Many of the Forbidden City’s ancient treasures were evacuated from the Palace Museum in Beijing when Japan launched a full-scale invasion of China. The collection took to the road for 14 years, traversing some 75,000km. This is the harrowing journey that preserved one of humanity’s most important artistic legacies.
The Palace Museum in Beijing attracted the attention of scholars, researchers, writers and editors from around the world when it opened in October 1925. Many international universities made applications for academic research, and word of the collection’s outstanding beauty spread like wildfire. The museum acquired an unparalleled reputation, and exhibitions organised overseas proved to be a great success.
