British Museum Announces a World First Exhibition on 19th Century China

In a global first, a major new exhibition at the British Museum showcases the resilience and creativity of 19th-century China. The Citi exhibition China’s hidden century will illuminate a pivotal period in China’s history – one that forms a crucial bridge to the modern nation the country is today.

This is the first exhibition to focus on individual groups of people in 19th-century China. Visitors will experience the visual richness of this era through the material culture of multiple sections of society – the court, the military, artists and writers, farmers and city-dwellers, globalised communities of merchants, scientists and diplomats, reformers and revolutionaries. The show consists of 300 objects, half from the British Museum, half borrowed from 30 different British and international lenders, with most being publicly displayed for the first time.

China’s ‘long 19th century’ stretches from the accession in 1796 of the fifth emperor of the Qing dynasty, Jiaqing, to the abdication in 1912 of the tenth, Puyi, making way for a revolutionary republic. Between 1796 and 1912 Qing China endured cataclysmic civil and foreign wars (including Britain’s notorious Opium Wars), culminating with the revolution that ended 2,000 years of dynastic rule. Tens of millions perished in the conflicts and the chaos they generated.

Despite this tragic backdrop, the events and people of 19th-century China launched the country on a far-reaching, multi-faceted quest for modernity. Survivors of this century’s dislocations, from many social classes and economic groups, demonstrated extraordinary resourcefulness, both driving and embracing cultural and technological change in painting and politics, war and craft, literature and fashion.

The show is underpinned by conservation and refurbishment of remarkable items never before placed on public display. Surviving objects from the 19th century – such as a water-proof straw cape made for a street worker, farmer or fisherman – offer fresh, direct insights into the textures of everyday life. Conservators have painstakingly brushed individual strands of straw and humidified each stalk to bring the garment back to its original shape; the piece and its restoration highlight the exceptional craftsmanship that flourished across all levels of late imperial Chinese society.

Visitors will also see a stunning robe – loaned from the Metropolitan Museum of Art – that belonged to the Empress Dowager Cixi, the de-facto ruler of China from 1861 to 1908 and a direct contemporary of Queen Victoria. The gown – featuring a swooping phoenix amid lush chrysanthemums and wide sleeve bands – is a gorgeous combination of Manchu, Chinese and Japanese motifs, in purple, gold and turquoise. The Empress Dowager’s wardrobe contained hundreds of such dazzling items, which she would accessorise with grandiose, jewelled headpieces.

The exhibition is the result of a four-year research project supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, led by the British Museum and London University. The show was made possible thanks to the collaboration of over 100 scholars from 14 countries.

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