French museum takes China as theme of year

The Guimet Museum, which boasts the largest collection of Asian art in Europe, plans to present China elements in all its activities throughout the year, according to Yannick Lintz, curator of the museum.

Located in Paris, France, the Guimet Museum was founded by Emile Etienne Guimet, an industrialist at Lyon, to collect art from the East.

"When you walk through the exhibition halls, you'd see Buddha statues that reveal the profound Chinese history. When we are in these halls, we would have a kind of feeling that these historical figures are looking at you and touching you through thousands of years of history. The artworks we see date back to hundreds and even thousands of years ago. They explicitly articulate what the mutual influence and dialogues are between different civilizations and arts," Lintz said in an interview with China Central Television (CCTV) ahead of President Xi Jinping's state visit to France.

"The Silk Road is a very good example. It explains what exchanges are, for example, the exchanges of materials, technologies, and the exchanges between peoples and artists. Trade is also a way to spread art. It eventually takes arts to places all over the world. Artists either imitate art in other countries or draw inspiration from overseas art to become better. So this involves challenges during dialogs and exchanges," she said.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relationship between China and France and the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism.

So China is taken as the thematic word for the museum this year, which is presenting ancient and elegant art such as porcelain and famous masterpieces from the Tang (618-907) and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties, and colorful activities for European visitors to enjoy the profound Chinese culture.

"A few months after I became president of the museum in September 2022, I had the privilege to accompany President Macron during his visit to China. For me, the magical door to this beautiful country opened. Since I was back, I have also received many Chinese delegations at the Guimet Museum. I can clearly feel the desire of both sides to contact and communicate. Of course, this stems from the long-standing reciprocity and sincere friendship between France and China. Now, I think I have really understood China and feel very close to the country," Lintz said.

"I hope that throughout this year, when people in Paris want to meet China, the Guimet Museum is the best place for them to go to. This is why I decided that every activity at the museum throughout the year will feature Chinese elements. We will hold exhibitions throughout the year. The outside wall of the museum will be a big surprise. You'll see that when we are at the door of the Guimet Museum, it's like we are in China. Of course, we can also enjoy a series of appointments with Chinese films, music and operas at the auditorium of the museum," she said.

French museum takes China as theme of year

Chinese scientists have recently worked together and rebuilt the face of an ancient Chinese ethnic minority emperor via cutting-edge DNA technology.

Emperor Wu of the Xianbei-led Northern Zhou Dynasty (557-581), also known as Yuwen Yong, was an ambitious leader who died at 36. He belonged to the Xianbei nomadic group, which originated from the Mongolian Plateau.

The tomb of the emperor was discovered in 1993 in a village of the city of Xianyang in northwest China's Shaanxi Province. His skull and bones were discovered during an excavation held in 1994 and 1995 at the site of his tomb.

In late March this year, scientists led by the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology and the Institute of Archaeological Science of Fudan University managed to decode key features of the emperor and speculate about his cause of death. The emperor might have died from chronic arsenic poisoning due to long-term use of a pellet, which was believed by ancient people to achieve eternal life.

"First, the skeleton can be used to determine age. Second, in terms of age and gender, some pathological research can also be done to see if he had any fractures or other (diseases)," said Zhang Jianlin, a researcher from the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology.

Obtaining high-quality genomic data is crucial for restoring the face. Through DNA paleogenomics techniques and optimized DNA extraction, database building and capture methods, more history was revealed.

"First, we have done the shorter fragments enrichment method, which is a DNA extraction method. In addition, we have developed some more sensitive database building method suitable for ancient samples with short fragments. You can regard it as a method to amplify the genetic signal, the extracted DNA. The third is that we have developed a capture method that is more suitable for this kind of highly degraded ancient samples. So we have optimized and improved our approach from three aspects at the same time," said Wen Shaoqing, an associate professor of the Institute of Archaeological Science of Fudan University.

The reconstructed face showed that Yuwen Yong had black hair, yellow skin and brown eyes, while his appearance was typical for people from East or Northeast Asia.

Wen said that with the help of the DNA technology, the accuracy of facial restoration can reach 90 percent.

"As for the accuracy of (facial restoration), the current situation is that if there is a skull as a basis, its accuracy will be relatively high," said Wen.

Scientists rebuild face of ancient emperor using advanced DNA technology