Ancient Asian Civilizations Exhibition launched in the Hunan Museum

The opening ceremony of "Our Asia - Ancient Asian Civilizations Exhibition" was held at 10am on July 8 at the Art Hall of the Hunan Museum. Asian countries have created glorious civilization achievements in the long history, the earliest human writing, cities, primitive agriculture, etc. were all born here, and the Asian people have written a magnificent heroic epic with their wisdom and sweat. The exhibition aims to give visitors a glimpse of the diverse cultural charms of Asian countries and to witness the long-lasting legacy of the spirit of exchange and communication along the ancient Silk Road. The exhibition is on display from now until October 8, 2021 in the No.2 Special Exhibition Hall on the first floor of the Hunan Museum.

Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, China Cultural Relics Exchange Centre and other relevant authorities, as well as provincial museum directors and media representatives were invited to attend the opening of the exhibition. At the opening ceremony, Liu Yingjie, a second-level inspector of the Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism gave a speech, and Yu Yanjiao, curator of the Hunan Museum, introduced the exhibition.

The exhibition takes historical time as its context, and through more than 220 pieces or sets of exhibits , the history of Asia for more than 10,000 years, is divided into two major historical phases, pre-Hellenistic Asia and post-Hellenistic Asia, with Alexander the Great's Eastern Expedition and Hellenization as the dividing line. The exhibits are grouped together by region and content, allowing visitors to understand the origins and development of Asian civilizations, and to experience the exchange, collision and fusion of thousands of years of East and West civilizations across Asia.

The exhibition reflects the unparalleled vitality and creativity of ancient and diverse Asian civilizations through active and continuous exchange through three sections: 'The Emergence of Diversified Civilizations', 'The Meeting of East and West and the Development of Civilizations', and 'The Light of Wisdom and Ideas'.

The first unit focuses on the evolution of mankind from food gatherers to producers, and the emergence of primitive agriculture, which led to the development of material civilizations such as pottery and rice cultivation techniques, and the rise of city-states. At the same time, various types of writing emerged, propelling human civilization forward. Asia, the birthplace of human civilization, gave birth to some of the world's earliest civilizations along the great river basins. The two river basins, the Indus and Ganges River basins and the Yangtze and Yellow River basins all gave birth to ancient civilizations and had a profound influence on the formation of the ancient civilizations around them.

The second unit focuses on the Hellenistic era, an era of cultural exchange between East and West, which was ushered in by Alexander the Great's conquest in the 4th century BC. The combination of classical Greek civilization and the outstanding achievements of the civilizations of the East, which intermingled and drew on each other, greatly expanded the horizons of human civilization and had a profound impact on the subsequent Roman culture, Arab-Islamic culture and even the modern culture of Western Europe after the Renaissance. In the two centuries following Alexander the Great's expedition and during the expansion of the Roman Empire, a commercial trade network was formed from Central Asia to Syria and Egypt via the Iranian plateau and the two river valleys, and was linked to the Chinese Silk Road, promoting the exchange and development of trade between East and West. The Silk Road became a major route of trade between East and West, and the exchanges and clashes between civilizations deepened, reflecting the unparalleled vitality of ancient Asian civilizations.

The third unit focuses on the vast expanse of Asia that not only gave birth to colorful civilizations, but also became the birthplace of such world-influential religions as Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Islam and Christianity. In the two river valleys, where the worship of multiple gods was prevalent, the ancestors of West Asia would model their gods on the human form and enshrine them in temples; with Alexander the Great's expedition to the east, Greek culture penetrated into the Indus valley, resulting in Gandhara art, which expressed Buddhist content in Greek art style; Hinduism was full of strong mystical colors, with elaborate statues, strange shapes and dynamic postures, and Tibetan Buddhist Tantric statues were deeply influenced by them. The Mahayana Buddhism of East Asia was deeply influenced by Confucianism, and the art of its statues is often magnificent, while the Hindu Buddhism of Southeast Asia is more programmatic, with clean-cut statues. Taoism is the indigenous religion of China and has formed a vast cultural system centered on the belief in immortality and the pursuit of immortality, which has had a profound influence on the Confucian cultural circle.