Where ‘West Meets East’: the cross-cultural discourses regarding the Chinese arts collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

ABSTRACT

This article presents a qualitative discourse analysis of the Chinese arts collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, largest art museum in the United States, and how the museum’s promotional activities may potentially engender global cultural politics and entailing commercial debates regarding their Chinese relic collections. Although the museum has collected, restored, and exhibited foreign cultural heritage in its halls to promote social and cultural development, there may be potential risks when the museum hosts events and social activities in the midst of its collections. Therefore, this article interprets these issues through the conceptual lenses of cultural globalisation and cosmopolitanism within the cross-national context of museums. Overall, this article engages scholarly conversations regarding the paradoxical promotion activities by the museum from both the Chinese and American perspectives. This article calls on academics, journalists, and civil society to pay more attention to the museum’s foreign cultural heritage and promotional activities.

KEYWORDS:

• Cultural globalisation
• cultural heritage conservation
• cultural relic protection
• cultural politics
• cosmopolitanism
• media representations

Acknowledgments

We are thankful to Dr. Suzanne Wright in the School of Art at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her scholarly advice and encouragement helped us complete this research successfully. We also appreciate her endless emotional support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The official website lists specific events, costs, and benefits; Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–2019. Host an event. Accessed 3 July 2019. https://www.metmuseum.org/join-and-give/host-an-event

2. This event spanned the two largest exhibition halls in the Asian art section, the China and Egyptian Pavilions, as well as the Anna Wintour Fashion Centre.

3. The museums advertise and promote diverse events through the official websites. Asian Art Museum. 2019. Plan Your Special Event. Accessed 15 July 2019. http://www.asianart.org/about/rent-space; Museum of Chinese in America. 2019. Event rental. Accessed 15 July 2019. http://www.mocanyc.org/about/event_rental

4. Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2000–2019. Met Publications. Accessed 16 July 2019. http://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications; the primary author visited the Met on two different occasions (March 21–22 and May 15–16, 2019).; The authors initially collected a total of 93 written sources, of which 45 were reviewed to narrate discourses in this study.

5. The official website of the Met shares all this overall information. https://www.metmuseum.org/

6. The authors directly searched the Chinese collection on the official website; Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2000–2019. Past Exhibitions. Accessed 2 July 2019. http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/past-exhibitions

7. Liu, J. 2019. China eyes further cooperation with U.S on relic preservation, says senior official. Xinhua. 3 March. Accessed July 2019. Available at http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-03/03/c_137864851.htm

8. The official website of the Met described the exhibition overview and the media coverages. https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2015/china-through-the-looking-glass; Silberstein, R. 2015. Review of China: through the looking glass College of Art Association Accessed July 15 2019. http://caareviews.org/reviews/2755#.Xb84g-hKiUk

9. The Guansheng Temple is a Buddhist temple in Shanxi province, China. The temple was established EC 147 during the Han (漢). http://en.chinaculture.org/library/2008-02/15/content_34504.htm; Xu, J., 2015. 议论|纽约大都会博物馆的时装展，对中国文物的伤害有多大? [Discussion: How Much Damage Does Chinese Cultural Relics Have to the Fashion Show at the Metropolitan Museum of New York?] 澎湃新闻 [The Paper]. Accessed 5 July 2019 http://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1329929

10. Graustark, B., 2015. Met announces extended hours for Chinese fashion show. The New York Times. 27 August. Accessed 5 July 2019. http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/08/27/met-announces-extended-hours-for-chinese-fashion-show/?searchResultPosition=3; Kennedy, R., 2015. Met extends show on China’s fashion influence. The New York Times. 30 June. Accessed 5 July 2019. http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/30/met-extends-show-on-chinas-fashion-influence/?searchResultPosition=1

11. These stories are covered by Li, X., 2015. Mirror flower water moon ‘exhibition’ hazardous cultural relics’ question-natural light filter out UV. The People. 26 May. Accessed April 3 2019. http://world.people.com.cn/n/2015/0526/c1002-27054819.html; Lee, S. 2018. Re-discussion on the exhibition ‘China: Mirror Flowers and Water Moon’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Art China. 8 November. Accessed April 3 2019. http://art.china.cn/exclusive/2018-11/08/content_40560558.htm

12. Meyer, K.E. 2015. The Chinese Want Their Art Back. The New York Times. June 20. Accessed 17 August. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/21/opinion/the-chinese-want-their-art-back.html; Palmer, A.W. 2018. Once Plundered by Colonialists, Chinese art is Being Stolen Back. WBUR (NPR Boston). Accessed August 17. http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2018/08/28/chinese-art-theft