Hong Kong Palace Museum | HKPM Opening Exhibition Talk Series: Building the Hong Kong Palace Museum Collection

Dr Daisy Yiyou Wang

Deputy Director of the Hong Kong Palace Museum

Dr Daisy Yiyou Wang leads the Hong Kong Palace Museum’s curation, research, exhibition planning and management, conservation and collection, publication, design, and learning projects. Under the leadership of Dr. Louis Ng and Dr. Wang, the Museum has collaborated with the Palace Museum to ensure the timely and successful delivery of nine high-quality opening exhibitions. A specialist of the history of collecting, Ming lacquer, and Qing imperial portraiture and textile, Dr. Wang has published internationally and received numerous awards, including a National Endowment for the Humanities grant and a Smithsonian Scholarly Studies Award. Dr. Wang co-curated the ground-breaking exhibition Empresses of China’s Forbidden City, which was named the “Most Influential International Exhibition from Chinese Museums” in 2019.

Dr Tianlong Jiao

Head Curator of the Hong Kong Palace Museum

Dr Tianlong Jiao received his B.A. from Peking University in 1987 and Ph. D. from Harvard University in 2003. Prior to his appointment at the Hong Kong Palace Museum, he was the Curator of Asian Art at the Denver Art Museum, the Head and Curator of Chinese Art at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Chief Curator of Hong Kong Maritime Museum, the Chairman of the Department of Anthropology at Bishop Museum. He also served as faculty or visiting professors at University of Hawaii-Manoa, Xiamen University, Chinese University of Science and Technology and Shandong University. His research specialty is early Chinese art and archaeology. He has curated many international traveling exhibitions in collaboration with major museums worldwide, including the Palace Museum. He also conducted archaeological projects in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Hawaii and Honduras. He has authored/co-authored seven books and more than ninety research papers both in Chinese and in English. His book The Neolithic of Southeast China (Cambria Press 2007) was the winner of the 2007 Philip and Eugenia Cho Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Asian Studies.

Mr Danny Ching

Assistant Curator of the Hong Kong Palace Museum

Danny Ching is the Assistant Curator of the Hong Kong Palace Museum. He received his M.A. in Asian Studies from Universiteit Leiden and his MSc. in Visual, Material, and Museum Anthropology from the University of Oxford. His research interests include Buddhist art in Ming and Qing imperial court, Buddhist art history, and contemporary Tibetan culture and society. During his studies, he contributed to ‘The Buddha’ exhibition at the Museum Volkenkunde, Leiden (2016) and ‘Journeys’ museum takeover event at the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford (2017). Prior to his appointment at the Hong Kong Palace Museum, he worked at the Barakat Gallery, Hong Kong, where he curated the ‘Buddhist Art Across Borders’ exhibition (2018). As co-author and main editor, he contributed to the exhibition catalogue titled The Barakat Collection of Buddhist Art catalogue (2019). He has made curatorial contribution to a number of exhibitions at the Hong Kong Palace including “Private to Public: The History of Chinese Art Collecting in Hong Kong“, “Entering the Forbidden City: Architecture, Collection, and Heritage”, and “Clay to Treasure: Ceramics from the Palace Museum Collection”.

Ms Betty Lo and Mr Kenneth Chu

Owners of the Mengdiexuan Collection

Assembled by Betty Lo and Kenneth Chu, the Mengdiexuan collection of Chinese gold ornaments is one of the most comprehensive in the world. Their generous donation of 946 gold and silver wares contains objects from three regions—the Eastern Eurasian Steppe, Tibetan Plateau, and Central Plains. These objects span a period of over three thousand years, from 1500 BCE to the seventeenth century. In addition to this donation, Betty Lo and Kenneth Chu have supported numerous exhibitions and research projects, and have helped to bridge the gap between scholarship and craftmanship by collaborating with partners in the jewellery industry to conduct research on historical designs and techniques. An exhibition featuring the Mengdiexuan donation will be on view in the Hong Kong Palace Museum in 2023, please stay tuned.

Mr Anthony Cheung

Owner of the Huaihaitang Collection

Anthony Kee Wee Cheung, the owner of the Huaihaitang collection, has amassed a wide range of Chinese antiquities in terms of material and period, including a world-renowned collection of imperial porcelain of the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties. The collection has been exhibited at many museums, receiving critical acclaim. Twelve important blue-and-white porcelain vases from this collection have been generously donated to the Hong Kong Palace Museum.

Mr Lawrence Chan

Owner of the Dawentang Collection

The Dawentang collection was developed by Lawrence Chan. The collection is highly recognized for its imperial porcelain of the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties. They were exhibited at many museums and well-studied by scholars. Chan has generously donated two important porcelain dishes from the Yongle period (1403–1424) to the Hong Kong Palace Museum. Decorated with the same lotus bouquet motif, but employing different artistic techniques, the two dishes create a meaningful juxtaposition.

Ms Grace Wu

Owner of the Jiamutang Collection

Grace Wu is a renowned collector of Chinese classical furniture and has been collecting for more than three decades. She is also an influential scholar, whose works include Two Decades of Ming Furniture and The MQJ Collection of Ming Furniture. Wu has donated three exceptional pieces of hard wood furniture to the Hong Kong Palace Museum, including the table displayed at Gallery 6. Minimalist and elegant, it expresses the characteristic polished finish, joinery, and subtlety of form that makes Ming furniture so highly admired today.