British Museum presents a world first exhibition on 19th century China: 'China’s hidden century'

9 mai 2023

British Museum presents a world first exhibition on 19th century China: 'China’s hidden century'

LONDON - In a global first, a major new exhibition at the British Museum showcases the resilience and creativity of 19th-century China. The Citi exhibition China’s hidden century will illuminate a pivotal period in China’s history – one that forms a crucial bridge to the modern nation the country is today.

This is the first exhibition to focus on individual groups of people in 19th-century China. Visitors will experience the visual richness of this era through the material culture of multiple sections of society – the court, the military, artists and writers, farmers and city-dwellers, globalised communities of merchants, scientists and diplomats, reformers and revolutionaries. The show consists of 300 objects, half from the British Museum, half borrowed from 30 different British and international lenders, with most being publicly displayed for the first time.

China’s ‘long 19th century’ stretches from the accession in 1796 of the fifth emperor of the Qing dynasty, Jiaqing, to the abdication in 1912 of the tenth, Puyi, making way for a revolutionary republic. Between 1796 and 1912 Qing China endured cataclysmic civil and foreign wars (including Britain’s notorious Opium Wars), culminating with the revolution that ended 2,000 years of dynastic rule. Tens of millions perished in the conflicts and the chaos they generated.

Despite this tragic backdrop, the events and people of 19th-century China launched the country on a far-reaching, multi-faceted quest for modernity. Survivors of this century’s dislocations, from many social classes and economic groups, demonstrated extraordinary resourcefulness, both driving and embracing cultural and technological change in painting and politics, war and craft, literature and fashion.

The show is underpinned by conservation and refurbishment of remarkable items never before placed on public display. Surviving objects from the 19th century – such as a water-proof straw cape made for a street worker, farmer or fisherman – offer fresh, direct insights into the textures of everyday life. Conservators have painstakingly brushed individual strands of straw and humidified each stalk to bring the garment back to its original shape; the piece and its restoration highlight the exceptional craftsmanship that flourished across all levels of late imperial Chinese society.

Visitors will also see a stunning robe – loaned from the Metropolitan Museum of Art – that belonged to the Empress Dowager Cixi, the de-facto ruler of China from 1861 to 1908 and a direct contemporary of Queen Victoria. The gown – featuring a swooping phoenix amid lush chrysanthemums and wide sleeve bands – is a gorgeous combination of Manchu, Chinese and Japanese motifs, in purple, gold and turquoise. The Empress Dowager’s wardrobe contained hundreds of such dazzling items, which she would accessorise with grandiose, jewelled headpieces.

Dowager Cixi’s robe, China, about 1880–1908. © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

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 show was made possible thanks to the collaboration of over 100 scholars from 14 countries.

Jessica Harrison-Hall, Head of the China Section, Curator of the Sir Percival David Collection, Chinese Ceramics and Decorative Arts at the British Museum, comments: “In this show we have sought to highlight the creativity and resilience demonstrated by so many citizens of Qing China amid exceptionally hard times. Our aim was to celebrate the contributions of remarkable individuals. Putting the show together has been a huge collaborative effort and it has been wonderful and inspiring to work with so many scholars, collectors, designers and students.”

Hartwig Fischer, Director of the British Museum, said: “The Citi exhibition China’s hidden century is a world first and showcases the resilience of the many people who lived in Qing China. I would like to express my gratitude to Citi for making this exhibition possible and helping us to illuminate the lives and culture of 19th-century China. I’d also like to thank the Huo Family Foundation for their support.”

James Bardrick, Citi Country Officer, United Kingdom, said: “We are immensely proud to continue our partnership with the British Museum, which started in 2012, through the Citi Exhibition Series. As the world’s most global bank, we value diverse perspectives and believe that sharing and celebrating culture drives progress. With the Citi exhibition, China’s hidden century, we are proud to help the museum explore the phenomenal cultural creativity of 19th-century China in a global first.”

Wenyuan Xin, Project Curator China’s Hidden Century at the British Museum, adds: “I have relished the opportunity to explore and tell the story of an often-underestimated period of Chinese art and culture. Over the course of just over 100 years China transformed from a dynastic empire to a modern republican nation. Through this exhibition, we hope to communicate the drama, complexity and conflict of this process.”

Julia Lovell, Professor of Modern China at Birkbeck, University of London, adds: “This exhibition aspires to convey both the external and internal cataclysms suffered by China between 1796 and 1912, and the diverse innovations that these crises generated. It will highlight the enormities committed by foreign imperialism, and resourceful responses to turmoil from across Chinese society. Government and governed engaged in new debates about the balance of power between monarch and people. High politics, elite culture and everyday life opened to global influences and exchanges. Artistic and literary traditions were challenged, dismantled, added to and remade – the amalgam of and dislocation between old and new generated a cosmopolitan cultural modernity.”

18 May – 8 October 2023

Complete Map of All Under Heaven Unified by the Great Qing, China, about 1800. © The British Library.

Unidentified artist, Ancestor portrait of a bannerman. With permission of ROM (Royal Ontario Museum), Toronto, Canada. © ROM.

Unidentified artist, Portrait of Lady Li (Lu Xifu's Wife). Ink and colour on paper, China, about 1876. Gift of Mr. Harp Ming Luk. With permission of ROM (Royal Ontario Museum), Toronto, Canada. © ROM.

Unidentified artist, Portrait of Lu Xifu. Ink and colour on paper, China, about 1876. Gift of Mr. Harp Ming Luk. With permission of ROM (Royal Ontario Museum), Toronto, Canada. © ROM.