Alongside the Louvre in France, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the United States, and the British Museum in the UK ... Beijing’s Palace Museum is considered by many to be one of the world’s top museums. Now a royal porcelain exhibition has just opened there to give visitors a dose of imperial China. The museum is also planning to expand its display of treasures.

This ongoing porcelain exhibition at the Palace Museum promises visitors a wide view of imperial China.

A total of 188 porcelain pieces are on display, and they are all from its zenith during the Yuan and Ming dynasties, when imperial pottery was produced in the kilns at Jingdezhen.

As a place that made porcelain for emperors, the royal kiln in Jingdezhen had very high standards for its products.

If there was the slightest blemish, the porcelain pieces were broken and buried.

“This time, the Palace Museum has cooperated with the Jingdezhen Archaeological Research Institute to offer people a more thorough understanding of the ancient ceramic industry. The royal kilns and the defective ones unearthed in Jindezhen are placed alongside each other, so the visitors can see why the final piece stands out, and how rigid the standards are,” said Lyu Chenglong, researcher, Palace Museum.

Meanwhile, the Palace Museum recently announced plans to build a new museum in northern Beijing to display more of its cultural relics.

The current Palace Museum can display just 0.5 percent of the palace’s art collections due to space constraints, leading to the decision to build the new location 25 kilometers away.

The new site, situated north of the palace, is known as the Old Summer Palace and is a complex of palaces and gardens.