(Photo : Portion of the Chinese cityscape handscroll Along the River During Qingming Festival, ink and colors on silk, 25.5 × 525 cm)

Like Us on Facebook

The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from Ming Dynasty to Qing Dynasty. It is located in the center of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum. For almost 500 years, it served as the home of emperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government.

The collections of the Palace Museum are based on the Qing imperial collection. Today, there are over a million rare and valuable works of art in the permanent collection of the Palace Museum, including paintings, ceramics, seals, steles, sculptures, inscribed wares, bronze wares, enamel objects, etc. According to an inventory of the Museum's collection conducted between 2004 and 2010, the Palace Museum holds a total of 1,807,558 artifacts and includes 1,684,490 items designated as nationally protected "valuable cultural relics."

Recently, the Palace Museum carried out an event of "the most favorite artifacts in Forbidden City". 115 artifacts were selected in the list, among which, the celebrated painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival is the key highlight of all the collections. It is a panoramic painting by Song Dynasty artist Zhang Zeduan. It captures the daily life of people and the landscape of the capital, Bianjing, today's Kaifeng, from the Song period. The theme celebrates the festive spirit and worldly commotion at the Qingming Festival. The Qingming Festival is a traditional Chinese festival for people to go outside and enjoy the greenery of springtime.

The entire piece of Along the River During the Qingming Festival was painted in hand scroll format and the content reveals the lifestyle of all levels of the society from rich to poor as well as different economic activities in rural areas and the city. It offers glimpses of period clothing and architecture. As an artistic creation, the piece has been revered and court artists of subsequent dynasties have made several re-interpretive replicas. It is considered to be the most renowned work among all Chinese paintings.