The ROM’s Chinese New Year

Posted: January 24, 2014 - 17:05 , by royal
Categories: 
Forbidden City, Programs and Events, Education & Engagement | Comments () | Comment

By Martha Henderson, Head of Membership and Sales

I am writing to invite everyone to join us Saturday, January 25 to celebrate an auspicious beginning to the Chinese Year of the Horse… and to remind you to get ready to book your tickets for our spectacular exhibition, The Forbidden City: Inside the Court of China’s Emperors, coming to Toronto this spring! Opening March 8, member tickets go on sale January 28. Non-members will be able to purchase theirs in February.

We will be celebrating Chinese New Year this Saturday with a full day of activities. There will be musical performances by the Toronto Chinese Orchestra and Yips Children's Choir, as well as dance, Tai Chi demonstrations, and drumming. Special family activities include kids’ crafts, interactive workshops, calligraphy demonstrations, an introduction to ancient Chinese tea culture, and numerous themed museum guided tours. In the Museum Shop you’ll find unique Chinese-themed gifts to mark the New Year. We are grateful to our friends at the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto for their help in organizing what is sure to be a fun day.

I can’t think of a better way to kick off our Centennial year at the ROM, given the tremendous excitement that is building for our upcoming spectacular The Forbidden City: Inside the Court of China’s Emperors, presented by The Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation.

The Forbidden City embodies all that is fascinating and mysterious about Chinese culture and history. Thanks to a unique collaboration between the Royal Ontario Museum, the Palace Museum, and the Chinese government, we will be featuring textiles, exquisite calligraphy, precious paintings and books, ceramics, and precious objects in silver, gold, jade, copper, enamel, and lacquer… most of which have never travelled outside China until now. And we’ll provide a glimpse of this extraordinary history through the lives of key historical figures: emperors, an empress dowager, a servant eunuch, a concubine, and others. You will not want to miss this!

While we are on the subject of not missing things, I encourage you to mark this in your calendars too: Chinese Cultural Heritage Weekend is happening this year on Saturday, April 12 and Sunday, April 13, 10am - 5pm.

In the meantime, we wish you a happy and healthy Year of the Horse!