Sixteen world-acclaimed masterpieces of ancient Chinese painting and calligraphy from the Palace Museum of Beijing are on display in Hong Kong on Monday.

The exhibits are displayed in Phase II of the talk-of-the-town exhibition "The Pride of China: Masterpieces of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy of the Jin, Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties from the Palace Museum", which will run until August 11.

Star exhibits include Wang Xun's "Letter to Boyuan" of the Jin dynasty dated some 1,600 years ago, Yan Liben's "Emperor Taizong Receiving the Tibetan Envoy" of the Tang dynasty, Dong Yuan's "The Xiao and Xiang Rivers" of the Five Dynasties, Zhou Wenju's "A Literary Gathering" of the Five Dynasties, Li Song's "Puppet Play of a Skeleton" and Chen Rong's "Ink Dragon" of the Southern Song dynasty.

Other highlights are calligraphy by Zhao Ji, Emperor Huizong of the Northern Song dynasty, and the works of calligraphy by the four masters Su Shui, Huang Tingjian, Mi Fu and Cai Xiang. Replacing Zhang Zeduan's "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" in the first phase of the exhibition ending on Sunday, the copy by Qiu Ying of Ming dynasty is the jewel of crown of the phase II exhibition.

The original artistic masterpiece "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" by the Northern Song painter Zhang Zeduan offers glimpses of the institutions, economy, culture and customs in the Song capital, Bianjing, the most prosperous metropolis in the world more than a millennium ago.

Ever since Zhang Zeduan had produced the scroll, there have been dozens of imitations. Of these, the one by Qiu Ying is considered to be the best.
 
(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2007)