Second Chinese Artistic Treasure Cultural Festival opens

On August 16, the Second Chinese Artistic Treasure Cultural Festival opened in Chongwen District. Between August 16 and September 18, the National Art Treasure Museum will hold seven exhibitions at the same time with the themes of “Art Treasures of Tibetan Buddhism,” “Cross-Straits Hongshan jade,” “Chinese Asia Pacific Master Craftworks,” “Intangible Cultural Heritage,” “Eight Unique Skills of Yanjing,” “Handicrafts by Great Artists,” and the “Artistic Treasures of the Second National Art Treasure Cultural Festival.” Lin Yunteng, an expert on antique jades, will teach residents about jade and assess jade articles that they bring along.

The Second Chinese Artistic Treasury Cultural Festival opens; one visitor is watching  the items on display.

Reporters learned that the Art Treasure Exhibition of Tibetan Buddhism involves statues of the Buddha, pagodas, Thangkas, musical instruments and other artworks. All of the eight Thangkas are first-grade national treasures depicting the Green Tara, Kwan-yin with his thousands of hands and eyes, Ushnisha Sita Tapatra, Amitayus Buddha, Yamantaka, the Horse-headed Guardian, Simhamukha and a General riding a white horse, all created by painters in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. They are 1.39 meters high and a meter wide, and are over 200 years old. Later, these were given as a present to the White Pagoda Temple by Emperor Qianlong and were preserved in the hall of Six Supernatural Powers, and became the temple’s hallmark treasure.

Reporters also learned that the Art Festival will choose 100 bronze Tibetan Buddhism statues of different styles, which represent the top level artworks of the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. Among them is a gold-plated statue of the Buddha, standing 1.3 meters high, it is China’s sole gold-plated statue of Sakyamuni from the Ming dynasty, which is believed to be the best from that period. In addition, two religious silver horns, which were given to Chairman Mao by the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama, will also be exhibited.

1,368 jade articles will be displayed at the Cross-straits Hongshan Jade Exhibition. These pieces of cultural heritage were collected by 106 Chinese entrepreneurs over a period of more than 80 years, and visitors can feast their eyes on rare Hongshan cultural heritage looted from China. Additionally, Lin Yunteng, an expert on ancient jade, will teach jade knowledge the morning of August 17, and residents may bring two pieces along for assessment by experts.