Showing the rites stuff

Nearly a hundred objects of historical value from the Confucius Museum are now on show at the exhibition, Rites, Music, and Costumes, which runs until May 26 at the China National Silk Museum, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. It shows how Confucianism was an integral part of the Chinese liyue culture, an education of social etiquette through engaging in poetry, rites, music and dancing.

The Confucius Museum in Qufu, Shandong province, the hometown of the renowned philosopher and location of the Confucius family mansion, has an assembly of portraits, paintings, bronzes, attire and other kinds of ceremonial utensils, formerly used by the descendants of the great thinker.

These artifacts mark the prominence of Confucius and how his teachings have been followed throughout centuries. Several exhibits are being shown in Zhejiang for the first time, including a square bronze ding, a caldron featuring dragon patterns from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and court robes worn by the Dukes of Yansheng, a marquis title held by generations of the direct descendants of Confucius.

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