Page 39 - Jindezhen Porcelain Production of the 19th C. by Ellen Huang, Univ. San Diego 2008

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However, some dissenting opinions soon emerged in Beijing and Shanghai

regarding the Chinese government’s decision to send “national treasures” (guobao) from

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the Palace Museum to London for display. Articles in Shanghai-based newspapers
reveal anxiety on the part of the reading public over the government’s attitude towards

cultural property. Some opposed the entire exhibition on grounds that the government

was using the event as a pretense to sell off treasures to foreign governments. In order to

quell these fears, Minister of Education Wang Shijieˮ˰؏ (also known as Wang

Xuetingˮ௛໚), as acting chairman of the Chinese Organizing Committee, stipulated six

principles by which the exhibition planning would proceed. First, the British government

would provide all costs and funding for a British naval ship to transport the art objects

from China. The exhibition items would go directly from China to England without any

intermediary stops. Second, the exhibition would be publicized as jointly sponsored by

both the Chinese and British governments so as to bring more honor to the event and by

extension, the governments. Supervision over the shipping, packaging, and handling of

the art objects en route to, from, and in London had to be officiated over by expert staff

from China appointed by the organizing committee. Photographs of the illustrated

catalogue as well as pre- and post-exhibitions in Shanghai and Nanjing respectively

would help assure the Chinese public of the safe arrival and return of the actual objects.

The final organizing principle stipulated that the centerpieces of the exhibition would

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consist of artifacts housed in the Palace Museum.
Evidently, for government officials like Wang Shijie, an important objective in

participating in this exhibit was not simply to cause “Westerners to appreciate the

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magnificent beauty of Chinese art” (shi xifang ren renshi Zhongguo yishu zhi weimei).