China in the East

An exhibition showcasing spectacular Chinese collections at Epping Forest District Museum 7th July – 25th September 2012

Chinese Shoes

China in the East is an exhibition that has drawn together Chinese collections from several local museums in the Eastern region, including several artefacts from The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum, Bedford.
This exhibition is part of Eastern Exchanges, a major festival celebrating the culture and colour of the east to mark the London 2012 Games. Eastern Exchanges is an official part of London 2012 Cultural Olympiad programme Stories of the World which presents exciting new museum exhibitions across the UK, created by young people.

The exhibition tours the eastern region starting in Epping Forest District Museum and then going to Ipswich Town Hall, Hertford Museum and ending at Lowewood Museum in Hoddesdon

A bamboo hat

The artefacts that The Higgins has leant to the exhibition include a hair ornament, a bamboo hat, a pair of shoes and an opium pipe. We don’t know a huge amount about the objects, other then they are from China. The items originally formed part of the Bedford Modern School Museum which was founded in 1885. During the 1920’s and 1930’s the museum curator Rev P. G. Langdon was keen to promote both local archaeology and the collecting of objects from further a field. Many of the old boys were actively encouraged to bring back objects for the museum from their postings overseas to inspire the pupils to join the colonial service.

Beaded Hair Ornament

An Opium pipe

Volunteers have been instrumental in the long process of photographing and documenting many of these objects and they are also helping us to research their histories. We’ll hopefully have a guest post from one of our volunteers soon, detailing her findings. Watch this space...