Cities, Museums, and Memories: Urban Heritage in a Global Context

A century after the establishment of the Palace Museum in 1925, a museum 2,000km to the
south at the Victoria Harbour arises in 2022 to present the finest objects among the 1.86
million in the Beijing collection. Beginning with introducing the making of the Hong Kong
Palace Museum and its architectural design by Rocco, this talk discusses challenges of the
museum which houses 5,000 years of history but targets a global audience who lack a
collective memory of the Chinese culture.

As a ‘baby’ urban heritage, the museum, like other rising public venues, innovates
interpretations of ancient art and archaeological discoveries, and contributes to the identity,
cultural landscape, and evolving memory of the city. Interestingly, this relates to another
question of balancing loans from cultural institutions around the world, and the acquisition
need of the young museum. Weaving the history of collecting in Hong Kong into the
discussion, this talk reflects upon the role of cosmopolitan museums like HKPM in the
cultural and economic development of the city and Greater China at large. With an
inter-disciplinary brush, the talk reveals how museums can strengthen the local cultural
legacy and improve a shared understanding of art and history in global context.