Birds & Beasts: Wearing Honour and Order in the Qing Dynasty
Presented by 海角社区 Museums with objects from the Mactaggart Art Collection
DATES: March 13 - June 28, 2025
LOCATION: 海角社区 Museums Gallery A
TELUS International Centre
11104 87th Ave, 海角社区 North Campus, Edmonton, AB
HOURS: Thursday, Friday, and Saturday - 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
*Closed April 17 - 19, 2025
CONTACT: Phone: 780-492-5834
COST: Admission by donation
Rank badges are a pair of insignia badges that were attached to the front and back of surcoats worn by officials in the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911). These badges indicated the rank of the wearer in both the civil administration and the military. Civil officials were distinguished by birds while military officials were identified by beasts. Birds & Beasts: Wearing Honour and Order in the Qing Dynasty will explore social rank through dress and art with objects from the Mactaggart Art Collection, the Royal Ontario Museum, and the 海角社区’s Bruce Peel Special Collection.
Programs and Events
Birds and Beasts Lecture Series
Dress Code in the Chinese Imperial Courts of the Ming and Qing Dynasties - Isabel Pifen Chueh
Thursday, March 27, 2025
12:00 pm to 1:00 pm MST
Location - Telus International Centre - Room 134
According to the Chinese collection of official histories, a new reign of a dynasty decrees its new laws and regulations, including official attire for the nobility and bureaucrats. The costume regulation includes headwear, clothes, and accessories and uses distinctive materials, colours, motifs, shapes, etc., to distinguish the wearer’s position and rank. This costume system developed for thousands of years and became a dress code in Chinese culture. This lecture introduces the costume regulations during the Ming and Qing dynasties to unveil the ancient Chinese dress code to the modern public.
Isabel Pifen Chueh is the curator of the Mactaggart Art Collection in Edmonton, Alberta. Her past experience includes being the curator of the Textile Gallery at the National Palace Museum, Taipei.
Paintings for Visualizing, Venerating, and Remembering the Ancestors in Late Imperial China - Dr. Wen-chien Cheng
Thursday, April 3, 2025
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm MST
Virtual (Link will be sent in advance to those who register)
Ancestor portrait paintings from late imperial China stand out as a distinctive genre in Chinese portraiture. These portraits often depict subjects in formal official robes adorned with rank badges. This lecture delves into their role in visualizing, venerating, and commemorating ancestors and examines how specific visual elements, pictorial schemes, and formal conventions were emphasized to fulfill these functions.
Dr. Cheng is the Senior Curator and Louise Hawley Stone Chair of Chinese Arts at the Royal Ontario Museum and affiliated Faculty with the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Toronto. Dr. Cheng earned her Ph.D. in art history from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She joined the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in 2011. Her expertise lies in pre-modern Chinese paintings, including Song dynasty genre paintings, images of women, and ancestor portraits and prints from the late imperial periods. Her recent research explores the ROM’s George Leslie Mackay Collection (religious artifacts collected in Taiwan from the late 19th century), the history of early Canadian Chinese collections, and the artistic hybridity in female imagery during the Qing dynasty.
Birds, Beasts and Fossils: Early Birds and Mammals from the Jurassic and Cretaceous of Northeast China - Dr. Corwin Sullivan
Thursday April, 10, 2025
12:00 pm to 1:00 pm MST
Location - Telus International Centre - Room 134
The beautifully crafted rank badges of Qing Dynasty military and civilian officials offer a fine example of how birds and mammals have fascinated, intrigued and inspired humans throughout our shared history on the planet. Serendipitously, exceptionally preserved fossils from Jurassic and Cretaceous lake deposits exposed near the ancestral homeland of the Qing in northeast China provide a wealth of information about the early stages of mammalian evolution and the emergence of birds from among dinosaurs. These remarkable specimens include mammals with surprisingly diverse inferred lifestyles, and an array of birds and closely related dinosaurs that provide key insights into the origins of feathers and flight.
Dr Corwin Sullivan is a palaeontologist and a professor of Biological Sciences at the 海角社区. Before coming to Edmonton he spent nearly ten years based at a research institute in Beijing, where he developed a strong interest in Chinese fossil vertebrates and the history of vertebrate palaeontology in China. He is the author or co-author of more than 90 peer reviewed papers and book chapters, and of the book From Fish to Human: the March of Vertebrate Life in China.
Birds and Beasts Curator Tours (English and Mandarin)
Join Isabel (Pi-Fen) Chueh, Curator of the Mactaggart Art Collection, for an insightful guided tour of Birds & Beasts. Isabel will provide an in-depth overview of the exhibition, explore the significance of dress in Qing society, and lead a lively discussion about the birds and beasts depicted on the rank badges showcased. This opportunity to engage directly with the curator promises a memorable and enriching experience you won’t want to miss!
- Thursday, April 24, 2025 (Mandarin)
- Friday, April 25, 2025 (English)
Both tours run from 12:00 pm until 1:00 pm MST
Partnered Programs
Introduction to Embroidery Featuring Birds & Beasts from the Mactaggart Art Collection
Thursday April, 24, 2025
2:00 pm to 4:00 pm MST
Location - Telus International Centre - Room 134
Cost: Free! All supplies will be provided.
Join us for a free beginner embroidery workshop hosted by the 海角社区 Museums in collaboration with Campus and Community Recreation.
Learn basic embroidery techniques from an experienced instructor as you create an embroidery project inspired by our new exhibition Birds & Beasts. You'll also get a tour of the exhibition led by our knowledgeable curatorial team.
Registration is required. Each individual must fill out their own form.
Maximum 20 participants. Individuals on the waitlist will be contacted if a spot becomes available.
Gallery Discovery Mornings
Join us for some free family fun while exploring the Birds & Beasts exhibit. Once a month we will have thematic family-friendly drop-in activities, including crafts, to engage your family with our exhibition. See our schedule below for each Saturday's theme and activities! Attendance is drop-in.
April 5, 2025 | 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Discovering Our Birds & Beasts: An Introduction for Families
Activities: Bingo, Badges, and Buttons
Explore the objects on display through our Birds & Beasts Bingo cards. Use what you've learned about our Chinese textiles to create your own rank badge that expresses who you are! You can also turn your favourite Bird or Beast into a button to wear home.
May 10, 2025 | 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Symbols in the Sky: A Guided Journey
Activities: Guided Tours and Paper Kites
Join one of our gallery attendants for a family-friendly guided mini-tour of the exhibition. Tours will be 10-15 minutes long and will run throughout the hour. Draw inspiration from the exhibit to decorate a paper kite with symbols important to you. We'll assist you in assembling your kite, and then you can take it home to fly!
June 7, 2025 | 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Textile Tales: Children's Story Time
Activities: Children's Stories and Build-A-Beast Bookmarks
Come join us for a cozy storytime featuring a delightful selection of children's books for kids ages 2 to 8. Children will have the opportunity to create a beast of their imagination on a paper bookmark to take home. Plus, there will be plenty of time to explore the exhibition too!
Group Bookings and Tours
For group tours of Birds & Beasts (any group larger than 10 people), please contact museums@ualberta.ca (780-492-5834) to book a visit to see the exhibition.
We are able to offer:
- Dedicated time in the exhibition outside of regular gallery hours to fit your schedule.
- A guided tour of the exhibition from gallery staff
- Additional programming as requested
- Special 海角社区 Museums give-aways
There is no charge to book group tours.
Workshops
Birds & Beasts and the 海角社区 Museums are able to host free workshops for teams on and off campus for up to 20 individuals. Workshops include a private exhibition viewing and can include creative writing or hands-on artistic activities. Please contact museums@ualberta.ca (780-492-5834) for more information and to book your workshop.
Accessibility
Descriptive Entrance to Telus: /museums/visit-explore/exhibitions/descriptive-entrance-to-telus-international-centre.html