In the new year of 2024, Henan Museum wishes to reaffirm its commitment to disseminate traditional Chinese culture, strengthen the establishment and innovation of the narrating structure of the Chinese civilization and excellent Chinese traditional culture, hence more fascinating exhibitions will be open to the public in 2024. The main ones are:

1.Embroidery Art Exhibition (from our collections)

As one of China's outstanding national traditional handicrafts, embroidery is characterized by leading the color threads with embroidery needles, according to the design patterns, stitching the colored threads on the fabrics, so that the embroidery traces turn into the planed patterns or texts, thus the great varieties of embroidered colorful flower patterns exude infinite charm.

For the exhibition, around 120 pieces of embroidery artworks of modern times, which are representative and bear intricate patterns will be picked out from our collections, and based on their implications of the pattern, they would be classified into the four parts of a special themed exhibition:

“The Beauty of the Badge Costume & the Brilliance of Rituals”, “Amassed Happiness and Harmonious Family & Blessed Marriage”, “Long Life and Filial Children & Endless Offspring”, “Successful Official Ranks & Abundant Wealth”, which cast light on the traditional aesthetics implied in the embroidery patterns and the best wishes for better life in ancient China from the perspective of folk customs.

2.Dragon Travels in China, the Year of Jia Chen-- Zodiac Dragon-themed Exhibition of Images of Artifact

dragon-shaped green jade pendant

The exhibition, entitled "Dragon Travels in China, the Year of Jia Chen-- Zodiac Dragon-themed Exhibition of Images of Artifact", for the celebration of the Chinese New Year of Jia Chen, aka. the Year of Dragon, was jointly hosted by Henan Museum, China Cultural Relics Newspaper, Zodiac Culture Dissemination Association, etc., more than 50 cultural organizations in total, was launched in January 2024.

The exhibition features hundreds of dragon-themed pictures of the artifacts housed in varied museums, covering the development of dragon culture, the application of dragon in cultural relics, and the dragon in folk customs, demonstrating the profound implications of Chinese dragon culture.

3.Exhibition of Treasures from Luxembourg

Dessert plate（Villeroy & Boch manufactory in Septfontaines）

At the end of March of 2024, “Treasures from Luxembourg (tentative title)” will kick off at Henan Museum. The exhibition is one of the cultural exchanges under the “Air Silk Road” program between Zhengzhou and Luxembourg under the background of international cooperation. Luxembourg is a small but beautiful country, and is also an important military fortress in Western Europe, with numerous ancient castles, pleasant scenery and unique customs. By going beyond the confinements of space and time, the exhibition will present the audience with a chance to appreciate more than 200 treasures from the National Museum for Archaeology, History and Art, Luxembourg. Each object has its own story, they connected the big historic events of this “pocket country”, exuding the multi-cultural charm of the fascinating country.

4.Exhibition on Hongshan Culture & Liangzhu Culture

jade cong（Liangzhu Culture）

Hongshan Culture & Liangzhu Culture are two brilliant pearls respectively embedded in Western Liao River basin and Yangtze River basin, and they are also the golden name cards of the archaeologically found ancient states from the different stages. The exhibition, which is comprised of over 300 pieces(sets) of treasures from Liaoning Provincial Museum, Liaoning Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology, and Liangzhu Museum, will greet the visitors in December 2024. By exploring in depth the multiple values of artifacts, the exhibition will interpret the background, mechanism, path, mode and characteristics of the formation and development of civilization by means of the jade wares, potteries, bone articles, and horns, and deepen the dissemination of archaeological and historical research results. Here, you can listen to the civilized footsteps of the great rivers, get to know where it came from, contemplate where it is going, and perceive its destination.

5.The Hegemony of Jin Principality--Bronze Treasures of Zhou Dynasty from Shanxi Province

Pig-shapedZun

Just like Henan province, Shanxi province is also the birthplace of Chinese civilization, where brilliant Chinese civilization was nurtured with the feeding of the Yellow River. Shanxi, abbreviate as “Jin”, took the shape in the early days of the Western Zhou dynasty, the King Cheng of Zhou dynasty had "given a paulownia leaf to his younger brother, Shu Yu, as a promise to invest him with a fiefdom (of Tang, part of present Shanxi province) in the childhood", thereby prince Shu Yu became the lord of the Tang principality, but later his son Xie Fu renamed it as Jin, which turned into one of the powerful vassal states during the two phases of Zhou dynasty, boasting a history of over 600 years from the Western Zhou dynasty, Spring and Autumn period, through the Warring States period, covering the whole historic process from its establishment, expansion, hegemony, waning, and division in the end.

In April 2024, Henan Museum, Shanxi Museum, and Zhengzhou Museum will jointly host the exhibition “The Hegemony of Jin Principality--Bronze Treasures of Zhou Dynasty from Shanxi Province” (tentative title), which comprises of more than 150 pieces (sets) artifacts with the bronzes as the predominant. Based on the great archaeological finds from the tomb of Marquis Jin, the ruin of Houma bronze foundry, the mausoleum of Chancellor Zhao, the exhibition will narrate the brilliant history of 6oo years of the Jin principality from its birth marked by “Zhou King enfeoffed his younger brother with a sheet of paulownia leaf” to its end “the Partition of Jin”.

6.The Glory of the Warring States, the Ode to the Great Han Empire-- Exhibition of Treasures of Zhongshan Principality

Two-winged divine beast

The exhibition “The Glory of the Warring States, the Ode to the Great Han Empire-- Exhibition of Treasures of Zhongshan Principality” (tentative title) is a combination of two shows “The Glory of the Warring States” and “The Ode to the Great Han Empire” which are imported from Hebei Museum, and it is scheduled to be unveiled to the public in December 2024. The meticulously selected 340 pieces (sets) of exhibits will display the advancements in economy, culture, and military of the Zhongshan principality during the Warring States period to Han dynasty, highlighting the golden era in the history of the state. By interpreting the history of the two regional economic and cultural entities of the Zhongshan principality during the two stages of the Warring States period and Han dynasty, the exhibition will lead the visitors to archaeology and museum, to explore the mystery and cultural contents of the “two Zhongshan principalities” in the history of Hebei province.

7.Paying Homage to Master--Artworks from the Lu Xun Museum of Beijing

Lu Xun and Young Woodcarvers

Thanks to a coordination between Henan Museum and the Lu Xun Museum of Beijing, the exhibition “Paying Homage to Master--Artworks from the Lu Xun Museum of Beijing” is scheduled to meet the visitors in September 2024.

The exhibition features the meticulously selected Lu Xun themed artworks created by Wu Guanzhong, Cao Bai, Huang Yongyu and other artists housed in Beijing Lu Xun Museum, and hopefully the audience would enter the literary and spiritual world of Lu Xun through appreciating the works of these masters, and feel the artists' understanding and homage for Lu Xun.