Royal inspiration

The Palace Museum will host two displays in Beijing to welcome the Year of the Pig.

Beijing's Forbidden City, which is the former imperial palace of China and is now officially known as the Palace Museum, will soon welcome the Year of the Pig following the Chinese zodiac.

A major exhibition displaying 885 cultural relics will open to the public on Jan 6, the first day of the 12th month in the Chinese lunar calendar, at the Meridian Gate Gallery, which is above the entrance gate of the museum. It'll take visitors back in time with royal rituals of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Presenting old antithetical couplets and images of "door gods", which were pasted on front doors to keep evil spirits away, calligraphy works featuring the Chinese character fu (fortune), and items used in royal rituals and religious rites, the exhibition is designed with a panoramic view of how Chinese emperors celebrated Spring Festival.

The character (fu) handwritten by the Qing emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing and Daoguang are among the most important artifacts on display. On the first day of the 12th month in the Chinese lunar calendar, emperors would write fu to mark the beginning of celebrations.

Another highlight is a scroll painting created between 1745 and 1751 that portrays people skating and performing acrobatics on a frozen lake in a royal garden.