Peace and Harmony Gallery, Imperial Museum

Welcome to peace and harmony, even if it is only for a little while. It comes to you through the Peace and Harmony Gallery, presented in my Imperial Museum.

The Imperial Museum is possible, thanks to the advance of technology, which allows for constant changes around us. And the changes might have left many of us bewildered.

For example, new models of mobile phones and electronic devices appear monthly, if not daily. The question is: How can we benefit from the advance of the new, and maintain the wisdom of the old?

Despite being a veteran of the technology industry, which is forever searching for new frontiers, I have often pondered the difficulty of keeping our heritage, in order to retain the values of the old. It is not the new advancement that is causing the problem. The difficulty is with unthinking people, who carelessly discard ageless wisdom as obsolete disposables.

I was brought up in a time when something broke, it was repaired. Nowadays, it would simply be replaced by something new. New concepts replace old values: scheming replaces morality; deceit replaces honesty; self-interest replaces self-restraint; money-making replaces fair play.

Old beliefs are no more.

If this goes on, we will lose it all. We simply should not abandon the tried-and-true fundamental principles, which have guided us through history.

We should be true and honest to ourselves. Gather up our courage, stop being cynical, and do what we know is right. Build on our heritage. And with our heritage, we may boldly step into the future.

It is always better to build than to destroy. Appreciating the old, we shall build a new world with both modern innovations and proven old world values, which our future generations may be proud of.

Simply thinking about how to keep the knowledge of our heritage alive is not enough, so that is why I have been collecting historical artifacts and supporting similar exhibitions.

I want to share our ancestors' creativity and artistry with Peace and Harmony in mind during the world's most prosperous times. These items were selected for and by the monarchs, and have somehow managed to survive the centuries.

Based on the positive feedback and public sentiment over our last few exhibitions and, finally after the last exhibition in 2009 (www.Xiang-he.org), I decided to set up a museum to provide a more lasting display home for the artifacts.

The museum is called the Imperial Museum, because most collections are related to Imperial Palaces. It is so called also because my family have a long lineage back to the Emperor of the Chou Dynasty.

I hope you will like your visit and continue to think about and value our past.

And be sure to share your thoughts which I will value as a great tribute to the Imperial Museum.

Paul Kan

Note: H. E. Paul Kan, CBE, GCM, Comm OSSI, Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, SBS, JP is Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Hungary; Chairman of A Better Tomorrow; Patron of International Foundation for Art Research; and Member of the Arts and Treasures Evaluation Committee of the Ministry of Culture of China.