Forbidden City will present more to public
(CRIENGLISH.com)
Updated: 2006-12-28 15:23
China will unveil a new catalogue of all the cultural and art pieces kept in the Forbidden City, in a move to better protect the nation's traditional cultural relics.
According to Liang Jinsheng, an official with the Palace Museum, many items, including 2,000-plus paintings and calligraphy works and other belongings of ancient emperors and empresses, had not previously been catalogued due to outdated views regarding cultural relics. But now, he says, any piece able to reflect the culture and history of the palace will be protected as important artifacts as part of a new plan.
"We estimate that around 100,000 relics and materials will be added to the existing collection and all the basic information about them will be unveiled to the public through the new catalogue. The new catalogue will be published to show the essence of traditional Chinese culture. And through the publication, the protection of these precious 'state-owned-assets' can be better supervised by the public."
He says the sort-out-work will be done and the new category published by the end of 2010.
Covering more than 720,000 square meters, the Forbidden City has over 9,000 rooms and is located in the heart of Beijing.
The palace, a treasury of traditional Chinese culture, has preserved 1.5 million relics, accounting for one-sixth the total in Chinese museums.
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