Chi 



ina 



In the Ch'ing Dynasty, 



LAO-TZU BLESSING 



A WATER BUFFALO 



(BRONZE) 



EXHIBIT DESIGNER: 

 THEODORE HALKIN 



PHOTOGRAPHS (INCLUDING COVER): 

 JOHN BAYALIS AND 

 HOMER V. HOLDREN 



 



CROSS STITCH EMBROIDERY 



SHADOW PUPPET 



Page 2 January 



T 



-L !iE China known best to that small 

 group of Westerners who proudly called 

 themselves '"old China hands"' is recre- 

 ated in a new exhibition hall opening at 

 Chicago Natural History Museum on 

 January 30. 



From an unsurpassed collection of 

 17th to 20th century Chinese materials, 

 Dr. Kenneth Starr, Curator of Asiatic 

 Archaeology and Ethnology, has selected 

 the finest for display in the new hall. 

 Through these objects, the visitor will 

 gain a rare glimpse of life as it was in 

 the Peking area under the last Emperors 

 of Old China. 



About half of the more than thirty in- 

 dividual exhibit screens within the hall 

 evoke the everyday life of the well-to-do. 

 Here are handsome household furnish- 

 ings; luxurious clothing, jewelry, and 

 personal accessories; money and other 

 appurtenances of commerce and finance: 

 altar vessels, paintings, and statues rep- 

 resentative of religious ceremony and 

 worship; and the games and muscial in- 

 struments that enliven leisure. 



Folk arts are represented by embroi- 

 dered bed curtains and children's cloth- 

 ing, cross-stitch "samplers,' - and intricate 

 paper crafts. These are in contrast to 

 the splendor of imperial court costumes 

 and temple robes. Fine arts include ex- 

 quisite tapestries, paintings, and figures 

 of ivory, jade, bronze, stone, or cloisonne. 



An exhibit tracing the development of 

 the art of calligraphy displays an exam- 

 ple older than the first millenium before 

 Christ. The subjects that Chinese schol- 

 ars thought worthy of study are repre- 

 sented in an assemblage of books pro- 

 duced both by the traditional wood-block 

 technique and by such modern methods 

 as lithography and movable type. 



Still another refinement of Chinese 

 intellectual life — the religious and pop- 



