The National Museum of China in Beijing is set to offer stirring reflections of China and the world at the peak of the central empire in the 18th century.

The three-month exhibition, entitled "300 Years of the Mountain Resort, Chengde," opening next Tuesday, will largely achieve the expectations to mirror the final development of Chinese feudal society, said Li Ji, deputy director of the museum.

Featuring 240 pieces of cultural heritage from the collection of the Palace Museum, National Museum of China, No 1 Historical Archive of China and Chengde Mountain Resort Museum, it's the first large-scale exhibition held in the National Museum since it was founded in February.

Hosted by the Hebei provincial government, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the National Museum of China, the exhibition commemorates the 300th anniversary of the building of the summer resort in Chengde, some 200 kilometres northeast of Beijing.

Built between 1703 and 1792, the site was used as the summer palace of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Lying in the heart of the Yanshan Mountains, the resort housed seven emperors until Emperor Xianfeng (reigned 1851-61) died there.

Covering 5.64 square kilometres, the resort is a vast complex of palaces and administrative and ceremonial buildings.

Temples of the Han, Mongolian, Hui and Tibetan architectural styles and imperial gardens "subtly blend into a landscape of lakes, pasture land and forests," said a report of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) when the resort and its outlying temples were placed on the World Cultural Heritage List in 1994.

"In addition to its aesthetic interests, it is a rare historical vestige of the final development of the feudal society in China," noted the report.

Li said: "Even if you go to the resort, you will not understand the place better than in the exhibition as it marks the debut of most of the relics on display."

Three emperors

With ancient paintings, graphics, articles and documents, the exhibition re-stages the important events that happened in the resort in five parts.

The first part, "Hunting in the Mulan Pasture," includes displays of swords, daggers, knives, bows, arrows, saddles, guns and armour used by Qing emperors, and paintings by Chinese and European artists depicting the grand sceneries of hunting in the resort's pasture.

One of the wooden bows, decorated with gold and bull horn, is strung with bull tendon. Emperor Qianlong (reigned 1735-96) once shot a tiger with it in the resort.

Unlike the emperors of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) who caged themselves in the Forbidden City, the strong Qing emperors Kangxi (reigned 1662-1722), Yongzheng (reigned 1723-35) and Qianlong led government officials and an army of more than 10,000 on an annual hunt at the resort.

Historical documents say Kangxi shot 153 tigers, 12 bears and 96 wolves. The event was an attempt to maintain the skills of the horsemen of the Manchu ethnic group during the comfortable peacetime.

Supported by a strong military force, the three emperors led armies in wars to unify the country. The domain of China was decided fundamentally in their reign, said Dai Yi, renowned historian with the Renmin University who is the chief of the editorial board of the "History of Qing Dynasty."

As there were no major wars in the central plains and the rich areas of eastern China, the economy developed fast, said Dai in his book "China and the World in the 18th Century."

Files on display in the second part of the exhibition, "Mountain Resort," from the collection of the No 1 Historical Archive, show the country had a great export surplus in the 17th and 18th centuries. About half the total output of silver in the world in those two centuries flowed to China, said Dai.

Letters between emperors and local government officials show the central government was promoting high-output American crops like corn, peanuts and sweet potatoes.

With a stable political environment and fast-growing economy the country had a heyday in the reign of the three emperors. Files show the agricultural output then supported a population of 300 million, which was one-third of the world's population.

When the Chengde Mountain Resort was built, it included mountains, pastures, lakes and more than 120 groups of architectures. A sand table at the exhibition captures the glory of the resort before its decline in the 19th century.

Visitors can also view precious ceramics, watches, silk fabrics, paintings, calligraphy works and emperors' seals used in the resort. They represented the level of handicraft industry then, said Zhao Ling, deputy director of the Hebei Provincial Cultural Heritage Administration.

The peace and prosperity of the two centuries was also rooted in a wise policy toward various ethnic groups. For example, Kangxi's commands in the collection of No 1 Historical Archive show the emperor refused to mend the dilapidated Great Wall but ordered temples be built around the resort.

Every year tribe leaders were invited to go hunting with the emperor in the resort. Documents on display in the third part of the exhibition, "Royal Temples," show the central government adopted different political systems in Tibet, Mongolia, Xinjiang and northeastern China where ethnic groups lived in compact communities.

More than 20 statues of Tibetan Buddhist deities worshipped in the then 12 outlying temples of the resort are on display. Their peculiar styles reflect the aesthetic tastes of different ethnic groups.

However, potential crises lurked. Documents on display show Qianlong drove away the first delegation sent by the British Government in 1793 as the delegates wouldn't kneel down before the emperor.

Empire on wane

The gate of China was locked in the 18th century when the Industrial Revolution enveloped Europe. In Guangzhou, the only place where international trade was allowed in the country, foreigners were forbidden to bring their family with them to China, according to documents displayed in the fourth part of the exhibition "100 Years of Changes."

Commerce and science were also neglected in the Qing Dynasty, as the documents show. Together with the closed-door policy, it resulted in the rapid decline of the empire. The government had no money to mend the mountain resort or even to go hunting there after the First Opium War broke out in 1840 and lasted till 1842.

The resort had been covered by wild grass since 1861, when Emperor Xianfeng died there in a refuge to avoid the invading troops in the Second Opium War (1856-60).

The fifth part of the exhibition shows how the mountain resort regained its brilliance after 1949.

"As we are probably to reach a heyday in the near future, the 18th century China can provide inspirations and lessons," said Dai, who gave a lecture to Chinese ministers last year.

Chinese and English audio guides are provided, and five lectures will be given during the exhibition. The first two of the lectures, "Tibetan Buddhist Statues" and "Architectural Arts of the Mountain Resort" will be from 9 to 11 am on September 20 and 26 respectively.

(China Daily September 12, 2003)