博
Date：2026-06-10 - 2026-09-07
Location：The Shanghai Museum East, Bright Dairy & Food Exhibition Gallery 1 (1F)
Advisors：Shanghai Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage, Gansu Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage, Shaanxi Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage
Organizers：Shanghai Museum, Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology
Special Support：Bright Dairy & Food Co., Ltd
The Shanghai Museum's The Essence of China series traces the origins, formation, and development of Chinese civilization, unveiling the code of its pluralistic integration and continuous endurance. The transition from Zhou to Qin marks the critical leap from regional states to a unified empire. Rising from vassal status to unifier of the Nine Provinces of Cathay, the Qin pioneered institutions, integrated cultures, and perfected governance, establishing the fundamental pattern of great unification. Shang Yang's reforms, standardized weights and measures, the commandery-county system, unified script, standardized axle widths, legal codes, and agricultural foundations: the institutional framework and civilizational paradigm that the Qin forged were inherited for over two thousand years, profoundly shaping China's political and social order.
Today, the Shanghai Museum collaborates with the Gansu Provincial Museum, the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the Li County Museum, the Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology, the Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum, the Shaanxi History Museum, and other partners, presenting over 320 pieces and sets of recent Qin culture archaeological discoveries from Gansu and Shaanxi, alongside the Museum's own holdings. This exhibition traces the magnificent journey from a Western Zhou vassal to a unified empire, revealing the Qin's pivotal role in forging Chinese civilization.
Through "Dawn of the First Empire", we attempt to complete the narrative of what makes the essence of China, illuminating the historical inevitability of a unified empire. May these artifacts allow our visitors to feel the pulse of history and comprehend the inexhaustible vitality of Chinese civilization.
