Whispers from the hall of secrets

The characters come from a set of Song Dynasty (960-1279) poems which urged people to read and learn because the ancient literati prioritized reading and learning diligently in order to participate in keju, showing the influence of the ancient system, Wu says.

According to him, the joint exhibition of cultural artifacts and archives makes up for the shortcomings of both. "Archives offer detail but may lack visual impact. Artifacts are visually compelling but offer little context when seen alone. By presenting both together, we create a complete narrative and help audiences better understand the evolution of Chinese civilization during the Qing period," says Wu.

Wang says the Palace Museum now has a collection of more than 1.95 million cultural relics as of the end of last year, most of which have records in the archives stored in the institution.

"The archives and artifacts are all sourced from the Qing court. They are significant cultural resources. The shared mission of our two institutions is to safeguard these treasures and carry forward the cultural lineage," he says.

The work behind such an exhibition stretches across generations. "With more than 10 million archives in storage, our predecessors spent decades organizing and categorizing them. Today, although not all have been digitized, published catalogs and academic research guide our curation. Every exhibition, every educational program and every cultural product we develop stands on their labor," Wu says.

To celebrate the centenary, another exhibition about the archives' history and a social education space have been opened as well.