Beijing 2024 - National Museum of China (中国国家博物馆) Food Exhibition

 

Hall of food! Chinese's next favourite object after money! Hahahaha. You ask any Chinese, and I bet they say they love to eat! But don't ask those young Chinese ladies who are always on diet, or only eat steamed vegetables! You got to go explore and enjoy real authentic Chinese food in China, or any Chinatown, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore etc! So much good food, although most are on the more unhealthy side of it.

I don't know why another nice desk was also inside this food hall. I think to the Chinese, food is also medicine. And so the exhibition actually started off about tea! What a trap! Luckily, I love tea!

Here is a helpful information on how to make your tea. Side note as I am writing this, I'm planning to visit China's National Museum of Tea next month in Hangzhou! So looking forward to it. Wish me luck that I don't get lost in the tea plantation! Yes, the museum has a tea plantation. It's actually situated at LongJing, which I recently learnt that it's not just a tea leave, it's actually a place where the tea came from, the Dragon Well Tea Village! OMG OMG! Stay tune! (maybe blog post will come out only next year judging at the rate I blog......)

Anyway..... FOOD! One of my favourite topic. Here is a picture of all the historically famous food of China! For me personally, born in Malaysia, the Chinese food I am most exposed to are Hokkien and Cantonese food from southern China. Spending all my adult life in Singapore, I was also exposed to TeowChiew and Hakka food. That was apparently my world view of Chinese food, until! Until I visit Beijing! Mind blowing food! The trip to Beijing basically kinda destroyed all the China chinese food I ever ate in Singapore or Malaysia forever! Hahahaha. I seriously look forward to going back to China to eat again. Never would I have imagined that one day China would be the country that I would want to keep going back to. It's such a different world! And I am glad my low key bad mandarin knowledge and the way I look helps me blend in easier to get by without being harassed. 

An info drawing of the history of food in China from the Soong Dynasty.

At the end of the hall, there was a full banquet table of all the food, fake plastic replicate of course! Ticket price for the museum did not include a free meal!

Still, it's such a joy to see a table filled with food! Prosperity! Eating in China, is seriously insane! On my very first trip to China when I got married, we visited my husband's ancestral village of MeiXian in Guangzhou, and not only was the table filled with plates of food, they also stacked plates on top of the plates already on the table! And when I went for a private wedding dinner, the first course was 8 plates of appetiser! I though that I was the whole meal! Imagine my delight when the actual meal started! Mind blown! Maybe I should sign up for a food tour in China when I'm there next!

We end this post with this pretty serving dish. This type of plate always reminds me of Chinese New Year. Cause we use such plates to serve CNY snacks, sweets and nut to visiting guest during the festive season. Of course those we have at home are 50% smaller and made of cheap plastic! The one hear, for the rich or royalty! I've also seen restaurant serving the first cold dish in a Chinese banquet on such plate too. So this plate always reminds me of nice food and snacks :)

Beijing 2024 - National Museum of China (中国国家博物馆) Other Exhibitions

 

Here are some random exhibition, and sometimes just corridor displayed that caught my attention. We start with this Jade exhibition. I got to admit, I'm no fan of jade or pearl because I relate them with something I hate. (even though I did inherit a jade ring from my paternal grandma recently from my aunt....) . But the jade here, were so different from the ones I am used to. I always relate jade to green, but here, they have translucent white or pink jade which looked so delicate. 

Some of the central display. I think letting those strong light shine thru the jade was a wonderful idea to let people appreciate them more. You could really see how beautiful they are, inside and outside!

A table. Forgot what it was trying to display, but I love a nice desk. Full dark wood. And all the elegant tools and decorations around it. Makes me just want to sit down and work. I'm sitting on my own nice marble table at home now blogging this. Something about a nice big desk that really attracts me. 

Remember that wood carving of a elegant lady dancing in the post a few days earlier? I mentioned that there will be more later on? So here are some I saw that was just mind-blowing! I had to take a double look to ensure that it was really indeed carved out of wood! This log with a frog on it was one of them. I just couldn't believe that it was carved of wood! I thought at first it was leather, lol. But the display mentioned that it was wood carving. Just look at the detail of it! The fold! The details! Such a piece of art and craftmanship!

Here is another dancing lady. It look so delicate. Almost as if it would come alive anytime. I don't understand. How could it stand like that and not topple over. If I crafted that, I bet I would have broken her arms or ribbon accidentally in the process! Lol. Such dedication. I appreciate it very much. Thank you to those artisan who are nameless and made all these pieces. You amaze me and brought so much beauty and wonders into my life :)

Beijing 2024 - National Museum of China (中国国家博物馆) Porcelain Exhibition

 

Yes, finally reached one of my favourite subject, porcelain/ceramic. Ceramic craft in China is mind blowing! I want to say that Japanese ceramic is also mind blowing, but I always need to remind myself that a lot of things in Japan has roots from China. It's just that, sometimes, the Japanese made it better lah! So before you jump at me at where my loyalty lies, let us now move forward to the exhibition!  :P

Every shapes and colour (although this display only shows colour....). I love colourful ceramic ware. I always want to  buy something back whenever I travel in any country, but usually they are so fragile that I am afraid I'll break them (which I have done before in Japan, thank  goodness they were those cheaper ones!). 

Here are some traditional pieces, flower vases. Here is an interesting theory according to my mum: if you leave a flower vase empty too long, spirits will make it their home and live in it. Moral of the story: put some flowers in your vase so that it seems occupied so that the spirits will keep away :O

Multi-tired vase. I love these! I used one before in one of my recent trip in Japan, and the design was just mind blowing! Will post that when I reach that travel blogging! But I love this one too, the layer, the different colouring and how it gets smaller on top. I have never tried my hand on pottery before, but I bet it's difficult, right? Maybe I should go give it a try one of these days! But it's always so expensive! 

A cut kettle? No handle though! Perhaps it's meant for something cold. Maybe wine? Chinese wine? Sauces? I think it looked so elegant. Along with all the writings on the side too!

Dragon designs everywhere! Heavenly being. Love the green dragon. Kinda looks lizard like! 

A ridiculously carved porcelain pillar of a dragon. Seriously, what do they even use this pillar for? Surely it can't be use to build or support any building structure? Look at the top design, it even has baby dragons on it looking down like those gargoyles. Super nice!

Inside the porcelain exhibition, there are even poetry related to porcelain! How cool! But I think the one above is more about drinking wine! Lol! But you do need a holder for that drink, so I guess it is kinda related to porcelain/ceramic!

Here is another famous one by LiBai, something about you being born is somehow useful man! 

Ok, Cordy signing off! Too much drinking and poetry for the day!

Beijing 2024 - National Museum of China (中国国家博物馆) Pro-China Wordings

 

The extend that people go for ideology is amazing. Perhaps just as crazy as religion? Art pieces that is practically two walls greeted you at the entrance, as well as at the exit below. So elaborated and so much work! 

But it was what's inside that I was really taken by, propaganda wordings. I find them so simple, yet so powerful. And I was glad China has decided to display these notable words by the people of China, leaders and such. Not gonna translate them all, not that I am capable of for some, lol. Feel free to google translate them if you are interested. These are some that strike a core in me :)

Words inspire.

Words form the principle of the country.

Words bring people together for a common cause.

Words motivate a nation.

Words for patriotism to one's country.

 

Words for sharing.

Yeah I struggle with this one, specifically which direction to read the words from, lol. Words of cooperation and togetherness? 

So much word!!!! 

And finally, the exit, two walls filled with mural of modern China. 

Beijing 2024 - National Museum of China (中国国家博物馆) Next Building on Pro-China

Almost around 2pm, we finally made our way to the next building, the south wing. On the way there, we saw a grotto exhibition on, and I really wanted to go see it. But it was a ticketed special exhibition, and the tickets were already sold out :(   Here's a tip when visiting China, always get your ticket before arriving. You are competing with the whole of China here! So if you are travelling solo, plan ahead!!!!

In case you missed my post of the map of the North Wing, here it is again. I forgot to take a similar photo of the South Wing, sorry!

Rushing for time, we kinda waltzed through the South Wing. I just noted that almost everything was pretty red in the South Wing! Cause a few floors of it was dedicated to China's modern history and the forming of the new China you see today. So it was pretty much a patriotic exhibition. I didn't mind it and wish I had more time to spend here instead. My husband on the other hand, was totally not interested in anything related to modern China's history, lol. Hence I wasn't able to linger as long as I had wanted to.

Info at the entrance at one of the hall. Feel free to zoom in to read the details. 

Patriotic painting of the modern China.

The national flag and national anthem. 

The founding ideology of modern China, mainly was based on communism. Perhaps an utopian ideology? When I was young, we were taught that communism was bad. Growing up and learning more about it, I wouldn't say it was totally bad, but just too idealistic? And perhaps hard to implement? But somehow some countries have survived on it, places like Vietnam and China, both I have visited and love.

Dr Sun Yet Sun was also featured in the hall. Again, brainwashed by education that he was the enemy of the state. Yet here he was featured. Seriously, visiting China does real damaged to my view of the world! I can't tell whether it was for the better or worst. I only can tell that things aren't always what I thought it would be!

Painting of China diplomacy in the old days.

Painting of China in the modern world diplomany.

Some interesting statistic of China.

 

Tea for the comrades! I always knew tea brings people together! But I didn't realised that it would be featured here in the halls of pro-China movement. It's called the Big Bowl Tea! Does everyone drink from the same bowl? Is that what it symbolises? This is from the Youth Tea Society.