China and Taiwan to Confer on Imperial Art Treasures Split by History

[Coventina]

Source: New York Times

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Divided for 60 years by war and political turbulence, the imperial art collection of China is now the focus of negotiations that could lead to at least a few of the works being exhibited together again.

The director of the National Palace Museum here, the repository of the cream of the 1,000-year collection, plans to travel on Saturday to Beijing, the first official visit by a director of that museum to the mainland since the Nationalists lost China’s civil war to the Communists in 1949 and retreated to Taiwan.

The director, Chou Kung-shin, will hold talks at the Palace Museum in Beijing, which holds most of the rest of the collection. Ms. Chou said in an interview that she would ask the Palace Museum in Beijing to lend 29 Qing dynasty artworks for a three-month exhibition that opens here in October and would seek cooperation in art conservation, publications and promotions. The Beijing authorities are taking a conciliatory stance on closer collaboration in art in the hope of improving their image on Taiwan, with the goal of dampening opposition to an eventual reunification on terms favorable to the mainland.

(snip)

The people of Taiwan elected a new Nationalist Party president last spring who favors closer relations with the mainland, particularly closer economic relations, while insisting that reunification is not up for discussion.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/arts/design/12pala.html?ref=arts

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Glad to see them cooperating on something.