[Concurrent] Wu Zhihua, Director of the Hong Kong Palace Museum

　　Since the handover, Hong Kong citizens have been very, very interested in traditional Chinese culture. Otherwise, we would not have built the Hong Kong Palace Museum (Cultural Museum).

I tell you that I also received a lot of phone calls and emails today, they know that we are going to visit the Hong Kong Palace Museum (cultural museum) after the opening on July 2.

Therefore, everyone is looking forward to the opportunity to have an understanding of Chinese cultural traditions.

In particular, it provides our younger generation with an opportunity to learn and enhance their cultural self-confidence, cultural awareness, and historical awareness of our country. I think it is a good platform.

　　[Explanation] To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the return of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Palace Museum recently announced that it will officially open to the public on July 2.

A few days ago, Wu Zhihua, the first director of the Hong Kong Palace Museum, accepted an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Agency and led the reporter into the main building of the Palace Museum.

　　[Concurrent] Wu Zhihua, Director of the Hong Kong Palace Museum

　　The feeling of this space is related to our traditional Chinese culture, and it is also reflected in the modern city of Hong Kong.

For example, the gate, we use a red gate with some elements of the Forbidden City inside.

There are three atriums in it, and I think the lighting of the ceiling is very beautiful.

Simple and concise, the lines are very simple, but it has cultural connotations and the content is very good, so I think I am quite satisfied with the architecture myself.

　　[Explanation] In addition to the main building, the opening exhibition of the Hong Kong Palace Museum has also attracted much attention.

Wu Zhihua revealed that 914 precious cultural relics from the Palace Museum in Beijing will appear in the opening exhibition, including 166 first-class cultural relics, all of which are "national treasures", accounting for 18% of the total number of exhibits.

This is also the largest overseas loan of the Palace Museum since its establishment in 1925.

　　[Concurrent] Wu Zhihua, Director of the Hong Kong Palace Museum

　　There are some in the painting and calligraphy, such as "Running Script Copying Lanting Preface".

Some paintings (for example) "Luo Shen Fu Tu" also come from both versions.

And some ceramics.

Ru kiln, one of the five famous kilns in the Song Dynasty, also came here.

Ru kiln is very, very precious. There are only 20 pieces in the Forbidden City in Beijing. This time, we will also give us two pieces.

The baby pillow is a Dingyao, and I personally find it very cute.

There are only two handed down, one in Taipei and one in Beijing.

So these few things are what I think I personally recommend to the audience.

　　[Commentary] In June 2017, the Palace Museum and the Hong Kong West Kowloon Cultural District Authority held the signing ceremony of the "Cooperation Agreement on the Construction of the Hong Kong Palace Museum Heritage Museum".

According to the agreement, after the completion of the Hong Kong Palace Museum, it will continue to display the cultural relics of the Palace Museum to enrich the cultural life of Hong Kong.

On this basis, the Palace Museum started various preparations for the exhibition in 2018, assembled first-class experts and scholars to form an exhibition preparation team, and cooperated with the curatorial team of the Hong Kong Palace Museum.

　　[Concurrent] Wu Zhihua, Director of the Hong Kong Palace Museum

　　So I have you, you have me, and everyone can't be separated.

During the process, they (Beijing Forbidden City) gave us a lot of very good opinions, opinions on the construction of the museum, and opinions on the design, but they respected us very much and took us as the mainstay.

Basically, the entire (Beijing) Forbidden City has invested a lot of people in the past year or two.

This also reflects the central government's support for the development of Hong Kong, especially the development of culture.

It reflects that Hong Kong's cultural development will be integrated with the mainland in the future, and it must be integrated into the overall situation of our entire Chinese cultural development.

　　[Explanation] The outline of the national "14th Five-Year Plan" clearly states that Hong Kong will be supported in the development of a Chinese-foreign cultural and artistic exchange center.

Hong Kong has also attracted global attention for its cultural characteristics of the fusion of the East and the West and the integration of diversity and integration.

In Wu Zhihua's view, the mission of the Hong Kong Palace Museum is not only to let the people of Hong Kong know and understand Chinese culture, but also to let Chinese culture go abroad and to the world.

　　[Concurrent] Wu Zhihua, Director of the Hong Kong Palace Museum

　　Finding opportunities to spread Chinese culture, including the culture of the Forbidden City, to the world, and connecting Chinese culture to world audiences, is one of our priorities.

So in the future, we hope that some exhibitions will be done in the Hong Kong Palace Museum (cultural museum), and we hope to arrange it to be displayed in other museums.

There is already a project planned to be done next year, which is to cooperate with the Sichuan Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics on an exhibition about ancient civilizations. After we have done it in Hong Kong, we are going to bring it to Los Angeles.

Now we have also begun to cooperate with some American and European institutions. Can we provide them with some materials to tell the story of Chinese culture to foreign audiences.

　　[Explanation] From civil servants to museum curators, Wu Zhihua's experience in Hong Kong's cultural undertakings for more than 30 years has made Wu Zhihua deeply emotional about the cultural development of Hong Kong since the return of the motherland.

For him, this art palace standing on the shore of Victoria Harbour is not only a summary of looking back on the past, but also a new starting point for the future.

　　[Concurrent] Wu Zhihua, Director of the Hong Kong Palace Museum

　　Because I joined this work in 1988, just before the return, at that time, the culture did not have a sense of the overall situation of the country.

After the return, everyone is not the same. Of course, in two aspects, the government's policies are there, and the people's needs are also many.

The central government's support for Hong Kong, our people's interest and desire for the study of traditional Chinese culture, and then the emergence of the Hong Kong Palace Museum (Cultural Museum), so I think the 25th anniversary is a summary.

Of course, we hope that on this basis, in the past 30 or 35 years, we will not only serve the Hong Kong audience, but also make a greater contribution to the cultural development of the country.

　　Reporter Fan Siyi Liang Yuan Luo Siyu Hong Kong reports

Responsible editor: [Sun Jingbo]