World Culture Galleries
ROM Gallery of Chinese Architecture
Level 1, Philosophers' Walk Wing, Southwest Atrium
This stunning new gallery features some of the ROM's most spectacular Chinese exhibits: the large Ming Tomb, a corner of a Chinese Imperial Palace building, the Tombs of Han and Tang, and a large new exhibit of artifacts illustrating the development of Chinese architecture from the 2nd century BC to the 17th century AD. The ROM holds the largest and best collection of Chinese architectural artifacts outside of China. This is North America’s first gallery of Chinese architecture.
The large and impressive architectural structures explore the connections and oppositions between Yang-houses (architecture for the living) and Yin-houses (architecture for the dead), and how these spaces are fundamentally intertwined through the Chinese concept of geomancy, or fengshui. In traditional society, people visited the tombs of their family members several times a year. To represent this custom, a large wooden carriage with matching harness—the kind used to visit family tombs—is placed next to the Ming Tomb.
The centrepiece of this gallery is the spectacular reconstruction of the corner of a 17th-century Chinese Imperial Palace building, the type found in Beijing’s Forbidden City. A crew of Chinese artisans from the National Museum of Chinese Architecture in Beijing assembled the life-sized architectural fragment and painted and gilded it in a traditional style at the ROM. You can see the yellow-glazed roof tiles and ridge ornaments. Walk inside to observe the complex wooden construction and the elaborate decoration underneath the roof. Funding for this project was obtained through the Louise Hawley Stone Strategic Acquisitions Fund.
The ROM Gallery of Chinese Architecture, generously supported by the Power Corporation of Canada, is one of four galleries featuring Chinese art and archaeology. The expanded and redesigned Chinese galleries also include the Bishop White Gallery of Chinese Temple Art, the Matthews Family Court of Chinese Sculpture, and the Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Gallery of China.
Podcasts
Iconic Ming Tomb
March 19, 2009
Legendary in Chinese history, General Zu Dashou was celebrated for his defense of the Ming dynasty against the Manchu invasion. The Tomb of General Zu Dashou (Ming Tomb) now stands in the Gallery of Chinese Architecture and is one of the Museum's iconic objects.
Video Podcast (27MB, 3m 15s)
Written Transcript (PDF)
ROM Gallery of Chinese Architecture with view of Imperial Palace Building Reconstruction, 17th century AD. 
Earthenware figure of Yanluo, King of Hell, AD 1523.
Taoshou, tile cap for corner beam (glazed earthenware), AD 1736 - 1796.
