On 8 October 2021 in the Studio of Esteemed Excellence (Jingsheng zhai) at the Palace of Established Happiness (Jianfu gong), the Palace Museum and Zhejiang Ji Gong Public Welfare Foundation signed an agreement to jointly promote China’s outstanding traditional culture by utilizing resources unique to each organization and developing videos with themes related to the Palace Museum to advance the innovative transformation and development of China’s outstanding traditional culture.

In order to expand the public appeal and influence of the Palace Museum, advance research in Gugong Studies, and promote Gugong Studies in higher education disciplines, with the support of Longfor Group and Longfor Foundation and organization by the Palace Museum, the Institute of Gugong Studies of the Palace Museum hosted the 9th Gugong Studies Workshop for University Instructors from 23 July to 6 August 2021 in the Forbidden City. The Palace Museum’s primary aim for this workshop was to develop and train qualified university teachers in Gugong Studies and provide university teachers aspiring to engage in Gugong Studies research and instruction with a systematic understanding of the basic methods and chief content of Gugong Studies to facilitate its teaching in university classrooms all while hoping to provide a place of exchange for Gugong Studies scholars and university instructors in which interdisciplinary dialogue may produce inspiration in an inclusive atmosphere and joint advancement of Gugong Studies research. Over thirty teachers from a total of twenty-seven schools in thirteen provinces and cities including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Beijing Normal University, University of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Jilin University, Shandong University, Wuhan University, Sichuan University, and Jinan University participated in the workshop. Eighteen experts in fields such as museum management, Gugong Studies, Ming and Qing palace history, heritage architecture, historical calligraphy and painting, arts and crafts, and cultural heritage preservation presented academic topics to the attendees. The workshop was successfully completed after fifteen days of systematic instruction. The successful completion of this workshop has great significance. Gugong Studies emphasizes the Palace Museum’s two-in-one world heritage and museum dual identity, which determines the extensity and inclusivity of Gugong research. Gugong Studies research combines the resources of the Palace Museum and diligently integrates fragmented and isolated research topics to develop an important platform for the academic influence of Gugong Studies. This workshop for university teachers strengthens the connection between the Palace Museum and society at large, especially institutions of higher education, and attracts the attention of a large body of scholars to the culture of the Palace Museum and Gugong Studies while advancing the promulgation of the Palace Museum’s culture and the development of Gugong Studies as an academic discipline and field of study. Translated and edited by Adam J. Ensign and Kang Xiaolu

On 15 July 2021, in commemoration of the seventieth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Pakistan, the Palace Museum and the Department of Archaeology and Museums in the National Heritage and Culture Division of Pakistan jointly held the “China-Pakistan Forum on Cultural Exchange and Heritage Conservation” with ten invited Chinese and Pakistani experts presenting on cultural heritage topics. Due to the epidemic, the forum was held online. The opening ceremony was hosted by Zhao Guoying, deputy-director of the Palace Museum. Lou Wei, managing deputy-director of the Palace Museum, and Dr. Tahir Saeed, deputy-director of the Department of Archaeology and Museums in the National Heritage and Culture Division of Pakistan, both spoke during the ceremony.

Under the guidance of the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and with the Palace Museum and the Chinese National Academy of Arts as hosts, the Chinese Kunqu Opera and Guqin Research Association and the Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre organized events at the Belvedere of Pleasant Sounds (Changyin ge) in the Forbidden City to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the selection of Kunqu for the UNESCO as part of humanity’s oral and intangible cultural heritage.

Today is the forty-fifth International Museum Day, celebrated with the theme “The Future of Museums: Recover and Reimagine”. This year’s theme, in light of the normalization of epidemic controls on a global scale, explores the many future challenges facing museums, such as how museums adapt and improve functional orientations in a timely fashion and positively explore new directions, models, and plans for museum development.

Co-hosted by the Institute of Ceramics Archeology and Art Research of the Department of History at Beijing Normal University, the Institute of Ceramics Archeology and Art Research at Peking University, and the Sino-Foreign Cultural Exchange Center of the Palace Museum, the seminar entitled “Ceramics Archeology and Art” was held in Beijing from April 10 to April 11, 2021. More than fifty scholars from some twenty universities and research institutions attended the seminar, among which nineteen scholars gave presentations of their research findings. The main themes included the modes of production and organization of Chinese ancient ceramics and the diffusion of its technology, the domestic market and overseas circulation, new archeological evidence and directions, textual studies of images, analysis of historical and cultural origins, new findings from scientific and technological examinations, etc.