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A museum dedicated to the beauty and history of Jiading
By Shen Jiang and Fei Lai |
April 27, 2009, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE Zhuyun Art Museum in Jiading District's Anting Town is a privately owned art museum that is a major attraction for young people and cultural celebrities.
Featuring more than 100 cultural relics, the art museum vividly showcases Jiading's long history and culture. It could be comparable to a regional museum.
Zhou Jia, its owner, has spent 10 years and more than 10 million yuan (US$1.4 million) creating it. Zhou's work is closely linked with the protection of cultural relics.
After graduating from Fudan University with a major in relics protection, he was assigned to work at Jiading Museum.
During his work at the museum, he found the district was famous for cultivating cultural celebrities. In the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), more than 300 scholars emerged.
Although a series of policies have been introduced by the local government to protect the precious cultural relics, there were still a great number of cultural relics lost.
The idea of searching for treasures by himself occurred to him then.
Experience told Zhou that cultural relics with a real worth rarely remained in the folk areas. He used to hear many stories about "treasures" at someone's home. However, he usually found them to be of little value. So today, he collects Jiading's cultural relics at auctions.
Since many valuable cultural relics have been lost abroad, he has been to many countries to track them down. Last year, when he heard that an auction company in Britain would auction two bamboo carvings from Jiading, he immediately flew to Britain.
The two bamboo carvings were bought by a British collector 28 years ago from a local antique market. Both were made in the Qing Dynasty. One of them featuring a combination of eagle and bear figures was made with rare artistic ability.
Zhou won the bidding war and now the two works are on display at the Zhuyun Art Museum.
Besides the bamboo carvings, the art museum also displays more than 50 pieces of treasured scrolls of calligraphy and paintings by Jiading's celebrities, and local historical documents.
On the wall of the art museum, there is a painting by Wang Jingming, who came first in the imperial examination during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor in the Qing Dynasty. His paintings had already been famous before he finished first in the examination. Zhou bought it from Hong Kong.
Although the collector spends money like water collecting cultural relics, he is strict with himself. His family has been living at a relocated house for 15 years.
During his days abroad searching for the antiques, he often lived on bread and preserved mustard tuber for days.
"It's heartbreaking to see precious cultural relics from Jiading lost abroad," he said. "My biggest wish is to have the treasures remain in the district, telling Jiading's history and culture for generation after generation."
Featuring more than 100 cultural relics, the art museum vividly showcases Jiading's long history and culture. It could be comparable to a regional museum.
Zhou Jia, its owner, has spent 10 years and more than 10 million yuan (US$1.4 million) creating it. Zhou's work is closely linked with the protection of cultural relics.
After graduating from Fudan University with a major in relics protection, he was assigned to work at Jiading Museum.
During his work at the museum, he found the district was famous for cultivating cultural celebrities. In the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), more than 300 scholars emerged.
Although a series of policies have been introduced by the local government to protect the precious cultural relics, there were still a great number of cultural relics lost.
The idea of searching for treasures by himself occurred to him then.
Experience told Zhou that cultural relics with a real worth rarely remained in the folk areas. He used to hear many stories about "treasures" at someone's home. However, he usually found them to be of little value. So today, he collects Jiading's cultural relics at auctions.
Since many valuable cultural relics have been lost abroad, he has been to many countries to track them down. Last year, when he heard that an auction company in Britain would auction two bamboo carvings from Jiading, he immediately flew to Britain.
The two bamboo carvings were bought by a British collector 28 years ago from a local antique market. Both were made in the Qing Dynasty. One of them featuring a combination of eagle and bear figures was made with rare artistic ability.
Zhou won the bidding war and now the two works are on display at the Zhuyun Art Museum.
Besides the bamboo carvings, the art museum also displays more than 50 pieces of treasured scrolls of calligraphy and paintings by Jiading's celebrities, and local historical documents.
On the wall of the art museum, there is a painting by Wang Jingming, who came first in the imperial examination during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor in the Qing Dynasty. His paintings had already been famous before he finished first in the examination. Zhou bought it from Hong Kong.
Although the collector spends money like water collecting cultural relics, he is strict with himself. His family has been living at a relocated house for 15 years.
During his days abroad searching for the antiques, he often lived on bread and preserved mustard tuber for days.
"It's heartbreaking to see precious cultural relics from Jiading lost abroad," he said. "My biggest wish is to have the treasures remain in the district, telling Jiading's history and culture for generation after generation."
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