To celebrate the most magnificent of all traditional Chinese holidays, the Palace Museum presents “Celebrating the Spring Festival in the Forbidden City” from January 6 through April 7, 2019 in the galleries atop the Meridian Gate, also known as Wu Men in Chinese. A record number of 885 antiques are on display and 145 time-honored Chinese brands have brought their special products to this gallery. The displays include works from the Palace Museum, the First Historical Archives, Shenyang Palace Museum, Capital Museum and the Temple of Heaven Park.

The exhibition is presented in three main sections to help introduce the historical celebrations. Journalists from the People's Daily app took a tour of the whole exhibition to see how emperors and their families celebrated the Spring Festival back in the Qing Dynasty.

The previous episode offered a view of first section. The second section shows us the traditional dwellings of the royal family during the Spring Festival from two centuries ago in China. During Spring Festival, families throughout China presented offerings and sacrifices to their ancestors in the most solemn and important of traditional ceremonies.

The traditional dwellings of the royal family during the Spring Festival.  (File photo: the official webiste of the Palace Museum)

Also, it was a time of family reunions during which the annual festive banquet was shared in homes throughout China. This section introduces the opulent feasts of the imperial clan as shared by the emperor with empress, concubines, and members of the imperial clan. This part of exhibition also presents several displays that simulate the Seal Closing Ceremony (fenyin yishi in Chinese) and Opening Brush Ceremony (mingchuang kaibi in Chinese) during the Qing dynasty.

Opening Brush Ceremony (mingchuang kaibi in Chinese) in Qing dynasty. (File photo: the official webiste of the Palace Museum)

(With input from the official webiste of the Palace Museum and produced by Zhao Dantong, Liang Peiyu, Han Xiaomeng, Qiao Wai, Yan Yiqiao, Chen Xiangru and Wang Zi; story written by Wang Zi)