Professor Dame Jessica Rawson, a world-renowned scholar of Chinese art and archaeology, will visit CUHK in late January as Distinguished Visiting Professor at The Department of Fine Arts and the Institute of Chinese Studies. Professor Rawson will deliver three public lectures that guide the audience through millennia of history, exploring ancient artefacts and the stories they reveal.

Professor Rawson had worked over 20 years at the British Museum, where she curated major exhibitions on Chinese art, before taking up key leadership roles at the University of Oxford. There, she advanced the field of Sinology and established the Oxford China Centre. She is a recipient of the Tang Prize in Sinology and the Charles Lang Freer Medal.

The public lectures will explore ancient Chinese artefacts from jade and palaces to ceremonial horses, revealing how art, rituals and culture shaped the past of China. This Visiting Scholar programme is generously supported by the Bei Shan Tang Foundation.

Lecture 1: China’s Unique Architecture: A New View from Recent Archaeological Discoveries

Date: 29 January 2026 (Thursday)

Time: 4:30pm – 6:15 pm (Tea Reception at 4 pm)

Venue: Cho Yiu Hall, University Administration Building, CUHK

Abstract: Explore the origins of China’s monumental platforms — structures that predate the grand wooden palaces we know today — and learn how geography and material shaped architectural traditions.

Jointly organised by the Department of Fine Arts and the Institute of Chinese Studies, CUHK

Lecture 2: Jade and Gold: Chinese and Eurasian Cultures Compared

Date: 31 January 2026 (Saturday)

Time: 3:00pm – 4:30 pm

Venue: The Hong Kong Jockey Club Auditorium, Hong Kong Palace Museum

Abstract: Discover how jade in China and gold in Western Asia became emblems of power, and trace the exchanges along the Eurasian Steppe that transformed societies.

Jointly organised by the Department of Fine Arts and the Hong Kong Palace Museum

Lecture 3: The Dancing Horses of the Tang and Their Predecessors

Date: 4 February 2026 (Wednesday)

Time: 4:30pm – 6:15 pm (Tea Reception at 4 pm)

Venue: Activities Room, 2/F, East Wing, Art Museum, CUHK

Abstract: Step into the Tang dynasty court to meet its legendary dancing horses and uncover the Central Asian connections behind their elegance.

Jointly organised by Department of Fine Arts and Institute of Chinese Studies, CUHK