China's "Sons of Heaven" Turn on people in Europe
By admin on 2014-12-22

   "It's splendid and fantastic!" said Sophie De Laire standing before the jade shroud of one of the princes from the Han Dynasty (206 BC -- AD 220). De Laire came from Paris to Brussels to see the Sons of Heaven exhibition held at the Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels.

    As a centerpiece of the Europalia China art festival opened here on Thursday, the Sons of Heaven brought together two hundred works of art around Chinese emperors, who were called Tianzi in Chinese to show the link between the sky, the earth and mankind.

    The works range from the establishment of the first settlements in the Neolithic era, via the royal monarchies of the Bronze Age, right up to the splendor of the last ruling dynasty, the Qing Dynasty (1644 --1911). They came from 20 museums and archeological institutes from 7 provinces and cities in China. Some of the collections on display have never been shown before outside China.

    The opinion of De Laire was shared by many people coming to the exhibition. Among them are Loyen Simonne and John Claessens, a couple coming from Antwerpe, the second largest city in Belgium.

    "We heard a lot from the Belgian media about Europalia China and saw some of the works showed on TV," Claessens said.

    "It's really nice and splendid. It's so real," said Loyen who is watching a painting about Kazakhs presenting horses as tribute to emperor Qianliong (1711-1799).

    The dresses of the emperors showed at the exhibition also impressed Loyen deeply. She said: "They look so nice with all the flowers and golden threads, and I'm just wondering how long and how many craftsmen would it take to make only one dress!"

    Henri Debecker, an 86-year-old artist from Brussels, said that "we have never seen these before in Belgium."

    He said: "As an artist, I saw so many beautiful things and I felt I was greatly inspired. I had a better understanding of the Chinese culture and the Chinese people. "

    Lieve Raymaekers, coordination guides from Bozar Studios, said that she enjoyed the exhibition very much and she would ask her relatives and friends to see it.

    From October 8, 2009 to February 14, 2010, the Europalia China art festival is going to present about 50 exhibitions and 450 art performances and cultural events in more than 70 cities in Belgium and four neighboring countries, namely the Netherlands, France, Luxembourg and Germany.

    The exhibitions and art performances will follow four main themes: Immortal China, Contemporary China, Colorful China and China and the World and each theme will be illustrated by a key exhibition.

    Besides Europalia International and the Chinese Ministry of Culture, 19 provinces, cities and autonomous regions, 58 museums, libraries, archeological institutes and numerous public and private cultural institutions from China also contribute to the organization of the art festival.