
Juyongguan Great Wall, Baifuquan Site, and Badaling Outlet. Upon
completion, it will become a world-renowned international exchange
base dedicated to Ming culture, China's most influential exhibition
area of Ming culture, and a cultural, museum and tourism business
zone based on the world cultural heritage site in the northwest of
the capital.
At the main forum, two study tour routes featuring the ruins and
relics of the Ming Dynasty were announced: one is from the Park of
the Ruins of the Grand Canal Source, to Changling (Tomb of Emperor
Yongle), Dingling and then the Visitor Center of the Ming Toombs
Scenic Area, and the other from the Juyongguan Great Wall to
Yongling or Siling and other mausoleums not yet open to the public.
It will take two days to complete both routes, and visitors can
spend the night in hotels nearby or camping at Juyongguan to enjoy
the starry night and immerse themselves in the splendor of
Ming culture.
On the opening day of the main forum, the imperial
guard-of-honor welcome ceremony and the grand archery ritual
typical of Ming Dynasty were held at the Ming Culture International
Exchange Center. The performers were dressed in exquisite official
uniforms, holding huban (representing government
officials of Ming Dynasty), Xiuchun Dao (a
single-edged sword representing the Imperial Guard of Ming
Dynasty), flags featuring the pattern of dragon, tiger, bird, and
tortoise respectively, and qilin-pattern flags, among
other ceremonial utensils. The ceremonial demonstrations,
soundtrack performances, costume displays, and competitive
performances fully showed the solemnity and grandeur of the grand
archery ritual of Ming Dynasty.
Meanwhile, Changping has planned four modules of activities:
"Ming Gift," "Ming Joy," "Ming Color" and "Ming
Rhyme," and will successively launch more than 30 cultural
activities including music concerts, air tours, the parade in
ancient ceremonial dress, Li Shizhen Traditional Chinese Medicine
Cultural Festival, and the Ming-style fashion, to attract more
tourists and improve the popularity and influence of Ming
culture.
Source: The Organizing Committee of The Ming Culture Forum
2024
A Media Snippet accompanying this announcement is available by
clicking on this link.