Amb Tan’s Remarks at the Opening Ceremony of the Wu Zetian Exhibition
(25 October 2024, Leeuwarden, the Netherlands)
Dear friends, ladies and gentlemen,
A very good evening to you all. Thank you all for coming to the event on this Friday evening.
My sincere thanks to Princessehof Ceramics Museum, National Cultural Heritage Administration of China, Art Exhibition China, Henan Administration of Cultural Heritage, and Palatina Cultural Group for organizing this exhibition.
And special thanks to the Province of Friesland, the Mondriaan Fund, the Municipality of Leeuwarden for your support to the exhibition.
Welcome the Chinese delegation, I am so happy to meet you in the Netherlands.
I know this is the place where Princess Marie Louise of Hesse-Kassel once lived. This is the museum that has the largest collection of Chinese porcelains in the Netherlands.
It is great that this exhibition could be held here. Thank you all for making this wonderful project possible.
This exhibition is themed on Wu Zetian.
Throughout China’s thousands of years history, there were several de facto female rulers, like Empress Dowager Cixi, who ran the state affairs behind the curtain one and a half century ago.
But Wu Zetian ruled openly with no puppet or curtain before her. She had the title of an emperor, and the name of her reign. She set up her own dynasty.
Wu Zetian was the only female emperor of China, unparalleled, before and after.
One can imagine how difficult and dangerous it could be to fight for the highest position. More so for a woman in a male-dominated society.
She started as a low level concubine, was once even sent to the Buddhist temple as a nun. Yet she fought all her way through to the pinnacle.
She broke all the traditions of a patriarchal society.
She had the last laugh.
There were more than 80 dynasties in the history of China,
Among them, Tang dynasty, 1,400 years ago, was one of the most powerful.
And Wu Zetian was at the helm of this global superpower.
It was not only militarily powerful, economically prosperous, culturally developed, also an open and diversified society.
The capital city of Chang’an -- today’s Xi’an, had a population of more than 1 million, one third of which were foreigners from central Asia, west Asia and Europe.
Chang’an was the starting point of the silk road, also an international trade center.
There were two big markets in Chang’an -- East Market selling Chinese goods, West Market imported goods. That’s why in Chinese language, buying commodities literally means buying east and west.
Wu Zetian made great achievements during her reign.
Among them, promoting trade; promoting young people of humble background to high offices, through imperial examinations and feats; promoting the status of women, who could wear men’s clothing and do things like hunting and travel. At the entrance of the exhibition, you can see a coloured pottery of a female riding a horse.
Of course, there were a lot of conspiracy folk tales, and controversial views among the commoners and scholars.
She died at the age of 81, which was quite rare in those days, making her one of the few long-living emperors.
Upon her decree, there was not a single word in her gravestone. The epitaph was blank.
Here I wish to mention one person, who might be the most known Dutch name among Chinese today -- better known in China than in the Netherlands.
He is Robert Hans van Gulik, a Dutch diplomat and sinologist. He wrote detective novels in 1950s and 60s, titled “Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee”.
The protagonist, Judge Di, was the prime minister working for Emperor Wu Zetian.
For many people, female or male, me included, Wu Zetian was a hero, or a heroine, who made herstory.
You might have heard a saying in modern China: women can hold up half the sky.
The name of Wu Ze’tian has a Chinese word tian, or sky. Her name could literally be translated as: I am the sky.
The tomb of Wu Zetian remains unearthed -- not allowed by law.
What we see here are some artifacts, like Tang tri-colour glazed ceramics, jewels, gold and silver wares, porcelains. They may provide a glimpse of her heyday.
Once again, our gratitude to the organizers and those who have contributed to the exhibition.
In 1974, two years after our two countries set up diplomatic relations, an exhibition of unearthed cultural relics about Chinese civilization was held in the Netherlands.
Fifty years later, this exhibition.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the open and pragmatic partnership of comprehensive cooperation between our two countries.
As Mr Kris said just now, we should build bridges and get more connected.
Let’s join hands to promote cultural exchanges and enhance understanding, for the healthy development of our relations, for global peace, prosperity and cooperation.
Thank you.
