National storehouse of textual treasures

On May 28, Reflection of the Golden Age, an exhibition of paintings from the Song Dynasty (960-1279), opened in the China Cultural Center in Singapore. It is the sixth stop of a global exhibition tour that started in November 2022 in London.

The exhibition presents about 100 high-definition print replicas of fine paintings from the dynasty, which are grouped into three categories — landscape, figures and flowers and birds — and represent the summit of Chinese ancient painting. In August, the exhibition will arrive in Denmark.

The exhibition is a part of the compiling of the book, A Comprehensive Collection of Ancient Chinese Paintings, that began in 2005. Beginning with the Song Dynasty, the project over 18 years grew to encompass more works from other dynasties such as the Tang (618-907), Yuan (1271-1368), Ming (1368-1644), and Qing (1644-1911). In total, the 60-volume collection catalogs 12,405 classic paintings on paper, silk or linen from 263 museums, galleries and other culture institutions around the world.

A Comprehensive Collection of Ancient Chinese Paintings has now taken its place among the 30,000 volumes of fine publications produced after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 that sit in the 44 huge bookcases of the national study in the Wenhua Hall of the China National Archives of Publications and Culture.