A Century of Stewardship — From the Forbidden City to the Palace Museum

The palace gates slowly opened, and the world underwent profound change. On October 10, 1925, the Forbidden City—long a Ming and Qing imperial compound, its gates towering and closed to the public for centuries—turned toward the people and became an open museum space. Thus was the Palace Museum born. From the establishment of the Antiquities Exhibition Hall to the founding of the Palace Museum, the Forbidden City took on a renewed visage.

Amid the flames of the Sino-Japanese War, the cultural relics were moved south, enduring countless dangers, their fate hanging by a thread. Through these turbulent years, the conviction that cultural relics belong to the state and that the Palace Museum belongs to the people grew ever more resolute. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the Palace Museum set out once again at a time when everything awaited reconstruction. The northward return of the relics, the restoration of ancient architecture, and the opening of exhibitions—all were arduous, yet each step was firm and resounding.

Thus an old palace of a fallen dynasty was reborn, and a brand-new museum strode confidently into the people’s era. Over the course of a century, storms and upheavals have raged. What has changed and what has endured at the Palace Museum echo the resonance between Chinese civilization and the pulse of the times.

This exhibition is through December 30, 2025.

Source: The Palace Museum