Priceless objects---Forbidden City treasures get free exhibition

Global Times, January 26, 2011

For the first time, some of the best imperial relics are on display as part of a free exhibition of treasures from the Forbidden City at the Art Treasures Museum of the Chinese Nation. A joint effort between that museum, the Forbidden City museum and the Dongcheng district government, the exhibition opened January 20 and will last three months, but just two days after it opened, I was surprised to see the place was far from crowded.

The Forbidden City relics are in a huge exhibition room all the way on the fifth floor of the museum. They include items in gold, silver, jade, bronze, lacquer and enamel and cover a period from the Shang Dynasty (C.1600-1046 BC) to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Most of the exhibits date from the Qing Dynasty, including items used for rituals, home décor and daily life in the Forbidden City.

Even after hundreds of years, some of the objects look brand new, especially the ones in gold and jade. One unusual exhibit is a collection of ru yi, a sta. with a heart-shaped head that was used for Buddhist services. The gold one here is engraved with the words "happy wishes for ten thousand years," and was one of 60 such staffs given to the Emperor Qianlong (1711-1799) on his 60th birthday.