博
Date：2024-11-23 - 2025-03-30
Location：Shanghai Museum on People's Square, No.2 Exhibition Hall (2F)
Organizers：Shanghai Museum
Special Support：Consolato Generale d'Italia Shanghai, ISTITUTO italiano DI CULTURA SHANGHAI, TRECCANI, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Fondazione Musei Civici Venezia, CITTA' DI VENEZIA
Ancient China and the world had always kept in close contact. Through the prominent networks of overland and maritime Silk Roads, the East and the West joined hands in promoting international trade, transmitting cultural ideas, and propelling the development of human civilization.
More than 700 years ago, Venice became a commercial and transportation powerhouse in the Mediterranean with its energetic trade and advanced oceanic navigation. From this city of water and bridges, Marco Polo set out on a long journey. He passed through the ancient Silk Road across Eurasia and came to the Karakorum steppe. Then, from the vast northern grasslands, he went to the water town of Hangzhou located to the south of the lower Yangtze River. He also visited the ancient port of Quanzhou before departing by ship for Hormuz in the Persian Gulf and returning home. In China, he was bedazzled by the magnificent architecture in the capital cities and came face to face with the empire's lively commercial markets. He witnessed the fierce conditions of rugged lands as well as vivacity of trade at seaports. Indeed, all the lives and wonders that he captured on his travels to China and elsewhere were the epitome of the ancient world of globalization in the thirteenth century.
Marco Polo was by no means a solitary traveler. In his time, there was an endless stream of merchants, envoys, pilgrims, and artists moving back and forth on the ancient Silk Road. Many travelers left records of political culture, social beliefs, and economic life. From these historical texts, it is not difficult to see that each civilization has its own strengths. They learn from each other and together contribute to the progress of world history.
This exhibition gathers many wonderful cultural relics from museums in Italy and China to picture the era in Marco Polo's time. Visitors will be able to visualize the vibrant maritime trade of Venice, the robust networks of commerce under the aegis of Mongol Khanates, and the ancient cities of Hangzhou and Quanzhou, which were just as prosperous as Venice. As we piece together the jigsaw puzzle of history, we invite everyone to feel the pulse of globalization in its early form and appreciate the many splendors of ancient civilizations.
