人類的發展，由野蠻至文明，從經濟角度看，就是一部貨幣史。其中紙幣的發明是重大的里程碑，標置着由「以物換物」進展到「信用」制度的確立。中國作為文明古國，是世界上首先使用紙幣的國家，時間可追溯至北宋，當時的紙幣叫「交子」，歷經元朝、明朝、清朝，至鴉片戰爭後，中國被逼開放門户，讓外國商人及銀行進駐，紙幣的發行及種類大增，以換取中國政府及民間的黃金及白銀。
早期外商銀行發行的紙幣並非精美，隨著印刷技術不斷改進，紙幣設計及用色都十分豐富，美輪美奐。民國初期已有中國的銀行委託美國鈔票公司代印紙幣。
英國是最早來到中國的外商，銀行包括上海有利銀行、印度新金山中國滙理銀行、印度新金山中國渣打銀行(渣打銀行前身)、英商香港上海滙豐銀行(香港上海滙豐銀行前身)等等，其後美資、法資、日資、德資及俄資等銀行也相繼進駐。
近代中國的紙幣史，反咉中華民族的百年滄桑。
今次巡禮將參觀資深及知名的中國紙幣收藏家林建邦先生的珍藏，林先生將介紹「元、明、清、民國、新中國」時期的各式紙幣，包括不同銀行、地區和政府的紙幣，從當中多樣的變化一窺中國近代史。
A Passion for Silk: The Road from China to Europe
The art of silk (sericulture) emerged in China in 8,500 BCE, becoming an important financial industry over the succeeding millennia. Chinese farmers cultivated silkworms and the mulberry trees, while master craftsmen and women wove and embroidered shimmering, colourful fabric. The value of silk was so high that it was used for payments like gold. Though kept a state secret, by the third century CE the production of silk had become known to China’s neighbours while India had independently developed its own silk weaving tradition. In Europe, Italy first learned sericulture in the medieval period, followed by France a few centuries later. Through technological and artistic innovations, these two countries dominated the European silk market, while Chinese silk remained a luxury item for royalty and aristocrats. The fame of Chinese silk was such that in the 19th century China’s early trade routes came to be called the Silk Road.
Just as important as silk’s financial role is its cultural, political, technical, and religious significance. The fabric’s design and usage reveal developments in art, trade, fashion, and technology (to name just a few) and expose important cross-cultural influences. With over a hundred samples of silk clothing, accessories, and furnishings from China, India, Italy and France, this exhibition provides a rare overview of the crucial cultural role played by Chinese silk making and its influence abroad. Just as important, the exhibition reveals how European silk makers adapted the Chinese methods of production and artistic styles in ways that then influenced Chinese fabrication itself in the 20th century. Silk’s continuing appeal is visible in contemporary high fashion silk creations today.
Speaker
Dr. Isabelle Frank is an independent curator in Hong Kong. After six years as the founding director of the Indra and Harry Banga Gallery, City University of Hong Kong (2016 to 2022), she continued as consulting curators until 2024. Over this period, she mounted exhibitions combining art and technology and bridging Western and Asian cultures. She has collaborated with such international institutions as the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, the Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan, Latvian National Museum of Art. An art historian by training (with a Ph.D. from Harvard University), she has published on Italian Renaissance art and decorative art (The Theory of Decorative Art 1750-1940, Yale University Press, 2000), and has edited many catalogues for the Banga Gallery, most recently Hunters, Warriors, Spirits. Nomadic Art in North China (2022) and Amber: Baltic Gold (2022).
The HKU Museum Society is delighted to present a guided viewing of Yuan Ming Yuan – Art and Culture of an Imperial Garden-Palace with Prof Puay-peng Ho and Dr Xander Yang.
Shedding new light on Yuanming yuan (Garden of Perfect Brightness) by featuring over 190 spectacular paintings, architectural models, and other works associated with this once-magnificent Qing dynasty imperial garden-palace, which served as the principal residence of five Qing emperors. The exhibition highlights the garden’s space and layout, festival activities, aesthetic tastes of the emperors, and the stories about the imperial family dwelling in the garden. In this exhibition, visitors will discover the crowning achievements of imperial garden-palace design, the stories about the garden’s principal residents, and the history of the Qing imperial court.
Speaker
Professor Puay-peng Ho holds the UNESCO Chair on Architectural Heritage Conservation and Management in Asia. He is currently Professor at Department of Architecture, College of Design and Engineering at the National University of Singapore. Having close to 30 years of experience in the academia, Professor Ho’s main research interests are in architectural history and conservation practices, and how the knowledge can be translated in teaching and practice. Professor Ho is a conservation consultant, architect and adviser to some 100 conservation projects in Hong Kong and Singapore since 2003, including PMQ, Haw Par Villa, Comix Homebase, Oil Street Art Space, Court of Final Appeal, and New Campus for Chicago University Booth School. Professor Ho was also appointed to many public and private boards and committees in Hong Kong, including as Chairman of the Lord Wilson Heritage Trust, member of Town Planning Board, Antiquities Advisory Board, and currently a member of Senior Advisory Board of Global Heritage Fund and a Patron of the International Dunhuang Project of British Library.
Dr Yang Xu is Associate Curator of the Hong Kong Palace Museum. He received his doctorate in Architectural History from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He curated the special exhibition “Yuanming yuan: Art and Culture of an Imperial Garden-Palace” (2024) and edited its accompanying catalogues. He has collaborated in curating the exhibitions “Encountering the Majestic: Portraits of Qing Emperors and Empresses” (2022), and “Odysseys of Art: Masterpieces Collected by the Princes of Liechtenstein” (2023). He is also the curatorial fellow for “From Dawn to Dusk: Life in the Forbidden City” (2022), “Qing Court in Four Seasons” (forthcoming in 2025), and other exhibitions. Prior to joining the Hong Kong Palace Museum, he held the positions of Postdoctoral Fellow at the National University of Singapore, and Assistant Curator at the National Museum of China. His research and curatorial expertise include traditional East Asian architecture, Chinese garden and landscape, and court arts. He has published in journals including Cultural Relics, Architectural Journal, Palace Museum Journal, Orientations, etc., and is acting as a co-advisor for the graduate advisory board at the School of Architecture, Tianjin University.
Photo Credit:
The Daoguang Emperor with his sons and daughters
Courtesy of Hong Kong Palace Museum
The first exhibition Momentous Mountains invites visitors to immerse themselves in the captivating world of Chinese landscape paintings from the collection of the UMAG, HKU. This series of paintings spans from the early Qing dynasty (17th century) to contemporary times, representing the depth and virtuosity of the development of Chinese landscape paintings, extending from the orthodox Four Wang Masters of the early Qing, the Nanjing School, the Jiangxi School and the Shanghai School of Chinese paintings. Rarely displayed in public, the paintings include iconic works by renowned 20th-century masters and influential art educators—such as Liu Haisu (1896-1994), Fang Zhaoling (1914–2006), Wan Qingli (1945–2017) and Wesley Tongson (1957- 2012)—and other outstanding contemporary artists who trained in the leading Eastern and Western art academies.
The second exhibition Abstract Evolutions: Sixty Years of Paintings by Fong Chung-Ray, a distinguished Chinese American painter who is best known for his unique abstract art style, one which explores new directions for Chinese paintings. Fong was born in Henan province and he received his formal art training at the Cadre College of Arts and Crafts in Taiwan. The significance of Fong Chung-ray’s artistic oeuvre lies in his contribution both to the global art scene and the representation of Chinese artistic traditions in late twentieth- and early twenty-first-century California. As an ambassador for art, he has played a crucial role in fostering cultural exchange between China and the West, and his artworks have introduced richly diverse artistic traditions, techniques and themes to international audiences, promoting a deeper understanding and appreciation of Chinese culture.
Speakers
Dr. Shou Hua received a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD from the University of Hong Kong. She was a visiting PhD fellow at the Cluster of Global Art History, University of Heidelberg. Her research centres on modern East Asian paintings, art market studies and exhibition history in a cross-cultural context.
Dr. Sarah Ng is a historian of visual arts and material culture specializing in late imperial Chinese painting, calligraphy and ink rubbings. She is the curator of the Hong Kong University Museum & Art Gallery (UMAG). The relationship and reinterpretation of the Chinese tradition in contemporary art practice is her primary area of scholarly interest. Her work also addresses collecting, connoisseurship, canon formation, workshop practices, art conservation, museum studies and bookplates. She lectures on these subjects and other areas of expertise internationally.
Image Credit: Courtesy of UMAG
Summer Mountains WAN Qingli (1945–2017) 1995 L 90.5 x W 175 cm Ink and colour on paper Gift of WAN Qingli HKU.P.2002.1451
Fong Chung-Ray 1983-4 Acrylic on Canvas 91×121.5
Following the AGM, the Executive Committee is pleased to invite members to join the gift presentation of artworks donated by the Museum Society to the University Museum and Art Gallery’s 20th Century art collection. The artworks Smile (ink and colour on paper) and Love (mixed media on canvas) were created by renowned Hong Kong artist Kwok Mang Ho (Frog King). Since 1967, Kwok has produced numerous paintings, sculptures, installations and performances in over 3,000 art events worldwide. We are honoured that the artist Kwok Mang Ho will be present to give a calligraphy demonstration and performance.
About the Artist
Kwok Mang Ho, aka Frog King, was born in 1947 in Mainland China and grew up in Hong Kong. He spent 15 years in New York and returned to Hong Kong in 1995. Since 1967, Frog King has produced numerous performances, sculptures, paintings and installations in over 3,000 art events worldwide. A multimedia artist, Frog King received his art training at the Fine Art Grantham College of Education Hong Kong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, The University of Hong Kong, and the Art Students League of New York.
Please join us for an extraordinary spectacle of luxury in various forms.
In collaboration with Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning (MOCAUP) and the renowned architect Ma Yansong’s Architecture firm, the MAD Architects, the “Ma Yansong: Landscapes in Motion” exhibition aims to comprehensively explore Ma Yansong’s most representative urban architectural projects over the past two decades. Born in 1975 and graduated from Yale University in 2002, Ma Yansong founded MAD Architects (MAD) in 2004, a multinational firm that is committed to developing futuristic, organic, technologically advanced designs that embody a contemporary interpretation of the Eastern affinity for nature. This exhibition not only reveals Ma’s thought-provoking concepts and imaginative vision but also provides a glimpse into the future of urban civilization, showcasing a harmonious coexistence between urban landscapes, history, and the natural environment.
Speaker
Simon Chan is a Registered Architect in Hong Kong, Canada, and China, with over 23 years of experience. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Toronto and a Master of Design from Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He has worked in New York, Toronto, and in Hong Kong for the past 17 years. Simon’s notable projects include the M+ Museum and the Hang Seng Bank Headquarters Revitalization in Hong Kong, Shenzhen Natural History Museum, Shenyang Kerry Center, University of Toronto Student Center, and the Shangri-la Center in Mongolia. He was an Assistant Professor at the University of Hong Kong and is currently teaching part-time in the University of Lincoln degree program at the Hong Kong Design Institute, and at Hong Kong Chu Hai College.
Photo Credit:
Courtesy of HKDI
Understanding Art Fairs – more than just a visit
At an art fair, there are countless works of art to discover at hundreds of galleries. How do you actually find what you like in this maze? How do I plan my tour? We will take a look behind the scenes and find out what strategies galleries use to attract our attention and market their artists. We will learn what collectors do to find the artwork of their choice and how artists use the fair as a platform to draw attention to themselves.
Speaker
Dr Harald P. Kraemer taught Art Market courses and wrote for many years about Art Basel and other art fairs for the Vienna-based online magazine Artmagazine. As a student, he had his first (painful) experiences as a gallery owner in his home town and later developed survival strategies for some artists in the art market. He currently teaches Museum Studies at HKU and works as an exhibition curator for UMAG.
Understanding Art Fairs – more than just a visit
At an art fair, there are countless works of art to discover at hundreds of galleries. How do you actually find what you like in this maze? How do I plan my tour? We will take a look behind the scenes and find out what strategies galleries use to attract our attention and market their artists. We will learn what collectors do to find the artwork of their choice and how artists use the fair as a platform to draw attention to themselves.
Speaker
Dr Harald P. Kraemer taught Art Market courses and wrote for many years about Art Basel and other art fairs for the Vienna-based online magazine Artmagazine. As a student, he had his first (painful) experiences as a gallery owner in his home town and later developed survival strategies for some artists in the art market. He currently teaches Museum Studies at HKU and works as an exhibition curator for UMAG.
The HKU Museum Society is delighted to be extended a visit to the private studio and gallery of artist Marina Pang, one of the Museum Society’s founding members.
Marina Pang was born in Hong Kong and obtained a bachelor’s degree in science and education in the U.S.A and Britain. She started her painting career when her sons left for England’s Public School and had a lot of time to pursue her favourite hobby – PAINTING.
She was fortunate to study under very famous masters in Chinese painting, Huang Chun Pi (黃君璧), Chao Shao An (趙少昂), He Bai Li (何百里), Song Yu Gui (宋雨桂), and calligraphy under Ou Da Wei (區大為). Her selected works were chosen for exhibition by the “Hong Kong Contemporary Art Awards” (an open art competition to all Hong Kong artists). Her works were chosen 5 times between 1994 and 2012. She held solo exhibitions in Hong Kong 5 times between 1994 and 2019.
Her style changes with time. The beginning was pure Chinese monochrome landscapes. As time goes on, she added colours (especially acrylics) to all her works, including flowers, fish, insects, birds, as well as landscapes, with a more loose and free approach. During our visit, she will demonstrate her techniques in putting to paper the beautiful images in her mind.