Brazil-China Cultural Year exhibition opens at Rio's National Historical Museum

The National Historical Museum in Rio de Janeiro opened the exhibition "Sabores da Tradição: história da alimentação na China antiga" on Saturday, 27 April, as part of the Brazil‑China Cultural Year. The free‑access show runs in the museum’s temporary galleries until 11 October.

The exhibit displays 121 objects loaned from the National Museum of China in Beijing, spanning roughly 10,000 years of Chinese civilization—from prehistoric agriculture to the end of the Qing dynasty in 1911. Five thematic sections explore nutrition, cooking and hot beverages, ritual worship, visual enjoyment, and shared beauty. Artifacts include ceramics, bronze, porcelain, gold, silver, jade, precious stones, lacquer and wood, with the oldest piece a 12‑thousand‑year‑old wheat grinder.

Museum director Cícero de Almeida highlighted the political importance of food security in ancient Chinese dynasties, while content consultant Giancarlo Hannud stressed the exhibition’s role in presenting cultural alterity beyond Eurocentric narratives.