Anyway, lets come back to the main topic of this entry. I went for the Kangxi exhibition at the Asian Civilization Museum yesterday. To those of you whose response to this is “ewww… no I’m not interested” you are totally wrong. It’s awesome. Its not just about history, the various artifacts and science the evolve at that time is simply fantastic.

I am utterly amused by the 22m scroll and the 88m scroll, the former is a depiction of Kangxi’s trip to the Jiang Nan 江南 and the latter featured the celebration of Kangxi’s 60^th birthday. But only 10m of each are shown in the exhibition. The scrolls are fabulously impressive. You’ll never have imaging they have such artistic skills some 300 years ago. Even the smallest detail such as the horse’s mare or the buns sold in eateries is taken care of. After getting a glimpse at the royal treasure, I’ll not set eyes on any modern art work (and say: that’s nice) again. Nothing can be compared to the ancient fine art work.

Of course, the royal portraits are equally awesome. The carpet in the paintings are made of real carpet texture with the dragon or phoenix pattern and perhaps gold was used in the paint, the colors are as bright and fresh as if they are just painted.

Another treasure that drew my attention was the Chinas, know as 珐琅彩瓷器。These bowls, vases or wine cups are beautifully decorated with intrigued patterns. These treasures can only be used in by the royal family members and were prohibited for use by anyone else. Until today, nobody knows how these artifacts are made and what the raw materials they used. Last year, there was one man in china who successfully cloned these Chinas after more than 10 years of repeat research and experiments.

Besides, the ancient calculator, the mathematical values and tools (including compasses, protractor) and the old map of Beijing are also something that you should not miss. The only thing that comes to my mind is: HOW DID THEY DO IT?!

I’m particularly attracted to this online game, which allows you to explore the Forbidden City virtually. You get to see how the emperor’s life was like and the activities they do. I spent more than 30 mins playing with it until a bunch of secondary kids (they stinks) crowd over. Zzzz…

Honestly, I pity the emperor. Though he is regarded as the son of heaven and enjoyed superior, unchallenged (may not always holds) power as well as the best things man can enjoy, he leads a boring life. He spent his days spent on reading the memorials submitted by his subjects and replies to them personally. Many rulers (as true for Choson Korea Rulers) suffered eyesight failure due to the numerous amount to reading under dimly lilted light (they only have candles then). Many also suffered ill health and died young (considering they rarely have the opportunity to exercise since they are always carried around). If they are incapable, they face the threat of being overthrown. There were many attempts of subjects usurping the throne throughout the history of china.

The emperor may have 3000 woman in his backyard. But I suppose few of them are consider beauties. In fact the empress and some of his concubines are usually rather ugly because their selection is tied to political purpose. I flipped this book in the Museum shop and saw some photos of the empress and concubines in the later Qing Dynasty. I just want to vomit. If I’m the emperor I would cry. These woman are simply normal or slightly ugly looking. The most prominent is perhaps Cixi 慈禧太后, she just looks like an ordinary old woman that you find on any street. The last emperor, Puyi’s empress Wanrong 婉容皇后is none where near pretty either. But Kangxi’s empresses (based on their portraits) looked alright. No wonder its always been said that the Qing emperors loved to travel to Jiang Nan (as it is know for its scenery and beauties). Hence, the conclusion is Han Chinese just looked better than the Manchu.