Ancient ‘bestie' figurine charms modern visitors
Standing side by side at just 6.7 inches tall, the two women each wear their hair in double buns and are adorned in cross-collared, left-overlapping, wide-sleeved robes with long skirts. Their elegantly poised stance with hands clasped together proclaims an enduring bond, as if declaring, 'We're the best of friends in the whole wide world!'
The figurine's endearing and whimsical appeal has attracted a growing number of visitors, who come to witness the enduring bonds of female friendship that have remained resonant since the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534).
Pairs of young women have waited in long lines to take a photo with the figurine wearing hanfu, a traditional Chinese garment.
Shen Yu, a 25-year-old from Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, said she and her friend rushed to the 'bestie figurine' after seeing it on social media. 'We'd heard there were always long lines, and sure enough, we could feel everyone's enthusiasm,' she said.
Shen is interested in the figurine's traditional clothing and makeup. She is moved by 'this kind of heartwarming friendship that stands the test of time'.
'We wore hanfu to take photos here, like a tribute to our own friendship, wishing it lasting strength and joy,' she said.
The relic was unearthed from the tomb of Yang Ji, an important politician from the Northern Wei Dynasty. It was found with other pottery in the shape of warriors, ceremonial attendants and female labourers.
Huang Chao, director of the exhibition research department of the museum, praised the relic's exquisite detail, saying it vividly captures the postures and expressions of different figures.
'Pottery figurines in a hand-holding or side-by-side pose are exceptionally rare,' he said. 'This 'millennium sisters' figurine, with its unique design, resonates perfectly with young people's pursuit of ancient cultural knowledge and aesthetics.'
Sun Haiyan, the museum's deputy director, said that the figurine was relocated to maintain order and better meet audience needs.
'This 'cross-temporal dialogue' fulfills young audiences' emotional connection with cultural symbols while expressing their appreciation and endorsement of traditional culture,' Sun said.
Geng Shuo, associate professor of the School of Humanities at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, said the figurine's popularity reflects the evolving social role of museums.
'Traditionally seen as spaces for learning history and acquiring knowledge, museums have now transformed into multifaceted venues that encompass leisure, photo opportunities and more,' he said.
He added that the 'hand-holding figurine' might have been an artisan's spontaneous expression of emotion about 1,500 years ago. 'Little did they know that their work would evoke a cross-temporal emotional connection with people millenniums later.'
He suggested that museums leverage public interest to deepen historical and cultural knowledge dissemination.
Du Xiaofan, a professor at the Department of Cultural Heritage and Museology of Fudan University in Shanghai, said that in recent years, what captures public attention isn't always the artefacts of critical significance in the development of Chinese civilisation.
'People are now more drawn to exhibits that offer emotional comfort, joy or personal resonance. These artefacts, whether intentionally or not, connect with modern audiences on an emotional level, making them more relatable and engaging,' he said.
Du said museums traditionally focus on helping the public understand the past by presenting historical facts. But today, they must evolve and inspire visitors to reflect on their present lives and future possibilities.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
9 hours ago
- The Independent
6 months after toxic mine spill in northern Zambia, US Embassy orders personnel out of the area
The United States Embassy in Zambia ordered all U.S. government personnel Wednesday to leave a region in the north of the country affected by a toxic spill from a Chinese-owned mine that happened six months ago. The embassy said in an alert on social media that new information revealed that 'hazardous and carcinogenic substances' including arsenic, cyanide, uranium and other heavy metals had polluted a major river system flowing through the town of Chambishi and the nearby city of Kitwe, and had possibly become airborne, following an accident at the mine in February. The embassy didn't immediately say how many U.S. government personnel were in the copper mining area. It also advised other U.S. citizens in the area to take precautions against exposure to harmful heavy metal contamination in water and food. Around 700,000 people live in Kitwe, one of Zambia's biggest cities and a hub for international mining companies. Environmentalists and others raised concerns over the extent of the damage months ago following the spill at the mine run by Sino-Metals Leach Zambia, a division of China 's state-owned China Nonferrous Metal Mining group. China is the dominant player in copper mining in Zambia, which is one of the world's biggest producers. The spill happened when a tailings dam that holds acidic and heavy metals waste from the mine collapsed, according to investigators from the Engineering Institution of Zambia, resulting in some 50 million liters (13.2 million gallons) of toxic materials flowing into the Kafue River system. Within days of the spill, dead fish could be seen up to 100 kilometers (60 miles) downstream, raising fears that the contamination could affect millions living along the Kafue River, which runs for 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) through the heart of the southern African country. Sino-Metals apologized and committed to help with cleanup efforts, which included the Zambian Air Force dumping hundreds of tons of lime into the river in an attempt to counteract the acidic waste. ___
Telegraph
16 hours ago
- Telegraph
The bombing of Hiroshima saved my grandfather – and tens of thousands more
The chances that my grandfather would have survived much longer as a prisoner might be judged by the fact that he weighed 6st 7lb (41kg) on his release. Once home at the age of 38, he recovered quickly and resumed his career at the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, now HSBC, serving variously in India, China and West Germany, before retiring to Bognor Regis and living until his 91st year. After the war, he had two daughters (my mother is a twin) and seven grandchildren, of whom I am the second oldest. All because he was freed in 1945. All because the atom bomb fell when it did. How many others were prisoners of Japan on this day 80 years ago? Throughout the war, Japan captured about 270,000 Allied soldiers and civilian internees, with my grandfather in the latter category. In the occupied countries of Asia, many thousands more people will have been held in countless jails. How many were still alive to be liberated in 1945 is uncertain. We know that 37,500 British and Commonwealth military prisoners came home from the Pacific theatre, together with 12,000 Americans. What is certain is that all endured abominable treatment at the hands of an empire that scorned the Geneva Conventions and despised anyone who submitted to captivity. And whatever the total number who were liberated, today I must be one of millions of their descendants across the world. But you did not have to be incarcerated in Sime Road or Changi or any other jail to be a prisoner of the Japanese. On this day 80 years ago, entire nations were being tormented and enslaved. Lee Kuan Yew, the first prime minister of independent Singapore, describes in his memoirs how Japan began its occupation by executing thousands of young Chinese males, chosen at random, to spread terror and demonstrate the price of resistance. The young Lee, then 19, avoided murder by pure chance simply because a Japanese soldier inexplicably allowed him through a checkpoint. 'I will never understand,' he wrote, 'how decisions affecting life and death could be taken so capriciously and casually'. Once the mass graves of Singapore were exhumed after the war, Lee concluded that the number massacred was 'between 50,000 and 100,000'. Elsewhere, if it can be believed, Japanese imperial rulers treated their unwilling subjects yet more brutally. In his history of Japan's war against China, which began in 1937, Rana Mitter of Oxford University writes that 14 million Chinese people were killed and another 80 million driven from their homes. 'The narrative of the war,' he writes, 'is the story of a people in torment'. So as the B-29 approached Hiroshima, millions across Asia, within and without Emperor Hirohito's prisons, were being starved, brutalised, enslaved. What would have become of them if Japan had not been forced to surrender when it did? On the question of the morality of the atom bomb, I am perhaps not the best person to ask. I can never be truly objective. And I have to confess that when I read Albert Einstein's letter to Franklin Roosevelt from 1939, telling the president that a 'new type' of bomb may be possible and that America should get on with its 'experimental work', I find myself hoping that the scientist will be heeded. I know that six years later, Denis Bruce Soul will be freed because Einstein did not write in vain. On this anniversary, there must be millions of people who can trace their own existence back to a similar story.
BBC News
a day ago
- BBC News
Zero Day Attack: Taiwanese TV show imagines Chinese invasion and stokes debate
A Chinese fighter jet plane crashes in the waters off Taiwan's coast, prompting Chinese warships to blockade the island for a "search and rescue".Taiwanese soldiers manning Dadan Island, a rocky outcrop mere kilometres from China's coast, begin vanishing one night, a fishing boat lands on Dadan. A signal flare arcs into the inky sky – and illuminates Chinese soldiers who have spilled out of the boat and amassed on the is the key scenario in Zero Day Attack, a new Taiwanese television show about a fictional Chinese military invasion. Beijing has long viewed self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory, vowing to "reunify" with it some day while not ruling out the use of series, which aired its first episode over the weekend, was partially funded by the Taiwanese government, which hopes to raise awareness about the threat China poses. But the show has also landed at a highly divisive moment in Taiwan and attracted criticism of Day Attack focuses on how various parts of Taiwanese society grapple with the invasion, from the president to rural villagers. The anthology series features several scenarios on how an invasion could unfold, provided by defence experts consulted by the production team. These include the disruption of Taiwan's communication lines; Chinese disinformation campaigns; "fifth column" supporters of China stirring up unrest; and military officials turned collaborators who conspire against Chen Hsin-mei told the BBC she wanted to make the series to "warn the Taiwanese people that the war is really coming," citing China's rising use of "disinformation campaigns and grey zone warfare to put our society in chaos and make us confused about our identity". Zero Day Attack's message echoes the rhetoric of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government and its leader President William Lai, who have warned about China's threat and preached the need to raise the island's culture ministry has partially funded Zero Day Attack, while the military provided support for filming and production. Chunghwa Telecoms, Taiwan's largest telecommunications company in which the government has a minority stake, also contributed private investors include billionaire Robert Tsao, a well-known supporter of Taiwanese independence who has funded civil defence Chen told the BBC that at no point did the authorities try to influence the show. She also said she was not a member of the DPP or any political even before a single episode was broadcast, Zero Day Attack has become a political lightning rod, given the charged topic. 'Selling dried mangoes' A 17-minute trailer posted online last year by the production team swiftly racked up hundreds of thousands of views and some praised it for its message, others criticised it for sowing anxiety and discord with debate has intensified with the series premiere, which was the most-watched show on several platforms on Saturday, according to the production company. In recent days Wang Hung-wei, a prominent lawmaker from the opposition Kuomintang party, criticised Zero Day Attack as "selling dried mangoes", a Taiwanese euphemism that means stoking unnecessary fear about the destruction of one's to the government's funding of the show, Ms Wang said the DPP was "using the state apparatus to achieve its political goals".A commentary by Wang Kunyi of the Taiwan International Strategic Study Society accused the show of pushing Taiwan independence "so that Taiwan becomes a place that never knows peace".He added that it was evidence of Lai's government "once again using all kinds of channels to play the 'anti-Communist card' and stir up anxiety of war".The DPP and Lai are often accused by their critics, including the opposition and China, as pushing for Taiwan's independence. Any formal declaration as such would be considered as an act of war by Lai has in the past described himself as a "pragmatic worker for Taiwan's independence", he has also insisted Taiwan has no need to formally declare independence because it is already a sovereign nation. Zero Day Attack has also garnered positive reviews. One published by the public broadcaster PTS said it "expresses the worries and anxieties of Taiwanese from various political camps in a highly realistic and reasonable way"."It's a good watch," said one commenter on Zero Day Attack's Facebook page. "The Taiwanese people can relate to it as it reflects our current situation, the Chinese Communist Party must be repulsed as their tactics have been exposed."Some have praised the first episode, which depicts the invasion quietly beginning amid a contentious presidential election marked by violence and political were struck by how uncannily that episode reflected the current fractious mood in Taiwanese politics. Last month the island held a controversial failed recall vote of Kuomintang lawmakers accused of being too friendly with China. Another round will take place later this has led to questions about the show's timing and if it was meant to influence the recall votes. Ms Chen told the BBC that the show's production had begun long before the recall movement discussion around the show goes to the heart of one of Taiwan's most existential questions: how real is the threat of a Chinese invasion?Taiwan has had its own government since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. In the following decades, the island saw largely peaceful relations and stronger economic ties with show that most Taiwanese do not believe Beijing will attack imminently, and prefer the "status quo" in Taiwan's relationship with China, which means neither unifying with Beijing nor formally declaring the question of a Chinese invasion has become sharper and more political in recent grey zone warfare has spiked, raising fears that Chinese warplanes and ships repeatedly entering Taiwan's airspace and waters could trigger a conflict. The US warned this year that China poses an "imminent threat" to Taiwan. American officials have repeatedly claimed that Chinese President Xi Jinping is building up his military to be capable of invading Taiwan by has never confirmed this date. But it is a warning that Lai takes seriously. He has pledged to increase Taiwan's military spending, his government has carried out reforms in the army, and last month Taiwan staged its largest and longest ever Han Kuang drills aimed at defending against a possible Chinese has stressed that these efforts are aimed at protecting Taiwan and not to seek war. His political opponents however say he is antagonising Beijing which reviles Lai as a "separatist", and that he is leading Taiwan towards greater conflict with has repeatedly emphasised that it seeks "peaceful reunification" with Taiwan. It has dismissed any talk of a Chinese invasion as a pretext manufactured by those in favour of Taiwan independence to drum up Day Attack has been seen as one such provocation. Last week, Chinese defence ministry spokesman Zhang Xiaogang accused the DPP government of using the show to "peddle anxieties and attempting to provoke war".He said Zero Day Attack was "plunging Taiwan into the flames of war and using the Taiwan people as cannon fodder for 'Taiwan independence'.Ms Chen however insisted that her show is "not talking bad about China or depicting it as evil"."We are talking about war, and how Taiwanese people struggle and respond to it. And that's because the terror of war has never stopped, all over the world."
