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Exhibit traces links between China, West
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HOW did tea and other Chinese products first get introduced to Europe? To answer this question, Bibliotheca Zi-Ka-Wei is hosting an exhibition titled “The Spreading and Influence of Chinese Knowledge and Products in the West.”
The exhibition explains how Chinese tea, clothing, architecture, green coloring, traditional medicines and astronomy were spread to the West between 1498 and the 1940s. It traces the beginning of Western interest in China, the “Chinese vogue” in Europe during the 18th century, and the change of Western impressions of China from a mysterious land to a poverty-stricken country around the Opium Wars.
On these subjects, the bibliotheca displays 39 precious books culled from its rich collection.
The exhibition shows that Chinese tea was first introduced to the West in a book printed in the 1550s. Two original works on tea knowledge published in Europe in 1699 and 1829 respectively are on view.
Other highlights include books written by missionary doctors who practiced medicine in China; a 1939 volume titled “A Survey of Chinese Art” by John Calvin Ferguson, who built today’s Wukang Road; and renowned scholar Sir William Chambers’ books on Chinese architecture and Oriental gardens, both published in the 18th century.
The exhibition kicked off two months ago during an international forum in the same subject co-hosted by the bibliotheca and the Department of History at Fudan University.
The library and seven academic institutions, including Fudan’s history department, recently co-organized the Information Center for Sino-Western Cultural Communications Research to further research the bibliotheca’s book collection. They commissioned eight professors from Beijing and Shanghai as special researchers.
The exhibition is located in the display room on the first floor of the western building. A large album of old black-and-white photographs, also on display in the room, is not to miss. These photos illustrate the history of Xujiahui and the bibliotheca.
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