The exhibition "The hidden century of China“- May 18-October 8, 2023 at the British Museum in London – is preparing to be a world event that will illuminate a pivotal period in China's history, a bridge to the modern nation that the country is today. The exhibition that is about to open at the British Museum, created with the support of Citi as main supporter, wants to tell the external and internal upheavals that China went through in the period between 1796 and 1912, with the end of the dynastic rule that lasted over 2000 years and the birth of the modern Republic of China resulting from the Revolution. The exhibition, one of the major exhibitions scheduled for 2023 in Europe, will highlight the enormities committed by foreign imperialism and the responses to the ongoing turmoil in Chinese society. After four years of research, this is the first global event focused on individual groups of people in XNUMXth century China where you can experience the visual richness of this era through the material culture of multiple sectors of society: court, military, artists and writers, farmers and city dwellers, globalized communities of merchants, scientists and diplomats, reformers and revolutionaries.
China's "Long XNUMXth Century".
The 'Hidden Century of China' exhibition at the British Museum examines the period from the accession in 1796 of the fifth emperor of Qing Dynasty, Jiaqing, to the 1912 abdication of the tenth, Puyi, paving the way for a revolutionary republic. Between 1796 and 1912, Qing China suffered catastrophic civil and foreign wars (including Britain's Opium Wars), culminating in the revolution that ended 2000 years of dynastic rule. Tens of millions of people have died in the conflicts and chaos they have engendered. Despite this tragic scenario, the events and people of the XNUMXth century China they launched the country on a far-reaching quest for modernity. The survivors of this century's aftershocks, from many social classes and economic groups, have demonstrated extraordinary resourcefulness, spearheading and embracing cultural and technological change in painting and politics, warfare and crafts, literature and fashion.
Objects never exposed to the public
The show is secured by the conservation and renovation of extraordinary objects never exhibited first to the public. Surviving objects from the XNUMXth century, such as a waterproof straw cloak made for a street worker, farmer or fisherman, offer a fresh and direct insight into the textures of everyday life. The restorers carefully brushed the individual strands of straw and moistened each stalk to restore the garment to its original shape; the piece and its restoration highlights the exceptional craftsmanship that flourished at all levels of late imperial Chinese society.
The dress of Empress Dowager Cixi
Visitors will also see a splendid robe – on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art – that belonged to theEmpress Dowager Cixi, de facto ruler of China from 1861 to 1908 and a direct contemporary of Queen Victoria. The dress – featuring a phoenix swooping amid lush chrysanthemums and sweeping sleeves – is a stunning combination of Manchu, Chinese and Japanese motifs, in purple, gold and turquoise. The Empress Dowager's wardrobe contained hundreds of such dazzling garments, which she would accessorize with grandiose, bejeweled headdresses.
The exhibition is the result of a four-year research project supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, led by the British Museum and London University. The exhibition was made possible thanks to the collaboration of over 100 scholars from 14 countries.
