Zhejiang Longquan Celadon Museum reopens on National Day with immersive exhibitions telling the millennium-old Maritime Silk Road legend

China News Service, Lishui, October 3 (Fu Feiyang, Jiang Jiali) During the National Day holiday, the newly upgraded Longquan Celadon Museum in Longquan City, Lishui, Zhejiang Province was officially opened to the public. A large number of citizens and tourists came here to check in the new exhibition hall and experience the Maritime Silk Road legend of Longquan Celadon up close.

Longquan is known as the "Celadon Capital" - the traditional firing technique of Longquan celadon is the first ceramic project selected in UNESCO's "Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity". At present, the exhibition hall bids farewell to the traditional static display of cultural relics, revolves around the story line of the Maritime Silk Road, and is reshaped according to the aesthetic style of the Song Dynasty.

For example, the exhibition hall follows the simple blank design concept of the academies of the Song Dynasty. The overall color scheme is light gray, pure white, and elegant bamboo green, with warm and soft lighting, which perfectly restores the transparent texture of the classic glaze colors of Longquan celadon pink blue and plum green. Visitors no longer just look at antiques in a casual way, but can immerse themselves in the life scenes of ancient people and understand the story and charm behind each piece of celadon.

Tourists visit the Longquan Celadon Museum. Photo by Jiang Jiali

This upgrade not only gave the exhibition hall a new look, but also expanded the exhibit lineup—the number of exhibits increased from more than 300 to more than 700, completely sorting out the export history of Longquan celadon during the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties.

In the museum, shipwreck porcelain, overseas returned porcelain, and export specimens are all on display, clearly distinguishing imperial, official, civilian, and export porcelains, intuitively showing Longquan celadon’s shape and aesthetic differences in adapting to different overseas markets, and vividly telling the long development history of Longquan celadon as a link between civilizations, connecting China and foreign countries, and promoting exchanges and mutual learning.

In addition, digital technology also provides new expressions for traditional cultural resources: in the exhibition hall, dynamic maritime routes and high-definition multimedia short films vividly reproduce the complete story of the ancients firing celadon and cross-sea trade; the ancient ship model, loaded with 152 precious cultural relics, restores the prosperous scene when Longquan celadon sold well around the world.

The exhibition hall also has various interesting interactive projects. Visitors can touch the texture of porcelain pieces at close range through the touch screen platform and celadon touch wall. They can also check celadon glaze color and vessel shape information online to experience the trendy AI celadon creation.

Lu Qiufeng, a tourist from Shaoxing, specially made the museum the first stop on his journey to Longquan. He felt that it felt like he had entered the secret realm of the ancient kiln, and it was full of visual impact. "I used to only see pictures of celadon on the Internet, but today I saw so many precious objects with my own eyes. It was really a worthwhile trip."

In order to activate the cultural tourism market during the National Day holiday, the museum launched a stamp collection and check-in activity. Collecting stamps can be redeemed for celadon cultural creations, attracting many family tourists to participate. At the same time, the "Tao Porcelain Fun" intangible cultural heritage market opened lively outside the museum, with 35 stalls lined up neatly. Celadon craftsmen pulled blanks and made porcelain on site. There was a dazzling array of celadon cultural and creative products. Visitors were able to choose good items while experiencing the intangible cultural heritage skills with their own hands.

Tourists purchase celadon products. Photo by Jiang Jiali

Liu Ying, director of the Longquan Celadon Museum, said that this upgrade is no longer about simply placing cultural relics, but by re-creating the exhibition hall space and superimposing digital display methods, so that the audience can immersively understand the celadon culture without having to view the artifacts through glass. It is hoped that this will attract more young people to understand celadon and protect the inheritance of thousands of years of ingenuity. Data shows that from October 1 to 2, the museum received nearly 20,000 visitors.