This extraordinary exhibition will open a new page in public understanding of late imperial China.Ĭonsidering becoming a Member? Find out more about Membership benefits, including free exhibition entry.Ĭurrent Members can find out more on Visiting as a Member. New art forms, such as photography and lithographic printing, flourished while technology and transport – the telegraph, electricity, railways – transformed society. Many people not only survived but thrived in this tumultuous world. Visitors will glimpse the textures of life in 19th-century China through art, fashion, newspapers, furniture – even soup ingredients. The show illuminates the lives of individuals – an empress, a dancer, a soldier, an artist, a housewife, a merchant and a diplomat. The exhibition is underpinned by a four-year research project supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and led by the British Museum and London University, in collaboration with over 100 scholars from 14 countries.Įxquisite objects are brought together for the first time – from cloisonné vases given by the Last Emperor's court to King George and Queen Mary for their coronation in 1911, to a silk robe commissioned by the Empress Dowager Cixi. In the shadow of these events lie stories of remarkable individuals – at court, in armies, in booming cosmopolitan cities and on the global stage. This period of violence and turmoil was also one of extraordinary creativity, driven by political, cultural and technological change. Between 17 Qing China endured numerous civil uprisings and foreign wars, with revolution ultimately bringing an end to some 2,000 years of dynastic rule and giving way to a modern Chinese republic.

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