Project
The project began with Vanke Real Estate’s plan to build a museum related to Zhang Zhidong at the former site of the Hanyang Ironworks in Wuhan. Diameter Narrative Design was commissioned by the person in charge of Vanke to undertake the curatorial narrative design of the exhibition hall’s interior. When we took over the project, our understanding of Zhang Zhidong himself and the historical background at that time was still superficial. Therefore, in the following nearly one year, we conducted research on related content centered around Zhang Zhidong.
Zhang Zhidong became a high-ranking jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) in 1863. In the late Qing Dynasty, like many literati who experienced the ups and downs of the troubled times, he traveled from place to place in search of official positions to implement his political and ideological beliefs. The nineteen years he spent in Wuhan were an extremely important period in his life, during which he devoted his political aspirations and belief in serving the country and the people to his duties as the Governor of Huguang. Therefore, when we consider building a museum related to Zhang Zhidong in Wuhan, this period is the focus. However, it seems inappropriate to only tell his life story. His hometown is Nanpi, Hebei Province, where there is already a personal exhibition hall dedicated to Zhang Zhidong. Moreover, Zhang Zhidong’s life did not solely revolve around Wuhan. After conducting extensive research, we found that Zhang Zhidong, as a representative, made an indelible contribution to the modernization process of Wuhan. The scattered architectural remains of the city, the drip of modern life, the long years experienced by the elderly, and the classrooms filled with the sound of reading, are all imprinted with tangible and intangible marks left by that reform. Therefore, we have named the museum Zhang Zhidong and Wuhan Museum and established two narrative threads in the exhibition hall: “Zhang Zhidong’s Identity and Role” and “Zhang Zhidong and the Modernization Reform of Wuhan”, intended to tell the story of Zhang Zhidong and the city of Wuhan.
With the overall thread established, the challenge lay in arranging the scattered fragments of knowledge like morning stars within the vast museum space. We harnessed resources from various sources, conducted on-site visits, gathered relevant books, interviewed experts on modern Chinese history from universities, and reviewed materials from museums both domestically and internationally. After integrating these resources, we organized them into specific themes following the established thread.
In each specific theme, we also tend to select information that is representative and can resonate with contemporary audiences. For example, in the exhibition area of “Modern Wuhan Newspaper Industry and Urban Public Culture”, an important aspect of Zhang Zhidong’s “Hubei New Deal” was to promote the integration of Chinese and Western cultures. He established newspapers to enlighten the public. We selected reports about “establishing women’s schools” from the newspapers. The newspapers hung are replicas of the publications at that time, and the text on the glass is the corresponding vernacular translation. This topic is also a social hotspot today, and Zhang Zhidong’s style as an enlightened governor in guiding social freedom and advocating modern civilization can be seen from this.
Exhibitions have always been a contemporary cultural product that serves the audience, so we have built a concise explanation between slightly obscure historical information and ordinary audiences. Zhang Zhidong’s “Exhortation to Study” was written in 1898, presenting his own complex thoughts. The flipping layout of one black and one white is a partial excerpt of the original text and a vernacular translation of this book, and the transition between simplicity and complexity seems to be a dialogue between the audience and the ancients. The emphasis on language is also reflected in our naming of titles, such as the modern vocabulary used in the newspaper industry and public culture mentioned earlier. The “Screening Room: Searching for Zhang Zhidong” exhibition area uses the act of searching to bring Wuhan’s past and present closer, and to unfold a dialogue between two generations’ understanding of history through a gentle and simple lens.
The reform that ushered Wuhan into modernization did not end after Zhang Zhidong’s departure. It transformed into a seed that spurred the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, thanks to Wuhan’s embrace of new ideologies and the availability of suitable political and economic conditions. The outcomes of the Hubei New Deal continue to influence today. The construction of the Jinghan Railway has maintained Wuhan’s reputation as a thoroughfare connecting nine provinces, benefiting the people of today. History progresses in a spiral manner, and people today are inevitably influenced by the past. Therefore, when we curate narratives, we are accustomed to seeking connections between the past and the present, whether it be a person, a company, or a city, none of which are isolated entities. The individual we are about to narrate forms a dense network with the world of that time, with small holes interspersed to connect the real world outside the network. The interplay between the inside and outside constitutes the narrative content.
Spatial
Before we accepted the commission from Vanke Real Estate, the museum had already been built by architect Daniel Libeskind. When we stepped into the interior space of the pavilion, we realized its complexity. Unlike typical museums, under the architect’s vision, this space is more like an open theater, with the exhibition halls concentrated on the third, fourth, and fifth floors. The third floor is basically a semi-circle, while the fourth and fifth floors are fan-shaped, unfolding around a concentric circle. Faced with the actual conditions, we took advantage of the situation and thought about the relationship between space and exhibits. Physical exhibits only seem to be exhibits when they are placed in a museum, and this condition of being placed in the museum also limits the size of the physical objects that can be chosen. Documentation and related professional research are often not presented as effective exhibits in museums. In Zhang Zhidong and Wuhan Museum, we broadened the extension of exhibits. The purpose of the audience to visit the exhibition is to acquire knowledge, learn history, and gain understanding. Therefore, any way that can enable the audience to achieve this idea can be called an exhibit in a certain sense, and a museum that integrates all exhibits is a larger exhibit.
Therefore, we have created new narrative installations, such as the “Evolution from Traditional Urban Pattern to Modern Three Towns of Wuhan” exhibition area. Some installations can also create spaces with a strong sense of scene. In the “Zhang Zhidong’s Think Tank” exhibition area, visitors stand under a hemispherical starry sky installation and look up to see Zhang Zhidong’s numerous advisors. His ability to carry out such comprehensive and profound reforms in Wuhan relied on the advice and strategies of insightful people both domestically and internationally. These names are arranged disorderly in the starry sky, forming a “Zhang Zhidong+” brain of wisdom. Visitors can use this meaningful exhibit to expand their imagination.
In addition, the museum itself features a theater-like, irregular space, with numerous leftover spaces created by slopes and slanted exterior walls, which we have transformed into an extraordinary exhibition experience through reasonable and effective design. In the “Map” exhibition area, we evenly placed dozens of projections on the largest fan-shaped slope facing the square. Although Wuhan today has taken on a new look compared to the reform period, there are still remnant buildings in the city. Visitors walk through the urban relics one by one through the projections, and then face the square, with the former site of the Hanyang Iron Works, organized and built by Zhang Zhidong, just outside the window. Human beings themselves are like a drop in the ocean, and only thoughts and the practices they generate can inspire future generations. Wuhan is truly a “Zhang Zhidong Museum”.
We have not neglected or abandoned traditional exhibits. In narrating Zhang Zhidong’s military reforms in Wuhan, we replicated the “Made in Hanyang” products produced by the Hanyang Arsenal at that time. In the “Exploration of Modern Enterprise Systems” exhibition area, physical boundary tablets, old photographs, paper artifacts, and other items are integrated into historical narratives. We use a combination of exhibits and text to tell the story of the corporate restructuring process led by the Hanyeping Company.
When visitors step into the three-story space inside the museum, they will see the bronze statue of Zhang Zhidong created by sculptor Li He, as well as the “Light of the Thoroughfare” installation created by installation artist Zhou Wendou, both of which are specially crafted exhibits for the museum.
We refer to the form of participation by all parties involved in the project as the “exhibition crew”. Telling stories through exhibitions is akin to a film crew shooting a movie. Our starting point is to have a core team with backgrounds from different design and content disciplines. The internal work will be cross-integrated, which differs from the conventional exhibition approach of writing texts with experts and then seeking design forms. This is like a film crew, where screenwriters, directors, cinematographers, art directors, actors, lighting technicians, sound recordists, and others form a complex and intertwined combination. Everyone coordinates within the team, but when there is a lack of understanding of the subject matter, external experts or corresponding creative resources will be linked.
This team-based curatorial work model is an innovation we have made based on our own situation, and the exhibitions designed through this practice also carry a dramatic tension. In the section of “Modern School Education Combining Chinese and Western Elements”, we placed four desks of different sizes representing kindergarten, primary school, middle school, and university. However, when the audience actually sits in front of the desks and chairs, they will find that the university desk is even larger than the desk that fits an adult’s body, which is not the actual size. The exaggerated disparity is intended to allow the audience in the space to better imagine different classroom scenarios.
The “Beijing-Hankou Railway Journey Ring” runs through the entire museum space, with the Beijing-Hankou Railway timetable engraved on the iron ring. At regular intervals, the timetable lights up in red with the sound of “click” as the train arrives, simulating the scene of railway operation, which serves as the background music for the entire exhibition.
The “Modern Urban Professional Population” section is a triangular prism space with inward depth, which the audience can freely enter. The rotating clock gears resemble scenes from Charlie Chaplin’s movies, and the images on the dial show different professional images. The outer dial hands display the working hours of the profession, and the dial size corresponds to the number of employees in each industry. The modernization reform broke the life law of small-scale agricultural economy that rested at sunset, and time became a rule that bound people, which was an irresistible step towards modern civilization.
Audience
Exhibitions are always meant for people to view, built in the contemporary era and serving the contemporary era. An exhibition does not fulfill its mission upon its debut, but rather when the audience has visited the entire exhibition. The museum is a container, and the audience’s reflections after viewing the exhibition, the check-in photos posted on social platforms, and subsequent continuous learning and thinking all represent new additions to the container. As long as there are audiences, the exhibition is not over. At the Zhang Zhidong and Wuhan Museum, we have set up diverse participation methods for the audience.
Immersive experience. In the “Timeline of Zhang Zhidong’s Life,” we narrate his life in stages and list important time nodes. However, these nodes are not expressed in the form of chronology, but rather inform the audience of Zhang Zhidong’s age at that time. After becoming an adult, he was appointed as the educational administrator of Sichuan at the age of 36, already past the age of 50 when one’s life is at its prime. At the age of 52, he took up the post of Governor-General of Huguang, marking the beginning of his 18-year tenure as the governor of Hubei and Guangdong. As the audience ascends the stairs, they can immerse themselves in the role of Zhang Zhidong himself, with the events on the wall representing his personal experiences. Life has limits, but destiny knows no bounds. Perhaps the audience can gain some inspiration from Zhang Zhidong’s life.
Similarly, in the final exhibition area of the entire museum, “The Loneliness of a Reformer”, we also employed this technique. The dark space is illuminated only by a beam of natural light, with a support and a staircase. The audience needs to ascend the ramp to reach the platform. The content that can be read on the support is full of various criticisms and insults directed at Zhang Zhidong by public opinion at that time. Whether it was right or wrong, future generations can freely comment, but can we truly understand Zhang Zhidong’s own feelings to any extent.
Side view. In the section of “Prison Administration Reform in Modern Wuhan”, the audience bends down to observe through the prison window, momentarily overlapping with the prison guards, thus entering their perspective. On the other side of the window is a black-and-white animation depicting Zhang Zhidong’s prison administration reform in Wuhan. In the “Public Management” exhibition area, we place the old surveillance system in a semi-circular enclosure, allowing the audience to enter the perspective of the staff at that time, observing through the screen in front of them the construction of urban public infrastructure by Zhang Zhidong.
It is our responsibility to select appropriate content from the vast sea of knowledge, but how the audience understands and digests it is their own business. We are storytellers, not authorities. Therefore, although we incorporate our own consciousness and judgment into the curation process, we do not want this to dominate the audience’s viewing experience. In the “Historians’ Perspective on Zhang Zhidong” exhibition area, we have set up a semi-enclosed space where six experts conduct a virtual symposium on the theme of Zhang Zhidong through videos. In the “Evaluation of Zhang Zhidong” section, thirty sound installations include evaluations of Zhang Zhidong from different eras and countries. We hope to piece together a relatively complete and authentic portrait of Zhang Zhidong. In the “Zhang Zhidong Library” exhibition area, books that Zhang Zhidong read (input) and books related to him (output) are displayed on both sides of the stairs. From these, we may glimpse Zhang Zhidong’s growth and ideological changes.
The world operates within rules and bears responsibilities. Two new projects of Diameter Narrative Design, namely the Tongyuan Pavilion and the Jinshan Chuangxiang Pavilion, are also nearing completion. We look forward to meeting everyone again soon.
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