"No ordinary trip abroad"

John Gibb travelled to Shanghai to cover the opening of Otago Museum’s Te Ao Māori exhibition at the Shanghai Museum, supported by a grant from the Asia New Zealand Foundation.

The lift sways slightly disconcertingly as it rises to the 94th floor of the Shanghai World Financial Centre, the world's second-tallest skyscraper. Even if you are a lover of heights, which a few of us are not, you quickly realise, as the lift rushes higher, this is not going to be any ordinary trip abroad.

Spending 55 seconds soaring to the 94th floor of this great skyscraper in Pudong, Shanghai, is not merely to travel somewhere in a lift but is also to undergo some kind of mini-life journey.

A diffuse bright light displayed high on a lift panel perhaps also hints at some kind of spiritual voyage.

After emerging with Otago Museum delegation members from the high-speed lift, you soon enter another and continue your climb to the 101st floor. There, more adventurous visitors can, thanks to modern transparent tiles, peer directly down to the ground.

This award-winning skyscraper was completed in 2008, and, at 492 metres, is the tallest building in the People's Republic of China.

Far below, heedless of gaping visitors above, the Huangpu River, a tributary of the Yangtze River, runs calmly on its way to the East China Sea.

Later, a few storeys below, museum delegation members enjoy a cup of coffee in a café before returning to a life at street level which, in some subtle ways, may never be quite the same again.

My first visit to Dunedin's Chinese sister city Shanghai was with a 16-strong delegation from the Otago Museum, including several members of the museum's Māori advisory board. It was a life-changing experience, not only for myself, but also for other delegation members, some of whom were making their first and possibly only visit to China.

Having reported on the Otago Museum and its activities for the Otago Daily Times since early 1988, I found being able to travel to Shanghai extremely interesting.

Te Ao Māori: Māori Treasures from the Otago Museum is the largest collection of artefacts the museum has ever displayed abroad. It is also the first major exhibition of Māori artefacts to be staged at a museum in China.

The exhibition features 337 artefacts, including pounamu hei tiki pendants and beautifully carved wooden objects, and was brought together through a close collaboration between the museum's Māori advisory committee and Ngāi Tahu of the east coast of the South Island.

The show also reflected the increasingly close relationship between the Otago and Shanghai museums, and a genuine interest by people in Shanghai to learn more about ancient links between Chinese and Māori culture. Shanghai Museum vice-director Professor Chen Kelun said that many aspects of Māori culture corresponded to Chinese culture, such as a shared love of jade and a similarity in the motifs used in Māori flax work and Chinese textiles.

The day before the exhibition opened, Otago Museum delegation members gave a kapa haka performance at the Shanghai Museum. Otago University Associate Professor John Broughton gave a popular public lecture on Māori culture and heritage, which was attended by more than 500 people.

The week's highlight was the formal opening of the exhibition, followed by an evening gala dinner attended by senior Shanghai Museum officials.

Otago Museum experience and development director Clare Wilson said the exhibition opening had gone exceptionally well. The exhibition also represented “a great step forward” both for the sister-city relationship, and New Zealand's overall ties with China.

Though relationships between cities and museums were enshrined in written agreements, it was ultimately the friendships and goodwill of individual people that brought them to fruition. "Ultimately, on the ground, it's people dealing with people. That's the key."

I found the trip rewarding on many levels, personally and professionally. Before I went I had tried to build some knowledge of spoken Mandarin, and certainly found it useful to listen to spoken Chinese during my visit.

I also appreciated the helpfulness of Asia:NZ staff –  including in providing invaluable tips such as to watch for oncoming bicycles and motorcycles when using the pedestrian crossings in Shanghai!

• Te Ao Māori: Māori Treasures from the Otago Museum  runs from 21 July to 6 November 2011 at the Shanghai Museum.

Images:
1. Former Dunedin mayor Peter Chin (second from left) joins Otago Museum delegation members (from left) Associate Prof John Broughton, Suzanne Ellison, Koa Whitau Kean, Dr Jim Williams and Matapura Ellison (the latter both partly obscured), Moana Wesley and Alby Ellison at the exhibition opening celebrations. Image courtesy of Otago Museum.
2. Shanghai Museum, which is hosting the exhibition.