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Xanadu : Encounters with China

19 August – 14 November 2004 Open daily 9 am – 5 pm Free admission

A traveller’s view of China, from the earliest adventures of Marco Polo in 1271 to photographs that reflect Australia’s re-engagement in the 1970s. Viewed through the perspective of more than 150 items drawn from the National Library’s Asian, Map, Pictures, Manuscript and Ephemera collections, the exhibition tells a tale of how the country has been perceived by Western observers.
On show is the Munster atlas of 1550; Jesuit engravings depicting the Yuan Ming Yuan summer palace; a 19th century lithograph showing an apartment in a Mandarin’s house; Richard Hakluyt’s account, The Principal Navigations … and Discoveries of the English Nation, published 1599-1600; Australian architect Hardy Wilson’s drawings from 1922 of China’s imperial architecture; a travel account by Australian journalist George ‘Chinese’ Morrison (1862-1920); and rarely-seen photographs portraying Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai in the 1930s.
Xanadu reflects a China that doesn’t exist anymore. Through the drawings and photographs depicting aspects of court and street life, visitors will gain a greater understanding of the history of the country and its society.