British Museum’s China’s Hidden Century exhibition an incredible history lesson whether or not you’re Chinese

China’s Hidden Century uses an incredible variety of objects to tell story of the late Qing dynasty, including the most destructive civil war in global history

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“China’s Hidden Century” at the British Museum shows an impressive range of objects from the late Qing dynasty that will be a revelation to those who know nothing about life in 19th century China, but a draw also for those with knowledge of it. Photo: The British Museum

Paul French

Published: 5:15pm, 22 Jul 2023

There is much to delight the eye at the current British Museum blockbuster exhibition “China’s Hidden Century (1796-1912)”, on in London until October 8.

On show are vivid vermilion and imperial yellow textiles that are two centuries old yet look brand new, minutely decorated fans, intricately woven tapestries, beautiful objets from ceramics to silverware, photography and even early moving pictures.

And one exhibit of exceptional historical significance is tucked away in a corner.

Encased within a small, glass-fronted cabinet, it is a roughly A3-sized document across two pages, embossed with a black wax seal, the red chops of the Daoguang emperor (Xuanzong), and the signature of British plenipotentiary in China, Henry Pottinger.

A luxury fan from Guangzhou, China, from around 1800-1840, on display in the British Museum exhibition. Photo: The British Museum/The Teresa Coleman Collection

This is the actual Treaty of Nanking, signed on board HMS Cornwallis on August 29, 1842, at the conclusion of the first opium war. The treaty forcibly opened a number of Chinese ports, including Guangzhou and Shanghai, to foreign trade, mandated the Qing dynasty to pay a vast sum to the British as an indemnity and, of course, ceded control of the island of Hong Kong to the British.

Brought to the British Museum from the National Archives, in Kew, London, this is the original “unequal treaty”, and it has proved a crowd-puller with Chinese visitors.