As the summer holiday season gets underway, the Liaoning Provincial Museum is launching a series of major exhibitions. Opening on August 1, its latest blockbuster exhibition explores the ritual and music culture that flourished in China’s Central Plains during the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties.
Stars of Civilization Rising Over Heluo: Exhibition of Ritual and Music Culture of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties in the Central Plains, jointly presented by the Liaoning Provincial Museum and the Henan Museum, is divided into two thematic sections: The Dawn of Ritual and Music: Sacrifice and Royal Authority and The Flourishing of Ritual and Music: Order and Governance by Virtue. The exhibition brings together 206 pieces (sets) of artifacts that illuminate the origins and development of China’s early ritual culture. The Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties marked a defining era in the establishment of China’s earliest states and the formation of its ritual and music traditions. The succession of these three dynasties represented not only political and institutional transformation, but also a profound evolution of ritual culture. During this period, ritual practices gradually evolved beyond their religious origins to become a philosophical framework for statecraft and social governance.
The artifacts on display, all unearthed in the Central Plains, bear witness to this remarkable transformation. Spanning more than three millennia, they preserve the legacy, vitality and human spirit of China’s ritual culture. Gathered together at the Liaoning Museum, they offer visitors an immersive journey into an ancient civilization shaped by faith, power, order and virtue.
