China: Journey to the East exhibition at the Manchester Museum

China, one of the world’s oldest civilisations, and the world’s oldest continuous civilisation, will soon be the focus of a major exhibition at the Museum of Manchester. China: Journey to the East will combine objects from the British Museum along with stories from China to give us a taste of 3,000 years of history and culture.

Journey to the East will contain the world’s oldest porcelain alongside shadow puppets and examples of wei qi (an ancient Chinese board game). The exhibition will also feature photography and objects from Manchester’s sister city in China, Wuhan, to provide the modern day image of China.

China: Journey to the East starts on the 25th September 2010 and runs through to 26th June 2011. Entry is free.

There will also be a series of events running throughout the exhibition, including Chinese Moon Festival (Saturday 25th September 2010, 11am-4pm) a Chinese tea ceremony (Wednesday 6th Oct 2010 2.30-4pm) and Chinese paper craft (Monday 20th – Thursday 23rd December & Monday 27th – Friday 31st December 2010, 11am-4pm).

The exhibition is supported by BP and after the recent Gulf of Mexico oil spill they’ll probably need to do a lot of this type of thing, along with environmental projects, to regain any positive PR going forward.