China: The Three Emperors

The Royal Academy of Arts are currently hosting this exhibition chronicling the art an culture of the last great Chinese dynasty - The Qing. Split into areas covering things like the rituals, religion and literati, it demonstrates the fashions, styles and media trends of the 150 year era.

In many ways this is an accessible collection for those interested in Chinese history. The deep and ranged lifestyle of the time is recorded in many ways, and it was nice to visualise the things we might only have read about in books. I also enjoyed finding out about the influence of European science (mainly geometry and geography), as well as the more homegrown fields of biology and art. Other things I noted were the jade craft and the brilliant example of the propaganda techniques of the time (which to be honest resemble those of today).

However I couldn't help but feel a bit underwhelmed on leaving the Academy. I think it was the lack of anything recording the major events of the time - there was no sense of a timeline or story being told here. That aside, it was a decent way to spend a couple of hours on a Saturday afternoon - it's just all the better if you have a healthy interest too.

The Three Emperors is on till 17th April and costs £11 to get in.