Emperor qian long
sees the world
in poems
Palace, now Palace Museum quirk
Qian Long’s poem placed
upside down
an upside down poem
romance of the the carver and
the emperor poet
The Manchus advanced
Han culture and territories
more than the Han themselves
The Manchu Emperor carved his poems on jade and wrote poems over ancient paintings he loved. In fact at the Palace Museum you can see his poetry written almost every imaginable objects. Poetry was
his passion and when you had an emperor who loved it so much, you cannot help but put up with his art.
Qian Long had asked his imperial sculptor to carve one of his poems on a sacred jade tablet. The man did not understand the function of the tablet but went on to carve the poem in the wrong direction.
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