In a traditional hall at Huzhou University, an exhibition was going on: collections of the Series of Ancient Chinese Paintings were on display, the exquisitely printed and bound books showing ancient Chinese paintings in the finest details. Not only paintings, calligraphy and arts, but how the ancients went about their life, the scenes of life, and their daily activities can all be gleaned through the collections. One by one, visitors at the exhibition were invariably mesmerized by the stunning ancient paintings, which oozed with aesthetic appeal, as well as the stories behind these paintings.

As one of the key projects in the Zhijiang Art Corridor, the Great Series of Ancient Chinese Paintings is on a national exhibition tour, and the exhibition at Huzhou University, running from June 22 to July 9, was the first stop. In the next few months, exhibitions will be held in major cities across the country.

As an ancient civilization with a splendid and continuous traditional culture, China is known for its numerous painters born over the past tens of centuries. The paintings they created embody the spiritual pursuit and the dreams of the Chinese nation and they are the treasures of both China and all mankind, which should be made accessible to everybody and shared with the world. Therefore, systematic and comprehensive collection, collation, research and publication of the finest works of Chinese paintings have long been called for to better protect and popularize these paintings.

In 2005, the project, entitled “the Great Series of Ancient Chinese Paintings”, to collect and compile ancient Chinese paintings jointly by Zhejiang University and Zhejiang Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage was formally approved, signaling the start of a large-scale and long-term national cultural endeavor that spans several continents.

Volumes of the Complete Collections of Paintings of the Pre-Qin Period, and the Han and Tang Dynasties, Complete Collections of Paintings of the Ming Dynasty and Complete Collections of Paintings of the Qing Dynasty were published in 2018.

For the first time, surviving Chinese paintings across the world painted on paper, silk and hemp from pre-Qin (221-207 BC) period to the Qing dynasty (1616-1911) were collated and published on the basis of comprehensive and systematic investigation, and textual research. In all, a total of 12,250 pieces (sets) of paintings from more than 260 cultural institutions and museums have been collected. Of these pieces (sets), some 9,000 are from domestic collections while the rest (3,250) are from foreign collections. In addition, in excess of 23,000 high-resolution photos have been taken of the original paintings, covering the vast majority of works that are deemed China’s “national treasures”. Thus far, 62 sets of collections in more than 230 volumes have been published, including the Complete Collections of Paintings of the Pre-Qin Period, and the Han and Tang Dynasties, Complete Collections of Paintings of the Song Dynasty, Complete Collections of Paintings of the Yuan Dynasty, Complete Collections of Paintings of the Ming Dynasty and Complete Collections of Paintings of the Qing Dynasty. 

In total, 500-odd experts and scholars have contributed to these publications, which are the largest and the most complete collections of Chinese paintings, with the most authentic images and the best printing. With a few rare exceptions, almost all the authentic ancient Chinese paintings in China that are listed in the Catalogue of Selected Works of Ancient Chinese Painting and Calligraphy and the Illustrated Catalogue of Selected Works of Ancient Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, the two most authoritative catalogues of its kind, have been photographed and collected in the publications. Of the 3,250 pieces (sets) of paintings collected from foreign institutions and museums, most have been printed in high-quality images into an album for the first time.  

Indeed, the “Great Series”, as both the project and the publications are commonly referred to, is now itself considered one of the most authoritative collections on Chinese paintings — an “encyclopedia” to turn to for the research on Chinese art history and culture history.   

These paintings, scattered around the world, are finally being gathered together after undergoing the vicissitudes of seasons for thousands of years, and regaining their shining glories of past. This is what the “Great Series” intended to achieve at the outset, and underlying such an accomplishment are the efforts of innumerable people. In the editorial and image-processing offices of the “Great Series” project at Zhejiang University Press, staff members have toiled day and night for the past decade and a half: behind each work collected in the “Great Series” are stories with many twists and turns; endless back and forth with relevant parties concerning a single image or details of an image has become the norm rather than the exception. In Japan, the photographing team encountered strong earthquakes and had to brave typhoons, and several members even sustained injuries in the process of getting the best images. In the US, those in charge of collecting image resources dug in and have stayed in their positions since the project commenced 15 years ago. 

In Germany, the photographing team successfully obtained permission from the Museum of Asian Art in Berlin, before it was closed for a four-year renovation. And in Russia, the “Great Series” project team asked for help from officials of the Shanghai Cooperation Organizations and prestigious Chinese artists such as Xiao Feng and Shao Dazhen, who once studies in the Soviet Union, before some 204 high-quality images could be taken of the art works collected at the State Hermitage Museum of Khara-Khoto (or Black City) of the Western Xia (1038-1227).

The high-resolution images of these ancient Chinese paintings have undoubtedly enhanced the quality, the desirability and the collectability of the series. On the other hand, the introduction to each volume has greatly increased its scholarly value. About of 20,000 words in length, these introductions serve as an overview on the paintings and painters mentioned in the volume, as well as the historical, political, social and economic contexts that they were born. For example, the introduction to the Complete Collections of Paintings of the Pre-Qin Period, and the Han and Tang Dynasties cited over 80 references and systematically examined the features of the portrait and landscape paintings, showing the academic rigor of the research.

Now, art lovers from all over the world are able to appreciate the best ancient Chinese paintings through the series, enjoy the beauty of China’s 5,000-year-old civilization and pass it down to future generations.