Skip to 0 minutes and 2 seconds Over 20 years ago, as a student, I first visited the Forbidden City in Beijing and although my academic career took me in different directions, I’ve always stayed interested in Chinese culture, history and language. I’m Kirstie Blair, I’m a Professor and Dean at the University of Stirling, and it’s truly a great honour and a privilege to be here today with colleagues from the Palace Museum to welcome you to this exciting collaboration between my university, a small university but located in one of Scotland’s great heritage sites, and the Palace Museum here in Beijing. The Palace Museum was established in 1925.
Skip to 0 minutes and 46 seconds Over the past century, it has not only meticulously preserved and safeguarded the imperial palaces of the Ming and Qing dynasties and their treasured artefacts, but has also continually enriched its collection through allocations by the Chinese government, public donations and private contributions. Currently, the museum houses over 1.86 million cultural relics, which can be categorised into 25 distinct types. As a large scale, national and comprehensive museum, the Palace Museum has long been committed to showcasing the splendid and enduring civilisation of China to the world. This is achieved through exhibitions of its Ming and Qing imperial palace architecture and historical sites, dedicated galleries for its collections of treasures, timepieces, calligraphy, paintings, ceramics, and other artworks, as well as various temporary exhibitions.
Skip to 1 minute and 51 seconds Today, the Palace Museum is adopting an increasingly open approach, inviting visitors from around the world to explore this sacred site of traditional Chinese culture.
Skip to 2 minutes and 5 seconds Welcome to this FutureLearn course on the Palace Museum and its history. Whether you are already knowledgeable about China or encountering our history and culture for the first time, we are excited to introduce you to some of the profound impacts that China’s 5000 year long civilisation has had on the world.
Skip to 2 minutes and 28 seconds Throughout this long history, the Chinese nation has left an extraordinarily rich historical legacy in the fields of politics, economics, culture, as well as the sciences and technology. I’m here to learn alongside you and to introduce the expert educators from the museum, Guo Xiaoting, Dong Lei, it’s been a pleasure to work with them and other colleagues at the Palace Museum to develop this course and to think about how to bring learners behind the scenes for unique experience of one of the world’s great heritage sites. And as always, on FutureLearn, we hope that you’ll share your knowledge and experiences, ask questions, leave comments, so that we can all learn together in this collaboration across culture and societies.
![Les Astronomes [The Astronomers], Beauvais Tapestry Manufactory (c. 1697-1705)](https://ugc.futurelearn.com/uploads/images/7c/5b/regular_7c5b6613-35aa-4314-afd7-d456a92f8484.jpg)
