Guarding relics against all odds

As the Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, marked its centenary last year, transitioning from an imperial palace (1420-1911) to a public museum, a new documentary program turns the spotlight on a lesser-told story: how its priceless artifacts were safeguarded through decades of upheavals.

The six-episode program, Guardians of the Palace Museum, produced by video streaming platform Youku and the Forbidden City Publishing House, has been airing on Youku since Dec 15.

In the program, an exploration team comprising veteran TV host Ni Ping and other celebrities, like actors Chen Jianbin and Zhang Xiaolong, and historian Yu Gengzhe, embarked on trips in Beijing, Leshan in Sichuan province, Xiamen in Fujian province and Hong Kong to trace the century-long journeys of the objects now displayed in the museum, revealing the human dedication behind their survival.

"We had visited the Palace Museum many times before. Whenever we saw the cultural relics displayed as national treasures, we took their presence for granted, feeling that it was natural that they were there," says Wang Cong, a member of the team.

"We never stopped to think about how they ended up there for us to see today."