The ‘2026 International Symposium on Chinese Export Art’, co-organised by the Hong Kong Maritime Museum and City University of Hong Kong, concluded successfully on the 13th of October. Sponsored by the Susan Chen Foundation, the two-day event attracted more than 300 participants from universities, museums, cultural institutions and independent research organisations across 12 countries and regions, reflecting growing international interest in the study of Chinese export art.

Inspired by Hong Kong’s unique role as a cultural bridge between East and West, the symposium convened over 40 internationally renowned and emerging scholars, museum leaders, curators, researchers and cultural practitioners to exchange ideas and share their latest research on Chinese export art. Through keynote addresses, panel discussions and networking sessions, participants explored the global significance of Chinese export art and its role in shaping artistic, commercial and cultural exchanges across Asia and beyond.

The symposium commenced with an opening ceremony featuring welcome remarks by Richard Kendall, director and chief executive of the Hong Kong Maritime Museum; Ching May Bo, associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences, City University; and Eugenie Hardy, general manager of the Susan Chen Foundation.

Kendall said, “I believe that the combination of history, exchange, material culture and global connection makes our museum a particularly fitting setting for a symposium on Chinese export art. It is a great pleasure to host you here in Hong Kong. We received 133 paper proposals and have welcomed more than 160 registered delegates. Those figures are impressive, but what matters most is what they represent: a vibrant, international and increasingly interdisciplinary field of study.”

Professor Ching said, “In this age of digital technologies, it is even more important for researchers to have the chance to look at real objects and to engage our brains through physical and sometimes mental and emotional interactions with things. This is why we treasure the collaboration between tertiary institutions and museums. We are delighted to have the chance to work with institutions like the Hong Kong Maritime Museum which attaches great importance to the study of objects.”

Hardy said, “We are delighted that, alongside leading scholars and professionals, the symposium provides a platform for new researchers — giving them the opportunity not only to present their research, but also to exchange ideas with established experts and become members of a wider scholar community.”

Two keynote speeches

The programme featured two distinguished keynote speeches. Zhao Feng, professor at Zhejiang University, presented In Search of Chinese Rooms: Reconstructing the Knowledge System through Export Art, exploring how Chinese export art can contribute to a broader understanding of ways of life at that time and China’s cultural history. Zhao said, “In ‘Chinese rooms’ in Europe, we have the precious Chinese wallpapers, expression of fashion in that period. What we can see in the ‘Chinese rooms’ across Europe acts as a microcosm of China and a carrier of Chinese knowledge. Through Chinese export art, we can understand not only the artistic styles, but also the people, their ways of life.”

The second keynote speaker, Karina Corrigan, deputy chief curator Peabody Essex Museum, delivered An Enduring Legacy and a Path Forward: Dr. H. A. Crosby Forbes and the Invention of Asian Export Art History, examining the evolution of Asian export art studies over the past decades and the enduring relevance of Chinese export art in understanding global trade and cultural exchange. Corrigan said, “I think these export art items are very much reflective of the extraordinary goods that are participating in the world’s first global network, from China, from Japan, from India to the other side of the world. So these cross-cultural art items are a lens toward Asia.”

The symposium highlighted a series of thematic panels covering topics that included European and Chinese artistic dialogue, global markets and consumption, object adaptation, emerging researchers, regional trade networks, natural history and architecture, and visual culture. Across these discussions, scholars examined Chinese export art as a powerful force in global cultural exchange. The panels explored how porcelain, paintings and other decorative arts circulated across continents, were reinterpreted by different societies, and connected people, ideas, technologies and aesthetics through maritime trade networks. Together, the discussions demonstrated the enduring importance of Chinese export art in understanding the interconnected history of the early modern world.