The newly refurbished gallery housing painting and calligraphic masterpieces that are otherwise rarely seen from the Palace Museum's collection opens recently before August 2008 Olympic Games Beijing. Installed in the Hall of Martial Valor (Wuying dian) in the southwest of the museum, the first thematic exhibition coinciding the opening features on the dynastic paintings and calligraphy from the Palace Museum's collection.



The exhibition examines acclaimed paintings and calligraphy in chronological order from the third century to the early twenties century, such as Eminent Recluse by Wei Xian (active 10th century), Poem for a Departing Nephew by the Northern Song dynasty renowned calligrapher Huang Tingjian (1045-1105), and Gathering Edible Wild Herbs by Li Tang (ca. 1049-1130), to name only a few. Accompanied are entries focusing on the feature of the times, change of styles, major schools, and famous artists. Due to conservation requirements, the works for exhibition will be changed regularly.



Paintings and calligraphy are always on the top of the museum's exhibition agenda. Housing 50,000 calligraphy and 45,000 paintings excluding those done by emperors and imperial consorts, the museum's collection encompasses the dynastic masterpieces of the past two millennia, basically reflecting the overall history of Chinese fine art. The Hall of Martial Valor, opened in 2005 after three years' renovation, has just finished another interior refurbishment, reserved for permanent exhibition of paintings and calligraphy with specially designed showcases, lighting and humidity control systems.



CCC invites one Palace Museum calligraphy & painting researcher to guide us in the Hall of Wuying for the second batch of the exhibits. The talk will be in Chinese with English interpretation.



Meet in front of the Meridian Gate (wu men) of the Forbidden City. CCC guide will be standing on the right side of the ticket-check entrance with a CCC flag.