DECEMBER 2017– FEBRUARY 2018 at HKMM

The Hong Kong Maritime Museum (HKMM) is a vibrant cultural institution dedicated to preserving, collecting and displaying objects that tell the story of trade and maritime history in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta.

The Museum was registered as a nonprofit charity organisation in 2003, and first opened its doors in Murray House, Stanley in 2005; 2013 saw its relocation to Pier 8 at the heart of the Central Harbour Waterfront. Today the Museum displays nearly 1,200 objects in 17 galleries on three levels attracting more than 100,000 visitors annually. Amenities include the Special Exhibition and Event Gallery, the CSSC Maritime Heritage Resource Centre, a roof-top café and the gift shop.

HKMM also offers educational outreach programmes to schools, community organisations and the general public.

General InformationHong Kong Maritime MuseumCentral Pier No. 8Hong KongTel: +852 3713 2500Fax: +852 2813 8033Email: info@hkmaritimemuseum.orgWebsite: www.hkmaritimemuseum.org

Opening Hours09:30 – 17:30(Monday to Friday)

10:00 – 19:00(Saturday, Sunday and Public Holidays)

AdmissionAdult $30

Seniors (aged 60 and above), Student (with valid full-time student card), Visitors with disabilities (and one accompanying caretaker) $15

Group discounts and annual passes available

Free children admission (under 18) until 31 December 2017, supported by Valles Steamship Co., Ltd.

Become a Friends of HKMM for unlimited free admission and many other benefits and discounts!

Front cover:Silver plated model of a small police junk, flying the Yang and Li’ s flagsEarly 20th century

On loan from Dr. Yip Shing Yiu

Welcome

Community PartnersAmerican Women’s AssociationAsian Art Hong KongAsia Week Hong KongCafé Scientifique Conservation International Hong Kong GreenpeaceHER Fund Hong Kong Archives SocietyHong Kong Seamen’s UnionHong Kong Shipowners AssociationHong Kong Society for the Study of Nuclear Radiation (HKSSNR)Nesbitt Centre Ocean Recovery Alliance Outdoor Wildlife Learning Hong Kong Plastic Free Seas Sailability Society for Lantau Study Society of Hong Kong History Tai O Sustainable Development Education Workshop The Photographic Heritage FoundationThe Swire Institute of Marine Science (SWIMS) Urban Diary WWF Hong Kong

Special Exhibition and

Exhibition – Related Programmes

Silver whistles made by a veteran local silversmith2017

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THE SILVER AGE: ORIGINS AND TRADE OF CHINESE EXPORT SILVERSilver, as early currency, has been linked to global economy, maritime trade and international relations throughout human history. Silverware made by this rare metal triggered the technical and cultural exchange of handicrafts between countries and regions.

Curated by the Hong Kong Maritime Museum and co-organized with the Home Affairs Bureau, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Guangdong Museum, this exhibition is divided into six sections, including “Global Maritime Trade”, “Making of Chinese Silver”, “Export Silver”, “Workshops in Treaty Ports”, “From Canton to Hong Kong” and “East Meets West: Table Etiquette”. Starting with the role of silver in the global economic development, the exhibition explores the origins of Chinese export silver, Hong Kong as a trading hub of export silver during the late 19th and the first half of the 20th century, and its close relation with other silver manufacturing centuries in China.

Selected from the collections of the Guangdong Museum, the HSBC Archives, Hong Kong Museum of History, Hong Kong Museum of Art and a number of local collectors, this exhibition is organized in conjunction with the celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Establishment of the HKSAR.

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27JAN

28THE SILVER WAY: CHINA, SPANISH AMERICA AND THE BIRTH OF GLOBALISATION, 1565-1815 (IN ENGLISH)

27 January | Saturday 16:00–17:30

In 1565, the navigator Andrés de Urdaneta discovered a sailing route across the Pacific, from the Philippines to New Spain (today’s Mexico), linking Asia and America.

This discovery led to the trading route known as the Manila Galleon or Nao de China, which served the exchange of Chinese silk and porcelain and other Asian goods for American silver for 250 years.

As the longest-lasting shipping route in history, this ‘Ruta de la Plata’, also known as the ‘Silver Way’, catalyzed economic and cultural exchange. It ushered in the first era of globalisation, laid the foundations for the first global currency (the “real de a ocho” or Spanish dollar) and gave rise to the first ‘world city’, Mexico.

Peter Gordon and Juan José Morales question the conventional narrative of globalisation and discuss whether the past could teach us more about China today.

SpeakersPeter Gordon, Editor, Asian Review of Books. Co-author, “The Silver Way: China, Spanish America and the Birth of Globalisation, 1565–1815”

Juan José Morales, Former president, The Spanish Chamber of Hong Kong. Co-author, “The Silver Way: China, Spanish America and the Birth of Globalisation, 1565–1815”

THE SILVER AGE - CURATOR’S TALK AND TOUR

28 January | Sunday 15:30–17:00

As an accompaniment to ‘The Silver Age: Origins and Trade of Chinese Export Silver’ exhibition, exhibition curators will lead visitors on a guided tour of the shining age of silver.

By traveling between the global seas, Chinese silver mountains and various treaty ports, visitors will be able to understand the production and usage of silver and silverwares through the ages as well as the curatorial concepts behind the Exhibition.

Talk and Guided TourSuitable for age 16+. Free with museum admission and no booking required.

DEC

19FEB

25

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Public ForumFree and no booking required.

WorkshopBooking required.

Family ActivitiesSuitable for children aged 8-10.

“I THINK, THEREFORE I COLLECT” – COLLECTORS’ FORUM

10 February | Saturday 16:00–16:45 (in Cantonese)

17:00–18:00 (in English)

Hong Kong may be small compared to other international cities, but it has an important role as an international cultural hub with amazing collections and famous collectors. What drives collectors to pursue their passion? What insights and anecdotes did they provide?

In winter 2018, the Hong Kong Maritime museum will invite well-known collectors in the city to the forum to share their unique experiences.

Please check out the HKMM website for details.

Cantonese Session

ModeratorDr. Libby Chan, Assistant Director (Curatorial and Collections), Hong Kong Maritime MuseumSpeakersChris Mok, Local collectorBetty Lo, Owner of Mengdiexuan Collections

English Session

ModeratorDr. Libby Chan, Assistant Director (Curatorial and Collections), Hong Kong Maritime Museum SpeakersAnthony Hardy, Chairman Emeritus, HKMM LtdChris Hall, Local collectorDr. Shing Yiu Yip, Local collector

SILVERPOINT – REDISCOVERING ANCIENT ARTISTIC TECHNIQUES

13 January | Saturday 14:30–17:30

Silverpoint, metalpoint or styluses were used by Renaissance European artists to make drawings and studies before the invention of graphite pencils.

Metalpoint required a carefully prepared surface in order to work, as they do not make marks on ordinary paper. They can be made from a variety of different metals. The most common metalpoint was made of silver, which works particularly well because of the way it oxidizes. Silverpoint is an incredibly sensitive and delicate medium, capable of producing the finest and most fluid lines.

This workshop will provide a short brief of Silverpoint and Tempera history, as well as a tutorial on silverpoint drawing materials, and Silverpoint techniques. Materials are provided in the workshop.

Booking is required. Please refer to our website for details.

Fee for materials: HKD100. Adults only.

CHILDREN’S METALWORKING WORKSHOP (IN CANTONESE)

14 & 28 January | Sunday 14:30–16:00

Metalworking is the process of working with metals to create individual parts, assemblies, or large-scale structures. Although their natures and the usage are different, silver and bronze share the same metalworking skills on production. In this workshop, participants will learn various metalworking skills with the use of bronze.

STORYTELLING (IN CANTONESE)

4 February | Sunday 14:30–15:00, 15:30–16:00

Silver takes on many forms and purposes. It was used as early currency for trade, crafted into beautiful decorations, and even employed as writing instruments and artistic tools!

This winter, storyteller Eva Chu will share the story of silver with our young visitors.

Free with museum admission and no booking required.

SILVER HUNT CHILDREN’S BOOKLET During the Exhibition period | Within opening hours

A tailor-made booklet for you and your children to learn about the amazing story of silver.

FEB

10JAN

13JAN

14JAN

14JAN

28FEB

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Pair of export silver wine coasters in circular shape, with laurel motifs and shells on rim | Khecheong, Canton, c. 1835On loan from Anthony J. HardyProvenance: The Roosevelt family, USA

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Academic Programme and ForumSuitable for age 16+. Free and No booking required.

CULTURAL AMBASSADORS FROM THE MIDDLE KINGDOM: HOW EXPORT ART INFLUENCED THE WEST

Selected Tuesdays | 19:00–20:30In collaboration with the University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG) of the University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Maritime Museum (HKMM) continues its Academic Programme in Spring 2018 with the lecture series ‘Cultural Ambassadors from the Middle Kingdom: Influences of Export Art in the West’. Coinciding with HKMM’s upcoming exhibition The Silver Age: Origins and Trade of Chinese Export Silver and UMAG’s Objectifying China: Ming and Qing Dynasty Ceramics and Their Stylistic Influences Abroad, in this series four expert speakers will discuss how the European desire for commodities and luxury goods from China (tea, silks, lacquerware, silverware and porcelain) led to the development of a new hybrid art forms that combined the best aspects of Asian and European design.The titles, speakers and dates of the lectures are:

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16JAN

30FEB

13FEB

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Academic Programme and Forum

Family Activities

Late Opening, EYT

Tools for crafting silverware2017

The Silver Age: Origins and Trade of Chinese Export Silver

16 January | Tuesday Hong Kong Maritime Museum

This talk is based on the curatorial research for the Silver Age exhibition at the Hong Kong Maritime Museum, and discusses the origins and trade of Chinese export silver. The talk will cover how Chinese export silver relates to “Chinoiseries” developed in Europe, export ceramics sent to the West during the 16th to the 18th century, as well as the active maritime trade between China and Southeast Asia in the age of globalisation. In addition, the talk will also focus on export silverware made in Hong Kong and its relationship with other workshops in the Pearl River Delta Region during the 19th and the 20th century.

Dr. Libby Chan, Assistant Director (Curatorial and Collections), Hong Kong Maritime Museum

Visions of the East: The Reception of Chinese and Japanese Ceramics in Europe

30 January | Tuesday The University Museum and Art Gallery of HKU

Maritime Asia was as vast as it was varied, and the response in Europe to the arrival of the goods from far-off places like Japan and China was correspondingly diverse. At times the arts of China and Japan were seen as a sort of ‘fancy’ or fantasy for collectors, and were interpreted through a purely European vision of the Orient. At others, artists made real efforts to understand what made the artistic traditions of these countries unique.

In this talk, the curator of Objectifying China looks at how ceramics brought to Europe through trade and the World Expositions of the nineteenth century influenced collectors, artists, and institutions, resulting in centuries of cross-cultural enrichment.

Benjamin Chiesa, Assistant Curator, the University Museum and Art Gallery, HKU

Shifting Standards: Consuming Chinese export silverwares in the West

13 February | Tuesday Hong Kong Maritime Museum

Why did British and American consumers buy Chinese export silverwares, even though the majority was sold without guarantee of fineness? By discussing several examples of these objects in their contexts of nineteenth-century global collecting, speaker Susan Eberhard identifies the qualities — both visible and invisible — that made them desirable to buyers who lived around the world.

Susan Eberhard, Blakemore Freeman Fellow. History of Art PhD Candidate, UC Berkeley

China in Asia: Export Ceramics in Southeast Asia and the Islamic World

27 February | Tuesday The University Museum and Art Gallery of HKU

Centuries before the establishment of direct trade with Europe in the sixteenth century, Chinese porcelain and stoneware was being exported to major ports in India, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East—part of a lively trade in intra-Asian ceramics. These exchanges deeply influenced the ceramic production both in China and abroad. Kan Shuyi discusses the role of this early export trade in the development of blue-and-white ceramics, as well as later ceramics made for Mughal India and Southeast Asia—which by the nineteenth century had grown to include lively polychrome “nyonya wares” for Peranakan communities in Singapore, Malacca, Penang, and Jakarta.

Kan Shuyi, Curator, Asian Civilisations Museum

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Highlights

Schools

Communities

Veteran local silversmith octogenarian Master Yip and his workbench

2017

Late Opening, EYTJoin us on the following nights for a relaxing weekend filled with culture.

Voices From the “Western” Shores: Book reading and Afro-fusion music performance

13 January | Saturday 19:15–22:00

John Outsider is an asylum-seeker writer from the Middle East who has lived in Hong Kong for five years. With two published books to his name, John will read and discuss excerpts of his books with the audience this evening.

Talents Displaced is a group of refugees, asylum seekers and allies formed in November 2016. The group integrates hip hop, African drums, and a supporting DJ playing a variety of music genres from around the globe. They have performed at the Jockey Club Street Music Series, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the H2 Festival at The Wanch. Talents Displaced will bring a variety of Afro-fusion music to the audience this evening.

JAN

13Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior HK tour – Plastic Free Idea Crowdsource

29 December | Friday

Hong Kong, let’s go plastic free now! Up to 12.7 million tonnes of plastic waste is estimated to have entered the ocean, making up 80% of ocean waste. According to the UN, single-use plastic is the major cause of ocean plastic crisis. It should not be a concern limited to green groups only, but an issue for everybody. As the legendary Rainbow Warrior is coming to visit Hong Kong this December, Greenpeace cordially invites representatives from all sectors to join the idea jam sessions for a plastic free Hong Kong aboard the ship.

Registration is required. Details will be announced on Greenpeace(HK) Facebook.

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Children’s Workshops

Selected Sundays 13:30–14:30, 16:00–17:00

Registration required. Suitable for children aged 8–10.

“Learning More About the Maritime Museum” Series

10 December | SundayHow Tea Has Changed the World

4 February | SundayHarbour in the Box

25 February | SundayLearn More About Containers

Family Activities No booking required unless specified. Free with museum entrance ticket.

FEB

4DEC

10FEB

25

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GENERAL GUIDED TOUR

Saturdays and Sundays 14:00–15:00 (English)

16:00–17:00 (Cantonese)

An introduction to the Hong Kong Maritime Museum.

Suitable for age 16+.

KM KOO SHIP BRIDGE SIMULATOR

Weekdays: advance group bookings only

Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays 14:00–14:30, 14:45–15:15,

15:30–16:00, 16:15–16:45 Tickets for all sessions will be distributed from 13:00 onwards at the Visitor Service Counter, on a first come first served basis while stocks last. Stay tuned to our website for any special events and arrangements!

What are the challenges of piloting and navigating modern, seafaring vessels? Visit our exciting simulator to find out how to steer a ship into the Port of Hong Kong and learn about the roles of different seafarers on board with the guidance from experienced Captain Yan Tung Tung and students from The Maritime Services Training Institute (MSTI).

Suitable for children ages 7+.

Highlights

School Workshops

The Hong Kong Maritime Museum offers fun, interactive and exciting curriculum-linked workshops for both primary and secondary schools. Topics such as History, Art and new STEM workshops, including a visit to our KM Koo Ship Bridge Simulator, will open students’ eyes to traditional topics and unlock their creativity and imagination. Contact the Education team to find out more about our onsite and offsite workshops and learning tools. To book or find out more, email education@hkmaritimemuseum.org

Elderly Groups

Visit the Hong Kong Maritime Museum to reminisce about Hong Kong’s maritime past. Reminiscence sessions for groups of up to 25 senior citizens can be organised, with objects to handle and discuss, led by our experienced staff and volunteers. Refreshments are provided. You can also invite our staff to your community centre.

Disability Groups

For groups with learning disabilities, our experienced staff and volunteers will guide participants through an enjoyable tour of the Museum and help them create their own souvenirs.

* Suitable for participants of different levels of ability. Contact Museum staff for more information.

SchoolsFree admission for primary and secondary schools. Advance booking is required.

Communities Free admission for registered charities. Advance booking is required.

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What’s On Calendar

DECEMBER JANUARY FEBRUARY

4SU

Family Activities | Page 7Storytelling

Children’s Workshops | Page 10Harbour in the Box

10SA

Public Forum | Page 6“I think, therefore I Collect” – Collectors’ Forum

13TU

Academic Programme | Page 9Shifting Standards: Consuming Chinese export silverwares in the West

25SU

Children’s Workshops | Page 10Learn More About Containers

27TU

Academic Programme | Page 9China in Asia: Export Ceramics in Southeast Asia and the Islamic World

10SU

Children’s Workshops | Page 10How Tea Has Changed the World

29FR

Forum | Page 10Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior HK tour – Plastic Free Idea Crowdsource

13SA

Workshop | Page 6Silverpoint - Rediscovering Ancient Artistic Techniques

Late Opening, EYT | Page 10 Voices From the “Western” Shores: Book Reading and Afro-fusion Music Performance

14SU

Family Activities | Page 7Children’s Metalworking Workshop

16TU

Academic Programme | Page 9The Silver Age: Origins and Trade of Chinese Export Silver

27SA

Talk | Page 5The Silver Way: China, Spanish America and the Birth of Globalisation, 1565-1815

28SU

Talk and Guided Tour | Page 5The Silver Age - Curator’s tour

Family Activities | Page 7Children’s Metalworking Workshop

30TU

Academic Programme | Page 9Visions of the East: The Reception of Chinese and Japanese Ceramics in Europe

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