26/10/2026
【Upcoming Exhibition ✨ 展覽預告】
Writing is one of humanity’s greatest inventions, regarded by scholars as a criterion for any civilisation. In China, writing has evolved from the incised marks on Neolithic artefacts, through the oracle bone and bronze inscriptions of the Shang and Zhou dynasties and the divergent scripts of the Warring States period, to the post-Wei-Jin era, when calligraphy developed into an independent art form combining practicality with aesthetic refinement—each transformation closely intertwined with the evolution of society.
This exhibition focuses on the collections of the University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG), The University of Hong Kong, together with significant holdings from HKU’s Fung Ping Shan Library and The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Art Museum. It offers a comprehensive presentation of the origins and evolution of ancient Chinese writing, along with its technological carriers and social functions across various historical periods. The exhibition explores the social contexts in which writing emerged, highlighting its roles in politics, culture, and the arts, and providing valuable material evidence for related scholarly research.
The exhibition is divided into three sections: “The Origins and Unification of Writing”, “The Evolution and Media of Writing”, and “The Dissemination and Art of Writing”. The first section reveals writing’s basic function as a tool for recording and communication in early societies, as well as the symbolic significance it gradually acquired in political and religious spheres. The second section focuses on how writing media and technological innovations facilitated the standardised evolution of scripts from seal and clerical to regular, running, and cursive styles, demonstrating the influence of material technology on writing forms. The final section examines the application of writing in society, art, and daily life, showing how writing became a profound force in shaping Chinese ways of thinking and aesthetic sensibilities.
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3,000 Years of Chinese Writing
《中國文字三千年》
📆 6 Nov 2026 - 14 Feb 2027
🎟️ Free Admission 免費入場
📍 1/F, T. T. Tsui Building, UMAG, HKU, 90 Bonham Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
📍香港大學美術博物館 徐展堂樓1樓
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文字是人類最偉大的發明之一，同時也被眾多學者認定為文明的標準之一。在中國，從新石器時代器物上的刻符，商周的甲骨金文，戰國諸侯異軌的文字，到魏晉之後書法發展成為一門兼具實用性與高度審美性的獨立藝術，文字的每一次蛻變，都與社會的演進緊密交織。此次展覽聚焦香港大學美術博物館藏品，以及部分香港大學馮平山圖書館、香港中文大學文物館的重要收藏，全面展示中國古代文字的起源、演進及其在不同歷史時期的技術載體與社會功能，探索文字產生的社會背景，彰顯其在政治、文化、藝術等方面的作用，為相關研究提供不可多得的實物資料。
展覽分為三個單元，「文字的起源與一統」、「文字的演變與載體」和「文字的傳播與藝術」，首先揭示文字在早期社會中作為記錄與溝通工具的基本功能，及其在政治與宗教領域逐漸形成的象徵意義；繼而聚焦書寫載體與工藝變革如何推動從篆、隸到楷、行、草的演進，展現物質技術對文字形態的塑造；最後深入文字在社會、藝術及日常生活中的應用，展現文字如何成為塑造中國人思維方式與審美意趣的深層力量。
