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Explore China’s culinary heritage at the Hong Kong Palace Museum

Discover artworks and national treasures tracing the Chinese culinary evolution from Neolithic times to the Qing dynasty, until June 18

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A Night Banquet at Peach and Plum Garden by Ding Guanpeng, from the Qing dynasty. Photo: The Palace Museum

Published: 4:30pm, 14 Mar 2025

A multisensory exploration of China’s culinary heritage, “A Movable Feast: The Culture of Food and Drink in China”, is the latest large-scale exhibition by the Hong Kong Palace Museum (HKPM).

Take a millennia-spanning culinary journey through China at the Hong Kong Palace Museum’s latest exhibition where you can see this double-gourd-shaped picnic set from the Qing dynasty. Photo: The Palace Museum

From Wednesday until June 18, more than 110 artworks will be on show, some of which are Chinese national treasures gathered from the HKPM, the Palace Museum in Beijing and other heavyweight institutions such as the British Museum and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. The exhibition will provide insight into the evolution of Chinese food vessels, dining customs and culinary traditions spanning several millennia, from the Neolithic period (about 10000-2000BC) to the Qing dynasty (AD1644-1911).

Taking a unique curatorial approach, the exhibition focuses on the concept of “mobility” to weave together the diverse threads of Chinese food culture, highlighting the role of ancient fare in every aspect of Chinese life through the centuries.

Visitors are led through a full-bellied tour of Chinese food culture over four sections. The first examines the ancient Chinese belief in nourishing the afterlife using ritual objects such as the drinking vessel of the Marquis of Lu, from the Western Zhou dynasty (1046-771BC), alongside earthenware burial objects that reflect the daily life and culinary practices of the Han dynasty (206BC-AD220), to illustrate the lengths to which the living went to appease the dead by proffering a full tummy.

Portable box decorated with dragons from the Qianlong period (1736–1795). Photo: The Palace Museum

Another section unpacks the exchange of culinary customs between China and Central and West Asia during the Tang (AD618-907) and Song (AD960-1279) dynasties, which had a profound effect on Chinese cuisine, with new ingredients, utensils and dining habits – such as the use of tables and chairs – gradually replacing the traditional practice of sitting on mats.

Picnicking was particularly popular among the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing literati, as yet another section demonstrates with a collection of paraphernalia associated with these outings, including picnic sets and artworks such as A Night Banquet at the Peach and Plum Garden, by Ding Guanpeng (active 1726-1770), and Celestial Boat on Winding River, by Zhang Fu (1546-1631).

Phoenix-head ewer from the Tang dynasty (618–907). Photo: Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

“Although the exact boundary between ancient and modern times is not always well-defined, in this exhibition, we talk about how certain things we take for granted today might not have existed in China a long time ago or were not always accepted within Chinese society,” says Dr Nicole Chiang, curator of the Hong Kong Palace Museum. “Some of the cooking methods remain the same throughout the centuries, such as steaming and barbecuing, showcasing the continuity of tradition in food preparation.”

“Additionally, the wish that ancestors may have sufficient supplies of food and drink in the afterlife remains the same today.”