The gallery does not seem huge when you first enter through its rounded, arched door but it has offered rich exhibits that present Chinese culture from past to present.

Nestled within the Manchester Museum, on the campus of Manchester University, Lee Kai Hung China Culture Gallery has a collection of more than 300 objects displayed within its 190 square meters.

Paintings, porcelains, jades, textiles and natural history specimens are categorized into five themes: environment, experiment, movement and migration, trading activities, and common interest in healthcare.

"These are all very important themes that we use to help build a sense of empathy with the visitors, so that they will have a better understanding of Chinese culture," says Bryan Sitch, former curator at the gallery, which was named in honor of the sponsor Lee Kai Hung. "And in that way, we will bring about better understanding between people from China and the United Kingdom."

Near the entrance, a long scroll in a glass case shows a parade celebrating the 60th birthday of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). It is part of a 22-meter scroll and, among the details, the viewer can see the streets of Beijing, excited crowds, the emperor and his entourage, stores, some with storekeepers, and the products on sale.

One of his favorite illustrations on the scroll is a homely detail of a woman holding up her small child in one of the homes off the streets, away from the parade. Upon close inspection, the woman has jewelry holding her hairstyle in place at the back of her head. A jade from the museum's collection stands next to a blown-up print of the jewelry to illustrate what was depicted.

"We thought what a wonderful way of showing this domestic detail of a woman with a child," Sitch says. "Which culture around the world does not have a sense of identification for the relationship between a woman and her small child? I think it's a touching detail. It's one of the ways in which we help to generate empathy within the gallery."

Not far from the scroll is a highlight from the environment section, a taxidermied milu deer, which the museum purchased in 2020 from a private owner in Denmark.

"We wanted to show this because we wanted to highlight the fact that Britain and China have worked together in all sorts of ways, for instance, to improve the environment to tackle climate change, but also to rescue species that are threatened by extinction," Sitch says.

Milu deer became extinct in China in the early 1900s, but, before then, some had been taken to the West and were kept in zoos and gardens. During the 20th century, the surviving animals were gathered together to create a herd, and they bred young deer. In the 1980s, it became possible to send deer from that herd in Woburn Abbey in the UK back to China, Sitch explains. "And there are now 10,000 of these milu deer in China again, so it's a great success story."

Important donations

Many of the exhibits at the gallery come from people who traveled between Manchester and China in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Other items have been acquired specifically for the gallery, including a dragon robe and Chinese display cabinet.

The blue robe was originally made for a prince at the end of the Qing Dynasty and, during the 1911 Revolution in China, he lost his life, according to Sitch. He says a missionary is thought to have bought it and brought it back to the UK, and the missionary's descendant donated the item to the museum.

The display cabinet tells the folk love story of Niulang, a cowherd, and Zhinyu, a weaver, who were separated by the Milky Way in space and could only meet once a year across a bridge created by magpies during the Qixi Festival or Chinese Valentine's Day, which falls on the seventh day of the seventh month of the Chinese calendar.

A closer look at the cabinet reveals small carved wooden models of Niulang and Zhinyu, with the cowherd plowing with an ox and the weaver sitting at a spinning wheel.

And the gallery has many donations from the local community, including a life-size acupuncture model.

"It's important to us that we show a selection of some of the finest Chinese objects, not just from our own collection but from collections across the city altogether," says Sitch.

The bronze acupuncture model was donated by Professor Tang Shulan, who runs a traditional Chinese medicine practice in Manchester.

Standing in a case themed on TCM, along with an 18th- or 19th-century Chinese meridian map collected in China by a Manchester surgeon called Thomas Bellot (1806-57), visitors can see the little holes in the model that show where acupuncture learners would practice in the treatment of different ailments with needles.

The display is aimed at increasing people's knowledge of healthy lifestyles and longevity.

In a case near the far end of the gallery is one of the collection's most unusual pieces — an honorific umbrella, which is a symbol of honor and appreciation.

The item was probably inspired by a custom from the Qing Dynasty in which local people presented an umbrella to a local official who was about to retire, to express their gratitude to him, according to research by Sitch and Zong Fang, the gallery's research assistant.

The umbrella on display was given to Lieutenant Thomas Walsh, at the end of World War I, by members of the Chinese Labour Corps, who worked in northern France helping Britain and France in the war with Germany and allies. Walsh gave the umbrella to Manchester Museum on Jan 20, 1920.

Walsh, who was from the English county of Lancashire and who had studied Mandarin at the University of Manchester, served on the Western Front with the 119th Company of the Chinese Labour Corps. Because of his knowledge of the Chinese language, it is likely he was able to form a good working relationship with Chinese people and understand their needs in the difficult and dangerous situations presented by the war, explains Sitch.

Very few of the umbrellas were presented to British or allied officers and the fact that Walsh was given one suggests he was held in very high regard.

"This is a symbol of their appreciation. And this was something that Walsh was very proud of, to the end of his life," Sitch says. "And he was so proud of it, he wanted to give it to a museum so it will be preserved for the future. And we are very grateful to him that he did."

Because of the research, Sitch says the gallery contacted a member of Walsh's family, who provided the museum with photos of his great uncle and some of the Chinese members of the Chinese Labour Corps.

Unusual inventions

The gallery also has displays of some achievements of Chinese researchers at the University of Manchester, including a firefighter's jacket developed by Professor Li Yi, who is based in the Department of Materials, and his team.

Sitch explains that one of Li's specialties is the design of clothing that can monitor the health of the person wearing it. The jacket on display can monitor the heartbeat of the firefighter wearing it and raise the alarm if that person is overcome by the heat.

Visitors can also see photos of Chinese people who are important to the gallery, and photos of people who are connected to exhibits. There are also photos of members of Manchester's Chinese communities.

In addition to reflecting China now and the Chinese people who live in the city today and who have contributed to the gallery, the photos, as Sitch puts it, also help to make a direct connection between visitors and the wider community.

For Sitch, one of the things the gallery is anxious to do is "tell our visitors that China is not fixed in the past".

"Many people may have a kind of outdated or stereotypical idea of what China is. In fact, when I visited China in 2018 for the first time, I was astonished at how modern China was," he says.

He adds that it was astonishing to travel on trains that moved at 300 kilometers an hour, to cities replete with modern facilities, subways, parks and gardens.

"It was a revelation to me. But perhaps more importantly, I was deeply touched by the kindness, hospitality and civility of ordinary Chinese people, whom I met on a number of occasions."

The gallery was opened in late 2022 with support from the Lee Kai Hung Foundation, after five years of preparations that included several trips to China by Sitch, who has been with the Manchester Museum for 18 years.

To Sitch and his team, the gallery is a significant addition to the cultural attractions of Manchester and aims to reinforce the city's strong connection with China. He adds that it has been gratifying to see the number of Chinese visitors increasing substantially since its opening.

Sitch says he is still expecting more from the facility, with cultural events on topics including tai chi, calligraphy and Chinese cuisine having already been held to make the most out of the space.

"It will bring together a range of intimate objects reflecting personal lived experiences," he says. "At the heart of the gallery, there will be space for gathering and activity — a community hub for Manchester's many Chinese groups and societies."