(25th Anniversary of the Return of Hong Kong) Interpreting the Red Wall and Yellow Tile with a Modern Perspective——Interview with Wu Zhihua, Director of the Hong Kong Palace Museum
China News Agency, Hong Kong, June 22, title: Interpretation of red walls and yellow tiles from a modern perspective - Interview with Wu Zhihua, director of the Hong Kong Palace Museum
China News Agency reporter Zeng Ping
What would it look like if the red walls and yellow tiles of the Forbidden City were rebuilt by modern designers?
The upcoming Hong Kong Palace Museum may give you the answer.
"There are elements of the Forbidden City and a sense of history, but the whole is modern and creative." Wu Zhihua, a senior museum expert and director of the Hong Kong Palace Museum, described this brand new museum on the waterfront of Victoria Harbour in an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Agency recently. .
The picture shows Wu Zhihua, director of the Hong Kong Palace Museum.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Li Zhihua
Wu Zhihua has been involved in the work of public museums since 1988. Before joining the Hong Kong Palace Museum, he served as the Deputy Director of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, managing museums, performance venues, public libraries and other Hong Kong cultural institutions.
His career spanned before and after the reunification, and he believes that cultural activities before the reunification were sometimes only for leisure, without any sense of nationality. It was born under the background of strong interest in traditional culture.
Launched on the 20th anniversary of the return of the motherland and opened on the 25th anniversary of the return of the motherland, in Wu Zhihua's eyes, the opening of the Hong Kong Palace Museum has far-reaching significance: it reflects the central government's support for Hong Kong's cultural development, inherits and disseminates traditional Chinese culture, and helps Hong Kong integrate into the country's cultural development. The overall situation is to promote Hong Kong youth to understand the country and history, and also to connect Hong Kong with the hearts of many mainland people.
At the same time, during the preparation process, the team worked hard to overcome difficulties and demonstrated the spirit of Hong Kong people to solve problems.
The picture shows the director of the Hong Kong Palace Museum, Wu Zhihua (left), introducing the new museum to reporters.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Li Zhihua
The Palace Museum in Beijing has lent an unprecedented 914 precious cultural relics to the opening exhibition of the Hong Kong Palace Museum.
Wu Zhihua described the two museums as "I have you, you have me", and the two cooperated with each other in selecting the cultural relics for the opening exhibition.
"This cooperation is just the beginning." He said that in the future, the two parties will also organize new exhibitions and rotate exhibits, and will jointly hold academic, exchange and educational activities.
The function of the museum is not limited to visiting.
After Wu Zhihua announced the opening date of the Hong Kong Palace Museum to the public, he received many emails and phone calls expressing his willingness to visit.
While waiting for visitors to come, he is also planning to incorporate cultural relic education into students' history courses, and to inspire students to create art with the theme of the Forbidden City through 3D printing.
"We will walk out of the museum." Wu Zhihua planned the future as best he could.
The picture shows the gate of the Hong Kong Palace Museum with glass door nails.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Li Zhihua
"In addition to promoting the excellent traditional Chinese culture, promoting dialogue among world civilizations is also our key work." After Wu Zhihua was appointed as the curator in 2019, he personally recruited each team member, many of whom have work experience in Europe, America, Taiwan and other places .
He believes that having an international team is the advantage of the Hong Kong Palace Museum.
The international cooperation road laid by the team has a general direction: looking for opportunities to spread Chinese culture, including the Palace Museum culture, to the world and become a link between Chinese culture and the world audience, such as arranging the exhibition of the Hong Kong Palace Museum to foreign museums Continue to exhibit; introduce exhibitions of foreign civilizations to Hong Kong and the Mainland; and prepare exhibitions on the theme of cultural exchange between China and the West and hold world tours, etc.
The picture shows the main entrance of the Hong Kong Palace Museum.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Li Zhihua
With the opening day approaching, the staff in the Hong Kong Palace Museum are busy with the final preparations.
The cultural relics from the Palace Museum arrive in Hong Kong in batches accompanied by experts, and the experts will return to Beijing in batches after the cultural relics are arranged and sealed.
Before accepting the interview, Wu Zhihua just met with a group of experts who escorted cultural relics to say goodbye.
In order to experience the visitor's experience, he and the designer took a trip through the museum in advance.
"I feel very satisfied." Wu Zhihua said.
(Finish)