Description

The Hong Kong Palace Museum (Museum) will proudly present a special exhibition, 'A Moveable Feast – Chinese Food Culture' (the 'Moveable Feast' exhibition), from 19 March to 18 June 2025. As one of the highlights of Hong Kong Arts Month 2025, this exhibition features a selection of over 110 precious artefacts, including 8 National First-Class Cultural Relics from the Palace Museum in Beijing, offering a deep exploration of the evolution of food utensils, dining habits, and traditional customs, and presenting the diverse food culture and lifestyle of China. The 'Moveable Feast' exhibition is jointly organised by the Hong Kong Palace Museum and the Palace Museum, bringing together the treasured collections of both museums, as well as outstanding artefacts from the British Museum, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and several local museums. Tracing the historical context from the Neolithic Age (c. 10,000 – 2,000 BC) to the Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1911), the exhibition utilises multimedia and new technologies to vividly showcase the essence of Chinese food culture.

A New Perspective: 'Moveable' Connecting Chinese Food Culture – Transcending Life and Death, Culture, Landscape, and Time

Chinese food culture is profound and extensive, ranging from the sensory appeal of colour, aroma, and flavour on the dining table, to the rituals, customs, thoughts, and philosophies derived from the act of eating. The 'Moveable Feast' exhibition presents a novel perspective by focusing on the concept of 'moveable', showcasing and connecting important aspects of China's 5,000-year-old food culture. Divided into three sections – 'Transcending Life and Death', 'Transcending Culture', and 'Transcending Landscape' – the exhibition explores the movement of dining utensils in the spiritual, cultural, and spatial realms. The final section, 'Transcending Time', employs multimedia techniques, inviting visitors to explore the relationship between tradition and innovation in contemporary tableware and traditional dining culture through a virtual table setting.

First Section: 'Transcending Life and Death – Rites and Food Share the Same Origin': Showcasing ritual vessels and burial objects related to food from the Neolithic Age to the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD), this section discusses the importance of 'moving' the feasts of this life to the afterlife. Highlight exhibits include the Zuofuding Zun vessel and the Luzhouhou vessel from the Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 1100 – 771 BC), used for sacrificial rituals and housed in the Palace Museum. These bronze ritual vessels were considered essential mediators between humans, gods, and the universe, reflecting the Chinese belief that 'rites and food share the same origin'. Miniature models of grain silos, wells, stoves, pigsties, and chicken coops made from pottery were also prevalent during the late Western Han Dynasty (206 BC – 8 AD), indicating the flourishing development of food culture at the time and people's wishes for a prosperous afterlife.

Second Section: 'Transcending Culture ' (Hu Food Fashion): This section displays artefacts from the Tang (618 – 907) and Song (960 – 1279) Dynasties, illustrating the cultural exchange between China, Central Asia, and West Asia through food and dining traditions. It demonstrates how foreign dining customs and utensils, introduced via the Silk Road, transformed Chinese dining culture, with influences that persist to this day. For example, the introduction of tables and chairs by胡people (a term referring to foreigners) changed the traditional Chinese custom of sitting on the floor to eat, making it common to share a table. Additionally, ingredients introduced from Central Asia, such as胡椒 (pepper),胡桃 (walnut), and胡麻 (sesame), are still widely used today and carry the character胡in their names. One of the key exhibits in this section is a Tang Dynasty ewer with a phoenix-head spout, which has a handle and a pouring spout, showcasing how the胡custom of pouring wine influenced the traditional Chinese practice of using spoons or dippers for drinking. Another highlight is a plate with a dragon and grapevine pattern, revealing that the introduction of large plates during the Tang Dynasty was closely related to the arrival of胡foods: these plates were used to serve foreign foods like胡餅 (flatbread), fruits, and 'snow ice' (a dessert similar to shaved ice), reflecting a shift from separate to shared dishes.

Third Section: 'Transcending Landscape – The Joy of Dining Outdoors': With the rise of tourism during the Ming (1368 – 1644) and Qing Dynasties, outdoor dining and related utensils gained prominence. This section showcases artifacts from the Ming and Qing Dynasties that depict outdoor dining scenes and the utensils used at the time, presenting the movement of dining across landscapes. It also introduces how boxes (xiang) originally used to hold dining utensils became packaging for cultural relics in the Qing Dynasty court. Historical outdoor dining events inspired the creation of numerous artworks in various mediums, such as the handscroll 'Night Banquet in the Peach and Plum Blossom Garden' by Ding Guanpeng (active 1726 – 1770), which captures a gathering and feast hosted by Li Bai (701 – 762), the renowned Tang Dynasty poet, and his cousins in a garden filled with blooming peach trees. Works like 'Fairy Boat on Qujiang River' by Zhang Fu (1546 – after 1631), a famous Ming Dynasty landscape painter, vividly portray the joy of dining and entertaining on boats, reflecting the popularity of such events during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Fourth Section: 'Transcending Time – Inheritance and Innovation': Chinese food culture not only carries the wisdom of ancient traditions but also embraces modern concepts and technologies. This section presents the inheritance and development of Chinese dining culture in a dynamic and engaging manner. Through interactive installations that blend ancient and modern scenes and utensils, visitors are invited to embark on a journey through time and space. A virtual table in the exhibition hall offers a simulated dining experience, allowing visitors to explore the evolution and usage of tableware through animated presentations of different dishes' cooking processes.

To complement the theme of 'A Moveable Feast', the Museum will offer a range of novel and enriching educational activities and resources, including public lectures, workshops on food box making, and a learning resource handbook for visitors. Details will be announced in due course.

The 'Moveable Feast' exhibition will open on 19 March 2025 in Gallery 8 of the Hong Kong Palace Museum, running until 18 June 2025. Adult tickets for this special exhibition are HK$150, while concessionary tickets* are HK$75. With the purchase of an all-gallery ticket, visitors can also view the special exhibition 'When the Forbidden City Met Versailles – Cultural Exchanges between 17th- and 18th-Century China and France' in Gallery 9 on the same day. Adult tickets for the all-gallery experience are HK$220, and concessionary tickets* are HK$110. These tickets include access to the Museum's thematic exhibitions in Galleries 1 to 7 on the same day. For details, please refer to the Museum's website. Visitors can purchase tickets through the West Kowloon Cultural District's online booking platform or ticketing partners.

Cover Image: Detail from Night Banquet in the Peach and Plum Blossom Garden, Ding Guanpeng (active 1737 – 1768), Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1911), handscroll, ink and colour on paper, © Palace Museum, Beijing

Image 1: Cup with Qi Dragon-shaped Handle and葵花 (Chrysanthemum) Pattern, Song Dynasty (960 – 1279), white jade, © Palace Museum, Beijing

Image 2: Red Lacquerware Box with Dragon and Pearl Design, Qianlong Period (1736 – 1795), Qing Dynasty, lacquer on wood, © Palace Museum, Beijing

Image 4: Square ding (cauldron) with animal-mask motif Shang dynasty (about 1600–1100 BCE) Bronze © Palace Museum, Beijing

Image 5: Phoenix-head ewer Tang dynasty (618–907) Earthenware with sancai (three-coloured) glaze Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, B60P214 © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco