Hong Kong Launches the “Center of the World Exhibition on the Ancient Civilizations of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties in Henan Province”

On April 2, 2024, the “Center of the World Exhibition on the Ancient Civilizations of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties in Henan Province” was inaugurated at the Hong Kong Museum of History. This exhibition was organized by the Henan Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (hereinafter “Hong Kong SAR”), with the Henan Museum and the Hong Kong Museum of History collaborating on the event.

Exhibition Dates: April 3 - August 7, 2024

This exhibition marked the first in a series focused on Chinese history, organized by the Chinese Culture Promotion Office in Hong Kong SAR since its inception, whose goal is to highlight the cultural landscape of the core regions of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties. Using time as the axis, with cultural relics and historical sites as key points, the exhibition reiterated the political relationships between the capital and the four regions as its foundation. It also incorporated the latest findings from the “Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project” and “the Chinese Civilization Origins Project”. The exhibition aimed to provide a more complete and accurate narrative about the structure of the Chinese civilization system, illustrating the remarkable achievements during its origin, formation, and development, seeking to explain how the diverse and integrated pattern of Chinese civilization came to be.

The valuable cultural relics featured in this exhibition from the Sacrificial Site of the Zheng State include: the Nine Dings and Eight Guis, the Bianzhong Chime Bells, the Ding Made by Wang Ziwu, the Changzikou Bronze Square Zun, the Yinggong Ding, and the Yinghou Chengxu.

the Nine Dings and Eight Guis Unearthed at the Sacrificial Site of the Zheng State in Xinzheng City

The Bronze Square Zun Unearthed from the Changzikou Tomb at Taiqing Palace in Luyi County, Henan Province

Yinghou Chengxu and Yinggong Ding Unearthed from Cemetery of the Ying State in Pingdingshan City