NPM offers 'New Year joy' with special exhibition

“New Year Paintings of the Ching Capital” features 12 sets of paintings in hand scroll, hanging scroll, and album leaf formats from the NPM collection that are related to the Chinese “court year,” which represented the beginning of a new year during the Ching dynasty (1644 - 1911).

“The particular pieces on display are among the most beautiful and famous works of the Ching period related to the Chinese New Year,” said Lina Lin, curator of the exhibition and associate research fellow of the museum's painting and calligraphy department.

The curator yesterday told The China Post that she spent over a year and a half planning the exhibition and leafed through 26 art volumes before deciding on the selection that is displayed. Most of the works of art in the special exhibition date back to Chienlung's reign (1736-1795), at the height of Ching's power.

The centerpiece of the exhibition is Hsu Yang's “Syzygy of the Sun, Moon, and the Five Planets,” a painting that depicts the sun and moon rising together as the five planets (closest to the Earth) line up. Known as a “syzygy,” this rare astronomical phenomenon occurred on the first day of the first month of the Chienlung Emperor's 26th year of reign (1761).

“This rare event was seen as especially auspicious,” explained Lin. “The painting was therefore commissioned to commemorate the occasion and in honor of the emperor.”

The hand scroll shows throngs of people and carts bustling about the streets. Civil and military officials are seen entering the court to offer the emperor “court congratulations” as a form of paying their respects. Throughout the capital, people went out to greet the New Year by expressing good wishes to each other, an act known as “offering New Year joy.”

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