China: West Meets East at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The two Chinese characters used in the country’s name – “China” – 中國 in traditional Chinese or 中国 in simplified Chinese, translates traditionally as “Middle Kingdom,” or as “central country.”
The emergence of China as a major political and economic power today causes people to be curious about China and being curious about China also means being curious about its culture and people. Many spoke of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games as China’s coming out party on the global stage and China’s opportunity to introduce herself to the rest of the world.
Philippe de Montebello, the well-known and respected Director of The Met from 1977 to 2008, said it well: “Throughout history and into today, art is not a separate thing in China. There’s something about the Chinese mind, the Chinese sense of time, the Chinese sense of culture that makes it an integral part of daily life and so that understanding Chinese art and culture is a wonderful shortcut to understanding the Chinese mind.”
While the following Great Museums video was conceived and first shown as a public television special tribute to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the video remains exceptional for its rich cultural content, visual information and insight given within.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is home to the most comprehensive and finest collection of Chinese artistic masterpieces of any museum outside of China. The Chinese people used a diversity of materials in their arts and culture, including jade, clay, paper, ivory, porcelain, bronze, copper, gold, bamboo, rhinoceros horn, silk. See some of The Met’s fine Chinese artifacts in its Asian collection in the following hour-long video.
China: West Meets East at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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