Full colour version of the BP magazine

China: Journey to the East
Seen in profile, the horse’s mouth is agape as if it has just
been pulled up short. In the saddle, the small, solid figure of
a soldier turns to the viewer. Resplendent in armour and
helmet, his face is fearsome, the eyes narrowed and the lips
firmly set. He strokes his beard as if contemplating which
few, carefully selected, words he should use in rebuke. This,
it is clear, is a man of action.
Meet Guan Yu, a great general and Chinese
hero who was later deified and worshipped.
He appears on a roof tile, made in north
China during the Ming Dynasty some time
between 1490 and 1620. According to
traditional Chinese belief, roofs are
platforms of communication between the
world of the living and spirit realms.
Consequently, they were decorated to ward
off evil, as well as attract blessings and
good fortune.
This curious artefact is just one of more
than 100 that the British Museum is sending
on tour around England from 2009 to 2011,
in a fascinating and free exhibition – China:
Journey to the East. The British Museum holds
the nation’s finest Chinese collection, and
this will be the largest loan of Chinese
material that it has ever made in the UK.
However, as Jessica Harrison-Hall, curator of
Chinese ceramics at The British Museum, as
well as curator of this exhibition, explains,
“While these artefacts form the core of the
exhibition, each museum will add its own
collection or show items borrowed from
local institutions. So, every venue will
feature extra, different and exciting objects.”
China: Journey to the East is a CHINA
NOW legacy project and has major support
54 Issue 1 2009 BP MAGAZINE
from BP. In addition, it has received funding
from the National/Regional Museum
Partnerships Education Programme 2008-
2009, a joint initiative between the
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
and the Department for Children, Schools
and Families.
BP’s involvement in the exhibition and
tour came as the result of CHINA NOW
being formed to promote Chinese culture.
Running in the six months up to the 2008
Olympic Games, it grew to be the largest
festival of Chinese culture ever to take
place in the UK.
BP has substantial interests in China. It
first operated there in the early 1970s
and, currently, has a total investment
of more than $4.5 billion. Indeed, the
company is one of the country’s leading
foreign investors.
The timing of China: Journey to the East is
important. “One of the aims of CHINA
NOW was to create a legacy,” explains its
chief executive officer, Simon Heale. “We
wanted the British public – and especially
children – to learn more about China long
after the festival was over. This exhibition
will achieve just that.”
BP sought to channel support for
CHINA NOW through one of the four
major arts and cultural institutions with
which it has strong relationships. Via The
British Museum, National Portrait Gallery,
Royal Opera House and Tate Britain, the
company aims to make the best in arts and
culture accessible to as many people as
possible. “Around the same time that
CHINA NOW was in development, The
British Museum also presented a proposal
for a touring exhibition,” explains Des
Violaris, BP’s director of UK arts and
culture. “The exhibition would be on China
and included a substantial educational
programme, enabling it to reach many
more people. It was one of those
serendipitous moments when a perfect
solution, which will work for everyone,
presents itself.”
Neil MacGregor, director of the British
Museum, was especially pleased to find an
enthusiastic partner, as he explains,
“China’s history is one the world needs to
know, now more than ever before. China:
Journey to the East will give UK audiences an
insight into China’s cultural achievements
over the past 3,000 years to the present day.”
The exhibition’s launch announcement
was made during Chinese New Year 2008 at
Mass appeal: so many people attended The British Museum’s CHINA NOW festival in
2008 that it had to close its doors to the public for the first time in its history. the start of the CHINA NOW festival, in a
»