The Art Museum of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) presents the exhibition “Celebrating the Year of the Dragon”, which will run from 2 February to 31 July 2024. Members of the public are welcome to visit.

The exhibition features over 50 objects from the Museum’s collection, including jades, bone craving, gold and bronze, ceramics, stone carvings, textiles, scholars’ stationery and rubbings. Exhibit highlights include a Western Han Dynasty turquoise seal that inspired the Museum’s emblem, an annular white jade box with a dragon design dated from the Five Dynasties to the Northern Song, as well as a dragon brush-holder created by the legendary ceramic designer Tang Ying (1682-1756).

2024 is the Year of the Dragon, according to the Chinese zodiac. For almost 8,000 years, the mythological beast has garnered immense reverence and admiration from people. Contrary to common understanding, rather than constant and unchanging, the image of the dragon has evolved arbitrarily, as recorded in literature. Celebrating the year of this powerful creature, the Art Museum presents this exhibition to explore the iconography of the dragon in ancient Chinese art against the socio-cultural contexts of different times.