Ninety-six sets of imperial furniture collected by the Palace Museum will be exhibited at the China Red Sandalwood Museum's Hengqin Branch from Dec 18 through June 18, 2020.

The Allure of Forbidden City – Palace Museum Imperial Furniture will consist of three parts: Elegance of the Golden Age, Longevity & Health, and National Prosperity & Civil Wellbeing.

This will be the first time for all 96 sets of furniture to be exhibited away from the Palace Museum and some are to make their public debut. Their history, craftsmanship, material selections, ornamentation, and official uses will be vividly presented in an easy-to-understand way.

Furniture of Ming and Qing Dynasties [Photo by Li Jianshu / Zhuhai Daily]

A gift celebrating the 20th anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland, the exhibition is expected to promote cultural exchanges and emotional interaction between Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. It will also contribute to the global exposure of traditional Chinese culture, said the head of operations at the Hengqin branch, which is located at the intersection of Hengqin and Central avenues.

In addition, a permanent exhibition of red sandalwood furniture of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1912) dynasties and ancient architecture models will be mounted on the first floor of the museum. The exhibits were collected or created by Chan Laiwa, curator of the China Red Sandalwood Museum and founder and chairman of Fuwah International Group, and her family.

Many of the same type of red sandalwood artworks are housed by the Palace Museum, US Smithsonian Institution, Germany's Dresden State Art Collections, Kyushu National Museum in Japan, and France's Chambord Castle.