Hong Kong Palace Museum | A Moveable Feast — Chinese Food Culture

Description

The new special exhibition 'A Moveable Feast — Chinese Food Culture' jointly presented by the Hong Kong Palace Museum (HKPM) and the Palace Museum officially opens today. As one of the highlights of Hong Kong Arts Month 2025, the exhibition explores Chinese food culture from a fresh perspective — 'mobility' — showcasing over 110 precious artefacts, delving into the evolution of food utensils, dining habits, and traditional customs, and presenting the diverse food culture and lifestyles of China throughout history. The exhibition is supported by the Chong and Margaret Wong Charity Foundation. It will be open to the public from tomorrow (19 March 2025) in Gallery 8 of the HKPM and will run until 18 June 2025.
 
The opening ceremony was held today at the HKPM, with officiating guests including Mr. Wang Yuegong, Deputy Director of the Palace Museum; Dr. Kong Lingcheng, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the HKPM; Ms. Fanny Wong, Chief Executive Officer of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority; and Dr. Wu Zhihua, Director of the HKPM. The exhibition brings together precious collections from the Palace Museum and the HKPM, including eight National First-Class Cultural Artefacts from the former, as well as outstanding artefacts from the British Museum, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Hong Kong Museum of Art, and the Hong Kong Museum of Tea Ware. Spanning five millennia, from the Neolithic period (c. 10,000 – 2,000 BCE) to the Qing dynasty (1644 – 1911), the exhibition combines multimedia and new technologies to vividly showcase the essence of Chinese food culture.
 
'Food is a true reflection of the evolution of civilisation. The Palace Museum is delighted to co-organise the 'A Moveable Feast' exhibition with the HKPM to introduce China's 5,000-year food culture to global audiences,' said Mr. Wang Yuegong, Deputy Director of the Palace Museum. 'The exhibition features a wide range of artefacts, from the dignified and majestic bronze vessels of the pre-Qin period to the exquisitely designed food containers of the Qing dynasty, testifying to the trajectory of ancient and modern integration and cultural exchange between China and foreign countries throughout the development of Chinese civilisation. We hope that through these precious artefacts, audiences can gain a deeper understanding of the origins of Chinese food culture and its rich cultural connotations.'
 
'The 'A Moveable Feast' exhibition brings together precious collections from our museum, the Palace Museum, and several other important museums in China and abroad, presenting the profound and extensive cultural stories of Chinese food culture,' said Dr. Kong Lingcheng, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the HKPM. 'As a place where Eastern and Western cultures meet and an international culinary capital, Hong Kong is the ideal place to showcase the richness and diversity of Chinese food culture and the fascinating stories of Chinese history and civilisation. We warmly welcome local residents and visitors from abroad to visit the exhibition and gain new insights into the splendour of Chinese food culture.'

A new perspective on 'mobility' in Chinese food culture: transcending life and death, culture, landscapes, and time
 
The busy emperor in the Forbidden City did not have a fixed dining location; when it was time to eat, the imperial kitchen would send the meal and tableware to wherever the emperor was. Inspired by this, the exhibition establishes three themes related to the 'mobility' of food and tableware from the perspectives of history, culture, and traditional customs, including 'Transcending Life and Death', 'Transcending Culture', and 'Transcending Landscapes'. The last section, 'Transcending Time', employs multimedia techniques, inviting visitors to explore the relationship between contemporary tableware and traditional food culture at a virtual table.
 
The first section, 'Transcending Life and Death — Rites and Food Sharing the Same Origin', displays ritual vessels and burial objects related to food from the Neolithic period to the Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE). Highlight exhibits include bronze ritual vessels from the Western Zhou period (c. 1100 – 771 BCE) used for sacrificial rituals, which were considered important mediums for communicating with the gods and heaven. A dou vessel with twisted cord design from the Warring States period (475 – 221 BCE) was used to hold sauces, pickles, meat paste, and meat juices. According to Shuowen Jiezi, the first Chinese dictionary analysing Chinese characters: 'The character 'feng' (豐) refers to a full dou vessel.' Some scholars further explain that the character 'feng' is a pictograph of a dou vessel with two strings of meat on top, and the character 'li' (禮, rite) also incorporates the 'feng' character, illustrating the importance of food vessels in Chinese culture.
 
Models of grain silos, wells, stoves, pigsties, and chicken coops made of pottery were also popular in the middle to late period of the Western Han dynasty (206 BCE – 8 CE). These artefacts not only reflect the vibrant food culture of the time but also represent people's wishes for a prosperous afterlife. A roasted cicada stove on loan from the Hong Kong Museum of Art is made of low-temperature lead glaze and features a striking colour. The stove has a rack with two rows of cicadas, indicating that people at the time had a custom of eating cicadas.

A glimpse into the history of cultural exchange through food vessels
 
The second section, 'Transcending Culture — Hu Food Fashion', showcases artefacts from the Tang (618 – 907), Song (960 – 1279), and Yuan dynasties (1271 – 1368) to explore the convergence of Chinese and Central and Western Asian food cultures, reflecting the richness and diversity of traditional foodways. Ingredients, tableware, and high-legged furniture from Central Asia entered the Central Plains through the Silk Road, transforming the local food culture. Ingredients introduced from Central Asia were mostly named with the character 'Hu' (meaning 'foreign'), such as胡椒 (hu jiao, pepper), 胡桃 (hu tao, walnut), and 胡麻 (hu ma, sesame), and are still widely used today. One of the exhibits in this section is a multi-curved long cup from the Tang dynasty (originating in the Sasanian dynasty, present-day Iran), which scholars believe is the same type of vessel as the 'bóluó' (叵羅). The 'bóluó' appears frequently in Tang and Song poetry and refers to a wine cup, as in the poem by Li Bai (701 – 762), a famous poet of the Tang dynasty: '葡萄酒、金叵羅，吳姬十五細馬馱' ('Wine in a golden cup, / A fifteen-year-old girl from Wu on a small horse'). To this day, the term 'golden boluo' is used in Cantonese to describe a beloved child. This section also exhibits a phoenix-head ewer from the Tang dynasty, which has a 'handle' and a 'spout', showcasing how the Hu people's custom of pouring wine transformed the Central Plains' original habit of using spoons or dippers for drinking.
 
With the introduction of foreign foods to the Central Plains, large-sized plates appeared in the Tang dynasty to hold hu biscuits and su mountains (similar to shaved ice). Chinese large plates became even more popular during the Yuan and Ming dynasties as important export commodities and were well-received in the Middle East. According to Ottoman Empire records, porcelain was often used as banquet tableware during grand ceremonies such as the sultan's enthronement, birthday, and wedding. One of the exhibits, a blue and white plate with entwined chrysanthemum and lotus scroll from the Ming dynasty, is strikingly similar to a 15th-century blue and white plate in the collection of the Adabir Mosque in Iran, reflecting the multidirectional nature of cultural exchange.

 
Literati banquets influencing future generations
 
The third section, 'Transcending Landscapes — The Joy of Outdoor Dining', showcases artefacts and picnic wares from the Ming (1368 – 1644) and Qing dynasties to illustrate the mobility of food across landscapes. Famous historical banquets have inspired the creation of many calligraphy works, paintings, and various crafts, such as Night Banquet in the Peach and Plum Blossom Garden by Ding Guanpeng (active 1726 – 1770), an important court painter of the Qing dynasty, which depicts a gathering and banquet of Li Bai and his cousins in a garden filled with peach and plum blossoms.
 
Outdoor dining on pleasure boats was particularly popular in the Ming and Qing dynasties in the Jiangnan region. Literati of the late Ming dynasty believed that an elegant pleasure boat should carry 'six guests and four servants' and that it was possible to boil water and brew tea while sailing. A highlight exhibit is an ivory boat from the Qing dynasty in the collection of the British Museum, vividly portraying a scene of dining and drinking on the water: under the boat canopy, two bearded elders are chatting and drinking tea; other people on the boat are holding food boxes, and someone is scooping river delicacies from the water.
 
Food boxes used to carry food and tableware during outdoor dining excursions were designed to keep each item in place and prevent them from colliding during transportation. These food boxes were also used in the Qing palace to organise and store cultural relics. The exhibition features a multi-treasure box assembled during the Qing dynasty, containing various antiques made of different materials, turning it into a refined collection and a treasure trove.
 
The fourth section, 'Transcending Time — Inheritance', features a multimedia interactive installation that combines ancient and modern scenes and artefacts, inviting visitors to enjoy a feast across time and space. Visitors can simulate ordering dishes on a virtual table and learn about the past and present of tableware and their usage by watching the cooking process of different dishes.
 
In line with the theme of 'A Moveable Feast', the museum will also hold a series of educational activities, including a tactile workshop using replicas of artefacts, a stamp rally connecting the four exhibition sections, a workshop on making banquet food boxes, public lectures, and a learning resource booklet for students. In addition, the museum has published a bilingual (Traditional Chinese and English) exhibition catalogue titled A Moveable Feast — Chinese Food Culture, featuring six essays written by the museum's experts and other scholars. The catalogue provides a comprehensive overview of how people carried food and tableware across five millennia, preparing for the afterlife, adapting to foreign dining habits, and enjoying outdoor dining, offering new insights into Chinese food culture. The catalogue will be available for purchase at ART EXPRESS by Commercial Press in the museum lobby and will be released at major bookstores later.
 
The 'A Moveable Feast' exhibition will open to the public on 19 March 2025 in Gallery 8 of the museum and will run until 18 June 2025. The special exhibition ticket is HK$150 for adults and HK$75 for concessionary*; the all-in-one ticket, which includes admission to the special exhibition 'When the Forbidden City Meets Versailles — Cultural Exchanges between China and France in the 17th and 18th Centuries' in Gallery 9 on the same day, is HK$220 for adults and HK$110 for concessionary*. The above tickets include admission to the museum's thematic exhibitions in Galleries 1 to 6** on the same day. Please visit the museum's website for details. Tickets can be purchased through the West Kowloon Cultural District's online booking platform or ticketing partners.
 
* Concessionary tickets are applicable to children aged 7–11, full-time students, seniors aged 60 or above, people with disabilities (plus one companion), and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients.
** Gallery 7 is temporarily closed until further notice.

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 kui dragon and ruyi-shaped flower design, white jade, Song dynasty (960 – 1279). © Palace Museum, Beijing

Image 2: Food box with dragon and pearl design, red lacquer, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (1736 – 1795). © Palace Museum, Beijing

Image 3: Zun vessel with Father Ding design, bronze, Western Zhou dynasty (c. 1100 – 771 BCE). © Palace Museum, Beijing

Image 4: Square ding vessel with beast-face design, bronze, Shang dynasty (c. 1600 – c. 1100 BCE). © Palace Museum, Beijing

Image 5: Ewer with phoenix head, Tang dynasty (618 – 907), sancai glazed pottery, B60P214. © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco