Date：2018-12-13Successful Visit to Europe and the USA

From October 20th to November 7th, 2018, at the invitation of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and other foreign friends, a three-person delegation led by President of Shanghai Art Collection Museum, Mr. Muqing Hu paid a working visit to Turkey, Austria, the United States and Hungary for 20 days. During the trip, the delegation visited numerous governmental departments, cultural institutions and artists, had a deep investigation on the cultural and artistic resources in these countries and reached cooperation intentions with related organizations and individuals in many projects.

The main purpose of this visit is to prepare for the 9th International Exhibition of Traditional Fine Arts, the 7th International (Shanghai) Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Forum, the 5th International (Shanghai) Cultural Tourism Program Promotion Conference held in June, 2019 and the 2nd International Tour Exhibition of Chinese Traditional Fine Arts held next autumn.  

As the largest city in Turkey across Europe and Asia, Istanbul is not only an ancient cultural and historic city, but also an international metropolis with multi-culture. On October 20th, the delegation of Shanghai Art Collection Museum went to the Istanbul Archaeological Museum as soon as it arrived in Istanbul. Mr. Cetin Akar, First Deputy Director of EU and Foreign Relations Department of Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey and Mr. Rahmi Asal, General Director of Museum introduced the current situation of cultural heritage protection in Istanbul and expressed the expectation to share their experience at the 7th International (Shanghai) Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Forum next June.

The delegation was having a meeting with Mr. Cetin Akar and Mr. Rahmi Asal.

Mr. Rahmi Asal was introducing the collections of the Istanbul Archaeological Museum to the delegation. 

Mr. Rahmi Asal presented the catalog of the Istanbul Archaeological Museum to the delegation.

Accompanied by Mr. Cetin Akar, the delegation attended the opening ceremony of the joint exhibition “Silk Road - Ebru & Calligraphy” held by Mr. Hikmet Barutcugil, famous Turkish Ebru artist. He was quite interested in participating in the 9th International Exhibition of Traditional Fine Arts and presented a heavy catalog of his personal works to the delegation. 

Mr. Cetin Akar (left), Mr. Hikmet Barutcugil (middle) and Mr. Muqing Hu (right)

Some Ebru paintings presented in the exhibition by Mr. Hikmet Barutcugil

During the stay in Istanbul, the delegation also visited the Hagia Sophia Museum, Tophane-i Amire Culture and Art Center, Taksim Art Gallery, Topkap? Saray?, Blue Mosque and many other cultural sites. The exquisite handicrafts, historic buildings and precious collections of the museums in Istanbul were quite impressive.

The Hagia Sophia Museum

Scenery of Bosporus

Tophane-i Amire Culture and Art Center

On October 22nd, the delegation visited the well-known Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts and had a discussion with Mr. Seracettin Sahin, Museum Director and Mr. Murat Bozcu, Deputy Director about the 2nd session of the International Tour Exhibition of Chinese Traditional Fine Art

Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts

The delegation was in the meeting with Mr. Seracettin Sahin and Mr. Murat Bozcu. 

After that, the delegation had a meeting with Mr. Ridvan Duran, the head of the Department of Culture of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. Both sides reached a consensus to hold mutual cultural exchange events next year as a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of sistership between Shanghai and Istanbul.

The delegation was having a meeting with Mr.Ridvan Duran, Head of Department of Culture.

Mr. Cetin Akar (left), Mr.Ridvan Duran (middle) and Mr Muqing Hu (right)

Mr. Ridvan Duran led the delegation to visit the cultural exhibition halls and other facilities of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and presented the delegation a series of books about Istanbul.

After the visit in Istanbul, the delegation flew to Graz, the second biggest city of Austria and the capital of Styria.

The delegation first visited the Graz Historisches Museum and conducted a  discussion with Dr. Bettina Habsburg, Director of the museum and famous cultural historian, on strengthening the friendly cooperation between museums and reached a number of cooperation intentions. After the meeting, Dr. Bettina also accompanied the delegation to visit the famous Zeughaus Museum, Naturhistorisches Museum and Neue Galerie Graz.

Zeughaus Museum

Graz Naturhistorisches Museum

Neue Galerie Graz

In the evening, the delegation participated in the 4th “Belt and Road” China Forum hosted by Dr. Wanjie Chen, Dean of the Confucius Institute at the University of Graz.

 the 4th “Belt and Road” China Forum

In the next morning, the delegation went to Vienna, the city of music, where it visited lots of cultural sites such as the MAK and Naturhistorisches Museum. In addition, the delegation held a talk with famous curator Mr. Johannes Ramharter to discuss the possibility of co-holding theme exhibitions in China.

Mr. Muqing Hu was having a conversation with renowned curator Mr. Johannes Ramharter.

Naturhistorisches Museum

On October 26th, the museum began a comprehensive investigation of New York, Boston and Philadelphia. During the stay in the United States, the delegation met and talked with many outstanding Chinese-American representatives as well as art institutions, reaching a series of cooperation intentions.

During the trip in New York, the delegation visited Mr. Liyan Li, Cultural Counselor of the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in New York, Mr. Liyong Zhang, Founding President of the China General Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Yong He, Former Head of the United Nations Chinese Language Program, Ms. Xiaoxia Zhou, Chinese Dean of the Confucius Institute at the China Institute, Mr. Jian Cheng, Director of the C.V. Starr East Asian Library, Mr. Yaming Gu, Representative of New York’s 20th Congressional District as well as Mr. Kai Wu, Mr. Guanjun Fang and other leaders of Chinese communicty, having deep discussions on the cultural exchanges between China and the United States.

The delegation was having a meeting with Mr. Liyan Li and Mr. Liyong Zhang.

Accompanied and led by Dr. Yong He, the delegation visited the headquarter of United Nations including its lecture halls, VIP rooms, exhibition halls and other facilities.

The delegation was talking with Ms. Xiaoxia Zhou and enjoying the exhibition held in Confucius Institute with her accompany.

The delegation had a meeting with Mr. Jian Cheng and Professor Hailong Wang, who has been committed to the study of the relationship between Columbia University and China for a long time.  

The delegation had a meeting with Mr. Yaming Gu and some leaders of the Chinese community in New York.

The Charles River is picturesque in autumn. In Boston, the delegation received the warm reception from the President and directors of related departments of the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. It also talked with Mr. Cary Wolinsky, the famous photographer of the National Geographic magazine, as well as Browns, Principals of Handshouse Studio and reached cooperation intentions in many projects.

The delegation was talking with President and Director of the Academic Affairs of the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

The delegation was talking with Wolinskys and Browns.

During the stay in Philadelphia, the delegation visited the University Archives and Records Center of the University of Pennsylvania. The staff presented to the delegation all related documents the collections of Mr. Sicheng Liang and Ms. Huiyin Lin. Meanwhile, the delegation also visited Mr. John Zhang, Director of Penn Warton China Center. In addition, under the strong support of Dr. Grace Shu, Senior Advisor of Shanghai Art Collection Museum and Chairman of Chinese American National Republican Federation, the delegation had a discussion with Mr. Jared Solomon, Member of the House of Representatives of Philadelphia on further strengthening cultural exchanges between Philadelphia and China, especially Shanghai.

The delegation visited University Archives and Records Center of the University of Pennsylvania and looked up the related documents and collections of Mr. Sicheng Liang and Ms. Huiyin Lin.

The delegation held a conversation with Dr. Grace Shu, Mr. Liyong Zhang and Mr. Jared Solomon to discuss about the further cooperation between Philadelphia and China, especially Shanghai.

On November 5th, the delegation arrived in the cultural and historical city, Budapest of Hungary, the last stop of the trip.

Budapest along the Danube 

During the stay in Budapest, the delegation had meetings with Ms. Eszter Csonka-Takács, Director at Directorate of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Hungarian Open Air Museum, President of the ICH Expert Committee of the Hungarian National Commission for UNESCO, Mr. Tamas Kucsera, General Secretary of the Hungarian Academy of Arts and related officials of the Hungarian Heritage House and reached consensus on strengthening cultural exchanges on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Hungary next year.

Ms. Eszter Csonka-Takács was introducing the situation of Hungarian intangible cultural heritage protection and she showed great interest in the “Belt and Road” Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Network which is going to be established in Shanghai next year.

The delegation was having a meeting with Mr. Tamas Kucsera and Executive of International Relations Department of Hungarian Academy of Arts.

Renovated Hungarian Heritage House

Heads of Marketing Department and International Relations Department of Hungarian Heritage House led the delegation to exhibition halls, workshops, conference centers, theatres and other facilities in the renovated building and talked with the delegation about long-term cooperation between two museums in the future.  

This cultural investigation trip lasted for 20 days, covering more than 10,000 kilometers and went through six countries. Besides visiting lots of governmental organizations, professional institutions, museums, galleries and celebrities, the delegation also learned about the cultural policies and customs of those countries through various books, images and videos presented by partners. The visit has achieved fruitful results and reached a number of cooperation intentions, which laid a solid foundation for Shanghai Art Collection Museum to hold the large-scale international projects in the future as well as to have long-term development.

The delegation was supported by Shanghai Municipal People's Government Foreign Affairs Office, Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, Consulate General of the Republic of Austria in Shanghai, Consulate General of the Republic of Turkey in Shanghai, Consulate General of Hungary in Shanghai, Confucius Institute at the University of Graz and other organizations.

Ms. Shuiqing Li, Executive Curator of Shanghai Art Collection Museum, also participated in this business trip.