HONG KONG.- The Hong Kong Palace Museum and the Palace Museum today jointly unveiled the new special exhibition, “A Movable Feast: The Culture of Food and Drink in China” (“A Movable Feast”). This exhibition, a highlight of “Art March Hong Kong 2025”, offers a fresh perspective centred on the concept of “mobility”, connecting significant aspects of Chinese food culture. Over 110 exquisite artefacts have been meticulously selected to explore the evolution of food vessels, eating practices, and related traditions, comprehensively illustrating the rich culinary culture and lifestyle throughout the history of China. The Robert Chang Art Education Charitable Foundation is the exhibition’s Supporting Sponsor. “A Movable Feast” will open to the public tomorrow (19 March 2025) and remain open through 18 June 2025 in Gallery 8 of the HKPM.
The opening ceremony was held today at the HKPM, attended by officiating guests, including Wang Yuegong, Deputy Director of the Palace Museum; Leo Kung, Chairman of the HKPM Board; Betty Fung, Chief Executive Officer of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority; and Dr Louis Ng, Museum Director of the HKPM. This exhibition presents the prestigious collections from the Palace Museum and the HKPM, featuring eight grade-one national treasures from the former, along with significant loans from renowned institutions such as the British Museum, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Hong Kong Museum of Art, and the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware. Additionally, the exhibition employs multimedia and new technologies to present a fascinating historical narrative of Chinese culinary culture, spanning 5,000 years from the Neolithic period (about 10000–2000 BCE) to the Qing dynasty (1644–1911).
Wang Yuegong, Deputy Director of the Palace Museum, said, “Food culture is the true embodiment of a civilisation's evolution. The Palace Museum is delighted to collaborate with the Hong Kong Palace Museum in presenting “A Movable Feast”, which introduces 5,000 years of Chinese culinary history to global audiences. This exhibition features a remarkable array of artefacts, ranging from the hefty and dignified bronzeware of the pre-Qin period to intricately crafted picnic sets from the Qing dynasty. These artefacts serve as witnesses to the seamless integration of ancient and modern perspectives, as well as the rich tapestry of crosscultural exchange throughout the journey of Chinese civilisation. We sincerely hope that visitors will gain a deeper appreciation for the origins and cultural heritage of Chinese food culture through these invaluable artefacts.”
Leo Kung, Chairman of the HKPM Board, said, “‘A Movable Feast’ brings together precious artefacts from the HKPM, the Palace Museum, and other esteemed museums in China and around the world. This exhibition unveils the enduring narratives behind the long-standing Chinese culinary history, offering a fresh perspective for understanding China’s vast and rich food culture. Hong Kong, a vibrant melting pot where East meets West, is also an international culinary capital. We look forward to welcoming the public and visitors from China and beyond to discover the brilliant diversity of Chinese culinary culture and the stories embedded within its history through this exhibition.”
A new perspective on food culture in China: “Mobility” across life and afterlife, cultures, mountains and lakes, and time
In the Forbidden City, the busy emperor was often engaged in various duties, necessitating having meals at different locations. As mealtime approached, the imperial kitchen would deliver food and drink vessels along with the meal to the emperor’s current location. Drawing inspiration from this practice, the exhibition presents themes that explore the “movement” of food and vessels, deeply rooted in history, culture and traditional customs. These themes are divided into three sections, namely “Crossing from Life to Death”, “Crossing Cultures”, and “Crossing Mountains and Lakes”, each examining the movement of food and vessels across spiritual, cultural, and physical spaces. The final section, “Crossing Time”, features multimedia dining tables that invite visitors to discover the relationship between heritage and modern life within China’s long-standing food culture and contemporary vessels.
The first section: “Crossing from Life to Death – Feeding the Spirits” features food and drink vessels used in rituals and burials from the Neolithic period to the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE). Key objects on display include the zun (wine vessel) for Father Ding and the jue (wine vessel) of Marquis of Lu from the Palace Museum’s collection, dating back to the Western Zhou dynasty (about 1100–771 BCE). These bronze ritual vessels were used for making offerings and served as a medium between people and spirits.
A dou (food vessel) with cord pattern from the Warring States period (475–221 BCE) was a container for pickles, preserved vegetables, meat sauce, gravy, and more. In a first-century Chinese dictionary, the character feng, meaning abundance, is explained by a pictograph of a dou filled with food, while some scholars further interpret it as depicting two skewers of meat on a dou. The Chinese character li, meaning ritual, also has a component of feng, a further indicator of the significance of food and food vessels in Chinese culture.
During the mid-to late Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–8 CE), earthenware burial objects in the shape of granaries, wells, stoves, pigsties, and chicken coops were prevalent, not only mirroring the way of life and the flourishing food culture of the time but also signifying people’s desire for an abundant afterlife. A model of a brazier with cicadas, on loan from the Hong Kong Museum of Art, was fired using low-temperature lead glaze, resulting in striking colours. The roasting rack with two rows of cicadas illustrates the custom of eating cicadas during this period.
Get a glimpse into the history of cross-cultural exchange through food vessels
The second section: “Crossing Cultures – Nomadic Eating Practices” presents the intersection and integration of culinary customs between China and Central and West Asia during the Tang (618–907), Song (960–1279), and Yuan (1271–1368) dynasties, demonstrating how the richness and evolution of “tradition” develops over time. The introduction of new ingredients, utensils, and tall furniture to the Central Plains via the Silk Routes significantly transformed the region’s food culture. Foods from Central Asia were given the prefix hu (roughly indicates regions beyond the Central Plains of China), as seen in terms like hujiao (black pepper), hutao (walnuts), and huma (sesame), which remain widely used today
Among the exhibits in this section is a quatrefoil cup from the Tang Dynasty (877), which traces its origins back to the Sassanian Empire (present-day Iran). Scholars believe it is associated with the term “poluo”, a foreign term that frequently appeared in Tang and Song poetry, referring to a drinking vessel for alcoholic drinks. The renowned poet Li Bai (701–762)wrote about it, saying “Grape wine, gold poluo, a hu girl aged 15 years was carried by a fine horse”. To this day, the term “gold poluo” is used in Cantonese to describe a greatly cherished child. Another key exhibit, a phoenix-head ewer, which features a handle and spout. This vessel exemplifies how the nomadic drinking custom of pouring wine from ewers gradually replaced the tradition of spooning wine from a jar with a ladle in the Central Plains.
With the introduction of hu foods to the Central Plains, large platters emerged during the Tang dynasty to accommodate nomadic foods such as hubing (hu flatbread) and sushan (shaved ice-like dessert). By the Yuan and Ming (1368–1644) periods, large platters produced in China had become important export commodities, enjoying popularity in the Middle East. Historical records from the Ottoman Empire indicate that porcelain was frequently used for banquet serving ware during significant ceremonies, such as the sultan’s accession, birthdays, and weddings. One of the exhibits, a dish with chrysanthemum and lotus scrolls from the Ming dynasty closely resembles a 15th-century blue-and-white platter in the collection of the Ardabil Shrine in Iran, exemplifying the multidirectional nature of cultural exchange.
The influence of dining al fresco on later generations
The third section “Crossing Mountains and Lakes – Packing the Perfect Picnic” showcases the mobility of food and drink across different landscapes by presenting artworks and picnic sets of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Historically significant excursions and picnics have become a source of inspiration for numerous calligraphies, paintings, and other works of art. For example, A Night Banquet at the Peach and Plum Garden by the renowned Qing court painter, Ding Guanpeng (active 1726–1770), portrays the famous Tang poet Li Bai (701–762) and his cousins enjoying a banquet amidst a garden filled with peach blossoms.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the custom of dining on pleasure boats became a particularly popular activity along the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Late Ming literati considered that an elegant pleasure boat should accommodate “six hosts and guests and four attendants” and allow them to brew tea during the excursion. A notable exhibit, an ivory boat from the British Museum's Qing dynasty collection, vividly captures a leisurely outing on the water: two bearded men enjoy a chat over tea under the canopy of the boat, while others carry a food container and net freshwater fish from the lake.
The design of the paraphernalia used for these excursions was intended to keep objects organised, preventing them from colliding, and ensuring that the objects remained safe and accessible during travel. The Qing imperial court later adopted these organisational boxes to manage and store cultural artefacts accumulated in the palaces. The exhibition features a box of curiosities assembled during the Qing dynasty, intricately designed to hold a variety of antiques crafted from different materials, transforming it into a curated collection of treasures.
The fourth section: “Crossing Time – The Heritage” features multimedia interactive installations that blend ancient and modern scenes and artefacts, inviting the audience to enjoy a virtual feast that transcends time and space. Visitors can simulate ordering food at a virtual dining table while observing the cooking processes of various dishes, allowing them to discover diverse cooking techniques associated with these utensils.
In conjunction with the theme of “A Movable Feast”, the Museum will offer a series of educational initiatives both inside and outside the gallery. Visitors will be able to engage with the exhibition through various ways including tactile experience through an artefact replica, a stamp collecting activity that summaries and connects the four sections, special workshops on picnic box making, public talks, and learning resource booklets for students.
Additionally, the Museum will release the publication A Movable Feast: The Culture of Food and Drink in China, available in both Traditional Chinese and English. This publication features six chapters written by a distinguished team of scholars and experts from the Hong Kong Palace Museum and around the world. These chapters discuss how people have traversed the culinary landscape with food and eating utensils for 5,000 years, examining preparations for the afterlife, adaptations to foreign culinary practices from other regions, and the enjoyment of outdoor picnics. They provide a nuanced perspective on the complexities of Chinese food culture. The publication will be available at the ART EXPRESS by the Commercial Press gift shop located on the Museum’s ground floor and will later be available in other major bookstores in Hong Kong.
