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Palace Museum Celebrates 80th Anniversary

On October 10, 1925, the Forbidden City became the Palace Museum and was opened to the public. This October, it celebrated its 80th anniversary by opening two research centres and by exhibiting centuries-old masterpieces, including "A Picture of Bianliang City on Tomb-sweeping Day" ("Qingming shang he tu"), a work by Zhang Zeduan of the Northern Song Dynasty, 960-1127). In addition, the establishment of two research centres marks the opening of the eastern six palaces in the Forbidden City.

The opening of a ceramics research centre and a painting and calligraphy centre were designated as one of ten key events involved in the celebration of the museum's 80th anniversary. And it creates a platform for exchanges between China and foreign countries. The two research centres imported more than 20 pieces of sophisticated equipment from the United States, France, Germany and Japan and invited 64 of the world's top experts as researchers or guest researchers.

Zheng Xinmiao, curator of Palace Museum, said, "Our museum has 150,000 ancient painting and calligraphic masterpieces from different dynasties. And we have more than 350,000 pieces of ancient ceramics."

Built between 1406 and 1420, the Forbidden City was the imperial residence and the seat of supreme power during the reign of 24 Chinese emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties. In 1924, the last emperor Pu Yi moved out of the building.