This ancient science and technology cultural relic exhibition in Shanghai has a big trick: you can actually touch the cultural relics of the Shang Dynasty with your own hands
Why can the wooden pagoda of the Liao Dynasty stand for thousands of years? The clothes worn by the people of the Song Dynasty were so finely crafted that modern people cannot reproduce them? The Chinese used paper a hundred years before the invention of papermaking? The people of the Shang Dynasty fired pottery and even mastered the secret of redox reaction... With a continuous civilization history of 5,000 years, the Chinese nation has made countless inventions and creations, but do you know the ancient wisdom and hard-core technology hidden behind the cultural relics?
On the morning of June 18, the 2024 annual exhibition of Fengxian Museum "Ingenuity and Nature-The Essence of Ancient Chinese Science and Technology Cultural Relics" was officially opened. A total of 124 pieces/groups of exhibits from more than 30 cultural and museum units across the country were exhibited, covering ancient paper, porcelain, bronzes, silk fabrics, mural bricks, ancient architectural models and other categories. The exhibition is divided into three parts: "Creation of Heaven and Earth", "Tracing Back to the Past and Collecting Treasures" and "Brilliant as the Stars". The core displays the ancient technology hidden under the exquisite appearance of the cultural relics, allowing the audience to feel the depth and profoundness of ancient China's scientific and technological civilization in the gorgeous and graceful silk, the solemn and thick bronzes, the soft and simple paper, and the brilliant flow of porcelain.
Walking into the exhibition hall, it is easy for visitors to overlook a piece of incomplete and illegible hemp paper on display at the entrance. It looks inconspicuous, but there is a deep meaning behind it. This fragment of hemp paper from the Western Han Dynasty was unearthed in Xuanquanzhi, Dunhuang, Gansu. In terms of history, its appearance and application were 100 years earlier than Cai Lun's invention of papermaking in the Eastern Han Dynasty, which strongly proves that as early as the Western Han Dynasty, the wise Chinese ancestors had invented paper.
"When we visit cultural relics, we are often amazed at their exquisite appearance and superb craftsmanship, but we rarely have the opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of how the cultural relics were made, what kind of craft technology is behind them, and how their appearance is related to the development of ancient Chinese science and technology. Therefore, this exhibition carefully selected several fragments from the vast and profound ocean of ancient Chinese inventions and creations, and cut into popular science content such as principles and technological changes, providing a window for the audience to understand ancient Chinese science and technology civilization." said Zhang Xuesong, director of Fengxian Museum.
In order to allow the audience to fully perceive the evolution of ancient technology behind the cultural relics, this exhibition also provides the audience with an opportunity for "close contact". In the "Cultural Relics Can Be Touched" interactive area of the exhibition hall, 5 pieces of Shang Dynasty pottery with different patterns and shapes are displayed. The audience can reach into the glass cover to touch these pieces. It is reported that these pieces of pottery are all from the Panlongcheng Ruins Museum, with a history of 3200 to 3500 years. The time span between the 5 pieces of pottery is also several hundred years, and the texture and pattern are obviously different.
Visitors can touch the pottery fragments from the Shang Dynasty with their own hands. Photo by Shen Siyi
Observation and touch not only bring audiences and historical relics into a gaze and connection across thousands of years, but more importantly, the audience can feel the evolution and improvement of ceramic technology over hundreds of years in the Shang Dynasty from the rough and blurred texture of the pottery fragments to the smooth and delicate touch. "With the continuous breakthroughs in ancient technology, the kiln temperature has increased from 800 degrees and 1000 degrees in the original state to 1300 degrees. People have gradually learned to control the amount of oxidizing and reducing liquids used in the kiln firing process. From hardness to color, the effects of stone tools in the oxidized and reduced states are completely different." Zhang Xuesong explained.
By utilizing the large walls in the exhibition hall, such detailed and professional popular science introductions are presented to the audience in the form of pictures and texts, and form multiple interactions with physical cultural relics, more intuitively showing the scientific and technological civilization behind ancient Chinese ceramics, silk, architectural mortise and tenon structures, and printing technology, as well as its impact on modern technology, allowing the audience to have a deeper perception and understanding of ancient technology in the process of combining theory with practice.
For example, in the "Kiln Fire and Light - Ancient Porcelain Making Technique" exhibition area, the wall paintings display four typical types of kilns in ancient China and their different principles, firing characteristics, popular times, chemical principle diagrams, etc., and typical porcelain artifacts of different kiln types are displayed below.
In the "Mountainous Buildings - Ancient Architectural Manufacturing" exhibition area, the scaled wooden structure model of the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda is eye-catching. A careful observation of its complex and delicate structure will shock you with the outstanding ancient Chinese architectural design and mechanical properties behind it. The wall painting also uses text, video, structural diagrams and other methods to show the principle of its "standing for a thousand years" in multiple dimensions, providing detailed and comprehensive scientific knowledge.
The "Clothing and Etiquette - Ancient Silk Dyeing and Weaving Techniques" exhibition area uses murals, bronzes, fabrics, embroidery, clothing and other physical cultural relics as carriers to showcase ancient Chinese weaving techniques from ancient silk reeling technology to complex weaving techniques, from natural plant dyeing to intricate pattern design. It allows the audience to deeply understand how the ancients interwoven silk threads into a variety of textures and structures, creating light gauze, heavy and gorgeous brocade, and creating a variety of silks and satins.
The complex pattern design reflects the superb weaving technology of ancient China
The injection of modern technology into the exhibition hall design also makes the theme of "technology" of this exhibition more popular. The third part of the exhibition hall, "Glorious as Stars", creates an all-round, immersive BOX experience space for the audience. Through multi-channel holographic projection fusion technology, the "Chang'e" probe, "Yutu" lunar rover, Antarctic "Kunlun" station, deep-sea probe and other modern and contemporary scientific and technological achievements are projected onto transparent curtains hanging in various places in the space, allowing the audience to appreciate the precious ancient scientific and technological relics at close range, and then step into the independent space built by modern technology to immersively experience the leapfrog development and innovative breakthroughs of contemporary China in the fields of aerospace, ocean exploration, and communications.
It is reported that the exhibition will last from June 18 to October 18. It is worth mentioning that the exhibition hall will continue to update exhibits during the exhibition. Visitors will have the opportunity to see heavy cultural relics such as Han Dynasty hemp paper, Western Zhou Bo Ge You, Western Zhou wall plate, Ru kiln celadon washbasin, Qing Emperor Qianlong dragon robe in the Palace Museum, and Zhegong in Baoji Zhouyuan Museum. According to Zhang Xuesong, in early August, the national treasure-level cultural relic Changxin Palace Lantern of the Western Han Dynasty will also be unveiled at the Fengxian Museum. "This is a well-known cultural relic with a very clever design. The sleeves of the palace maids to block the wind are actually invisible rainbow tubes to absorb oil smoke. It not only prevents air pollution, but also has great aesthetic value. It is the best embodiment of the early environmental protection concept and is known as the No. 1 lamp in China."
For primary and secondary school students who are about to start their summer vacation, they can also participate in different experience activities such as "Little Guide" and "Masterpieces" during the exhibition to learn about the stories behind the exhibits and personally restore the magical craftsmanship of ancient craftsmen. At the same time, they can also come into contact with scientific projects such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and microscopic world exploration through the "Smart Travel" STEAM series of activities, and experience the splendid development of Chinese scientific and technological civilization in different ways, and experience the sparks of the integration and collision of ancient and modern science and technology.
