February 17, 2025 Shanghai Museum Calligraphy Museum

Exhibition site: Tang Huaisu's "Bitter Bamboo Shoots" (partial)

Last November, along with the debut of the Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Gallery of the East Pavilion, the Shanghai Museum exhibited many treasures that were "hidden in the bottom of the box", all of which were famous works in the history of painting and calligraphy, such as Wang Xizhi's "Cursive Shangyu Tie" scroll, Tang Huaisu's "Cursive Kusun Tie" scroll, Tang Sunwei's "Gao Yi Tu" scroll, Xu Xi's "Snow Bamboo Picture" scroll of the Five Dynasties, and the Southern Song Dynasty's anonymous "Wang Xian Ying Jia Tu" scroll, which caused a sensation. Among them, the Tang Dynasty's "Kusun Tie" has only 14 words in total: "Kusun and tea are extremely good, so they can be brought directly. Huaisu." The words are round and sharp, concise and flowing. Not only can we appreciate the skillful brushwork and the beauty of the lines like clouds and rain, snakes and dragons, but we can also directly feel the author's inner temperament when writing.

Exhibition site: An anonymous Southern Song Dynasty artist "Looking for the Sage to Welcome the Emperor"

Three months have passed, and The Paper has learned that the Chinese Calligraphy Gallery and the Chinese Painting Gallery of the East Building of the Shanghai Museum will replace their exhibits on February 19. Wang Xizhi's "Cursive Script of Shangyu Tie" scroll from the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Huaisu's "Cursive Script of Kusun Tie" scroll from the Tang Dynasty, Sun Wei's "Gao Yi Tu" scroll from the Tang Dynasty, Xu Xi's "Snow Bamboo Picture" scroll from the Five Dynasties, and "Wang Xian Welcoming the Emperor" scroll by an anonymous author from the Southern Song Dynasty will temporarily leave the exhibition hall and be replaced by another 5 pieces/sets of fine cultural relics.

"After the Shanghai Museum changes its exhibition, I may not be able to see the original works of "Snow Bamboo" and "Looking Forward to the Sage Welcoming the Emperor" on display again in my lifetime, so I must come and see them again before the exhibition changes," a visitor in the painting gallery told The Paper.

Because of the special materials of calligraphy and painting cultural relics, especially large-scale Song Dynasty vertical scrolls, which are not suitable for hanging and exhibition for a long time, the "Snow Bamboo Picture" and "Looking Forward to the Sage Welcoming the Emperor" in the Shanghai Museum are rarely exhibited, and even if they are exhibited, they are only on display for a short time. It has been more than 60 years since the last exhibition of "Looking Forward to the Sage Welcoming the Emperor".

Exhibition site: Wang Xizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, "Cursive Script of Shangyu Calligraphy" (partial)

The calligraphy museum also exhibits the Shangyu Tie and Yatouwan Tie by the two Wangs after more than 20 years, and the Kusun Tie scroll by Huaisu is the only undisputed authentic work of Huaisu handed down to the present day. What is different from the previous exhibition is that the large number of inscriptions after the letters are also presented in full, which is extremely rare.

On February 17, 2025, a long queue formed at the entrance of the calligraphy museum, and the waiting time for a visit was about 90-120 minutes.

On February 17, 2025, visitors lined up in the lobby of the Calligraphy Museum waiting to view the exhibition.

Today is the last day of exhibition for five exhibits including "Shangyu Tie", "Gao Yi Tu" and "Snow Bamboo Tu" (Tuesday, February 18 is the closing day for the East Hall). There are many visitors who want to visit the calligraphy and painting gallery for the second or third time before some of the masterpieces are replaced. Some visitors have never had the chance to come before and are taking advantage of the last chance before the exhibition is replaced to see the national treasures of calligraphy and painting. Many visitors have also come from other places in a hurry.

On February 17, 2025, the display cases in front of the "Cursive Script Shangyu Tie", "Cursive Script Yatouwan Tie", and "Kusun Tie" were surrounded by crowds of people.

On February 17, 2025, in front of Sun Wei's "Portrait of Gao Yi", the audience could only move slowly in small steps to watch.

The reporter from The Paper found at the scene that a long queue formed at the entrance of the calligraphy and painting gallery today, with the waiting time for visiting the calligraphy gallery being about 90-120 minutes. The popularity is comparable to some popular "special exhibitions"; the exhibition hall was also crowded with people, and the display cabinets in front of the "Cursive Script Shangyu Tie" and the "Cursive Script Kusun Tie" were surrounded by people. In front of the "Gao Yi Tu" scroll by Sun Wei of the Tang Dynasty in the painting gallery, the audience could only move slowly forward in small steps to watch. This shows the audience's love for traditional Chinese calligraphy and painting cultural relics.

Tang Dynasty, Yu Shinan's running script epitaph for Princess Runan, Shanghai Museum

Starting from February 19, the Eastern Jin Dynasty Wang Xizhi's "Cursive Script Shangyu Tie" and Tang Huaisu's "Cursive Script Kusun Tie" will temporarily leave the exhibition hall at the Chinese Calligraphy Museum, and the new Song Dynasty's "Chunhua Ge Tie", the Eastern Jin Dynasty Wang Xizhi's "Cursive Script Yuan Sheng Tie" page, and Tang Yu Shinan's "Runan Princess Epitaph" will be put on display; the Chinese Painting Museum's "Gao Yi Tu" by Tang Sun Wei, the Five Dynasties Xu Xi's "Snow Bamboo Picture", and the Southern Song Dynasty's anonymous "Wang Xian Ying Jia Tu" will temporarily leave the exhibition hall, and the new Northern Song Dynasty Guo Xi's "Dark Valley Picture" and the Southern Song Dynasty Li Di's "Snow Trees and Cold Birds" will be put on display. Starting from March 19, the Eastern Jin Dynasty Wang Xianzhi's "Cursive Script Yatouwan Tie" will temporarily leave the exhibition hall, and the new Tang Dynasty's "Regular Script Mahāparinirvāṇa Sutra No. 9" will be put on display.

The head of the Shanghai Museum's calligraphy and painting research department told The Paper that the five new pieces/sets of calligraphy and painting cultural relics that will be on display are also wonderful and worth looking forward to. Among them, Guo Xi's "Sunken Valley" scroll and Li Di's "Snowy Trees and Cold Birds" scroll are both famous works and are clearly authentic works by their authors.

Northern Song Dynasty Guo Xi's Picture of Secluded Valley, Collection of Shanghai Museum

Southern Song Dynasty Li Di Snow Trees and Cold Birds Scroll Collection of Shanghai Museum

The ninth volume of the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sutra in regular script of the Tang Dynasty, from the collection of Shanghai Museum