Heidi Ho

President of the Cultural Institute of the Macao Special Administrative Region Government

 

Message

In 1972, under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the member states signed the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, indicating their commitment to protecting the collective assets of humankind. The People’s Republic of China became a member state in 1985 and to date, it has submitted twenty-eight successful applications to UNESCO for inscription of sites on the “World Heritage List”. Of these, twenty-one fall into the category of World Cultural Heritage, three are classified as World Natural Heritage, while four are Mixed Cultural and Natural Heritage. Macao, the earliest port city in China to open up to the outside world in the Modern Age, served both as the strategic hub of the maritime silk route and as a crossroads between eastern and western cultures. Over the past four hundred years, a style of architecture unique to Macao gradually took shape. Owing to the meticulous restoration and protection to which this architectural heritage has been subject, it has survived intact, standing testament to Macao’s history. Since the transfer of sovereignty over Macao to Mainland China in 1999, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of the People’s Republic of China has given extensive support and encouragement to the Macao S.A.R. Government in its handling of Macao’s World Heritage listing bid.

To complement Macao’s World Heritage application project, the Cultural Institute of the Macao S.A.R. Government invited Macao’s local artists to visit eight selected sites in China applying for World Heritage status, with a view to producing their own artistic interpretations of the places. From August to October 2003, five groups of artists visited: the Historic Monuments of Macao; Kaiping Diaolou in Guangdong; Fujian Tulou; the Ming Tombs in Beijing; Xiaoling Tomb of the Ming Dynasty in Nanjing; Yin Ruins, Henan; Honghe Terraced Fields in Yunnan; and the Three Parallel Rivers in Yunnan. The activity attracted a very positive response from the community, to the extent that various organizations and individuals have subsequently organized other trips to complement this activity. Thus, a large number of artworks were produced and submitted for inclusion in the exhibition.

The “Chinese Treasures” exhibition is one of the biggest visual arts activities to be organized by the Macao S.A.R. Government, with 183 artists submitting over a thousand submissions in a variety of media: Chinese ink paintings, Chinese calligraphy, oil paintings, engravings, posters, videos and photographs. The panel of adjudicators facing the task of making the final selection for the exhibition consisted of national and international experts, namely Xu Jiang, President of the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts; renowned Japanese designer/artist, Shigeo Fukuda; contemporary artist, Wenda Gu, from New York; Zhou Kai, an artist working with Chinese ink, from Shenzhen; and Wu Jiabao, Founder and President of the Taiwan Society for Photographic Education. After rigorous judging, 269 artworks were selected, and these are the pieces appearing here. The adjudication panel was very pleased with the quality of work and level of involvement demonstrated by Macao’s artists.

This exhibition and catalogue present the eight sites in China bidding for World Heritage classification. They represent the artists’ interpretations of the heritage assets in exquisite works of art, photographs, posters and frames of the videos submitted, fully illustrating the unique character of the various places and their people. The catalogue accompanying the exhibition plays a strong role in raising the awareness level of the local community and bringing to life aspects of Chinese culture with which they may hitherto have been unfamiliar. It will also serve to introduce the rest of the world to the wonders of China, and assist in promoting heritage preservation and tourism development. Furthermore, these works provide an insight for those involved in the visual arts and architectural history as well as the general public, stimulating reflection on an issue that we must face together: the preservation of heritage.

The Cultural Institute of the Macao S.A.R. Government will continue to strengthen the promotion of heritage preservation, and to raise local awareness of this important issue. As stipulated in the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, one of the responsibilities of the Cultural Institute is to formulate detailed educational and information heritage programmes by analysing different historical perspectives, and researching other heritage-related fields. A major focus is to foster an appreciation of and respect for cultural and natural heritage in order to ensure that there is a generalised understanding of the importance of heritage protection.

Through this exhibition, the Cultural Institute of the Macao Special Administrative Region Government also hopes to expand the opportunities for educational and cultural exchange among the various World Heritage sites. It is hoped that there will be close communication, sharing of information and strengthened cooperation in planning new policies aimed at improving the overall development and heritage preservation works in the respective regions. Heritage preservation is a monumental undertaking: not only does it benefit the current generation, more importantly, it safeguards a valuable resource for future generations. In this new century, the Cultural Institute will strive to enhance heritage preservation and management, and support the cultural life of this flourishing Special Administrative Region.

Heidi Ho
President
Cultural Institute of the Macao S.A.R. Government