Theme:Winged Horse Flying with the Prairie Wind——The Exhibition of the Prairie Cultural Relics and Folkloric Lifestyle

       Time: 2016.8.31—10.30

       Place: Dengyongqing Gallery, Xuzhou Museum

       Ili River Valley, located in the northwest frontier of China, is one of the most fertile land in the western China, with a reputation as “Chiangnan Beyond the Great Wall”, “The Hometown of Winged Horse”. The beauty of Ili River Valley consists of the majestic Tianshan Snow, the boundless prairie and the tranquil pastoral people. It was often said that if you do not come to Xinjiang, you will not know how vast of China; if you do not come to Ili, you will not know how beautiful the Xinjiang is.

       Ili River Valley is suitable for pasture and agriculture. It was the traffic hub of the northern Old Silk Road since ancient times and the intersection point of eastern and western culture. Many historic facts narrate this magnificent heaven-sent land, such as Darouzhi intruded Sairen, two missions to western region by Zhangqian, the connection marriage of princess Xijun and Jieyou and the Kings of Wusun, Genghis Khan westward marched to Chagatai Khanate, the establishment of Ili General’s Office by Qing Government and the recovering of Xinjiang by General Zuo Zongtang.

       2016 is the first year of counterpart supporting Xinjiang of the 13th Five-year Plan. As the important node cities of the national strategy “Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road”, the culture communication of Xuzhou and Ili has the historic and realistic significance. Xuzhou, as the origin of Han culture and the hometown of princess Jieyou, has a profound historical source with Ili. This exhibition, just like a winded horse flying with prairie wind along the “the belt and road”, is the extension of the culture communication of Silk Road. Meanwhile, this exhibition provides Xuzhou people a rich cultural feast.