Schilderijententoonstelling in het 100 Bloemenpaviljoen
Chinese artists are exhibiting from Saturday, Oct. 28 through Sunday, Nov. 26, partly in the “100 Flowers Pavilion” part of the Chinese Garden – the only Ming garden in Europe – in the Hortus Botanicus, Kerklaan 34 in Haren (open daily 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. from Nov. 1), and partly in the “Van Loon Museum” Oranjestraat 13, Assen (open Friday through Sunday, 1 p.m. – 5 p.m.).
This expo is part of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the friendship treaty between Shaanxi and Groningen provinces. This is supported by a cultural exchange of visual arts. An official delegation from Shaanxi Province will also visit the north in November 2023. Works by Dutch artists will go to Shaanxi for a long-term traveling exhibition through China, starting in Xi’an.
Shaanxi in Groningen and Drenthe
It began in 2003 with a friendship treaty between Shaanxi and Groningen provinces, the two capitals Xi’an and Groningen linked up in 2014, while Drenthe formed a friendship bond with Shaanxi in 2010. Shaanxi has a special history: 2200 years ago, Qin Shi Huang established China’s first empire in the then capital Chang-an (today’s Xi’an). He left us a gigantic army of life-size earthenware figures: the “terracotta army” with thousands of men, carts and horses. His reign lasted only 15 years and was succeeded by the Han dynasty that lasted 406 years.
Zhang Qian
In 138 B.C., the Han emperor Wu-ti sent the “commander of the imperial gate” Zhang Qian to the west. He returned after many wanderings with reports of such exotic regions as Anxi (Persia), Tiaozhi (Arabia) and Da Ch’in (Roman Empire). Thus, Zhang Qian became the founder of the Silk Road, the trade route between China and the Mediterranean Sea. In the centuries that followed, Xi’an (“Western Peace”) remained the starting point of that Silk Road. Still within the walled city is a large Arab quarter, including a mosque.
