Foster City Arts and Culture Committee presents
Secret World Of The Forbidden City
Splendors from China's Imperial Palace

A Special Slide Lecture Presentation by Sally Yu Leung
Asian Art Commissioner and Senior Docent
 

       Foster City Arts and Culture Committee and Man-U Imports hosted a preview of exhibition of treasures from China's Imperial Palace.

     Foster City Arts and Culture Committee and Man-U Imports of San Mateo presented a slide presentation and lecture about "The Secret World of the Forbidden City," a magnificent exhibition of more than 350 treasures from the Imperial Palace in Beijing.

     Sally Yu Leung, Asian Art Commissioner and Senior Docent at San Francisco's Asian Art Museum, gave a preview of the cultural treasures that are on display at the Oakland Museum's Secret World of the Forbidden City; Splendors from China's Imperial Palace exhibit from October 14, 2000 through January 24, 2001.

     The slide presentation and lecture provided valuable insight on Chinese traditions and culture and a preview of the exotic examples of art produced exclusively for the Imperial Court. The Forbidden City was once inaccessible to all but the emperor's court. Many of the pieces in the exhibit have never been displayed before - not even in China. All were produced with the highest levels of craftsmanship using gold, silver, gems, jade, precious woods, silks and inlaid metals.

     Frank Jang and Joyce Chan were program directors on behalf of the Foster City Arts and Culture Committee for the event. Man-U Imports also hosted a reception following Ms. Leung's presentation, along with a display of museum quality reproductions of furniture and artifacts she discussed.

     Ms. Leung's extensive experience included lecturing on Chinese culture and folk art, as well as organizing and curating cultural exhibitions. In addition to her many roles at the Asian Art Museum, she has served on the boards of the Asian American International School and the Chinese Cultural Foundation. An avid collector of Chinese folk art and textiles, her most recent contribution to San Francisco's Chinese Cultural Center was a display of period clothing and accessories to complement the Old Chinatown exhibit.

About the exhibit at the Oakland Museum

     This unprecedented loan of opulent artifacts provides a rare glimpse at the heritage of the Chinese Imperial Court under the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Located in the heart of Beijing, the Imperial Palace was the residence of the emperors for five centuries. Popularly known as the Forbidden City, it was built during the Ming Dynasty in the early 1400s. A sequence of palaces containing 9,999 rooms, with courtyards, fortified walls and a protective moat within the heart of Beijing, the Forbidden City is the largest palatial complex in the world.

     The palace is now China's most important national museum and the 350 objects that will be on display include some of the most precious possession of the Qing Dynasty. Among the artifacts on view are the contents of the throne room, where great affairs of state were conducted and foreign dignitaries were received; the imperial study and bedroom; and the imperial bedroom. See scores and amazing objects, including arms and armor, scepters and seals, portraits and paintings, and splendid silk robes worn by the concubines and emperors.

For more information, visit http://www.manuimports.com or call 1.888.625.6873

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