A Grand Feast of History: Emperors Kangxi and Louis XIV Take the Stage Together in October

Written/Compiled by Li Xinyi

The National Palace Museum’s annual blockbuster exhibition “Emperor Kangxi and Sun King Louis XIV” opens on October 3 this year. Alongside the artifact exhibition, the museum has partnered with Miaoli County Government to present the opera art feast “Emperor Kangxi and Sun King Louis XIV.” The script is penned by renowned Taiwanese writer Zhang Dachun, directed and starring Taiwan’s Peking Opera master Wu Hsing-kuo as Emperor Kangxi—the longest-reigning, diligent, and benevolent monarch in Chinese history. The role of Louis XIV is played by the acclaimed baroque music star Jean François Novelli, creating an extraordinary performance where Kunqu opera meets baroque music in a grand production of the year.

The opera “Emperor Kangxi and Sun King Louis XIV” features 45 actors, 45 musicians, and a production team of over 100 staff members both onstage and behind the scenes, assembling talent from East and West as well as Chinese artistic creators—making for a powerhouse cast. The performance will be held outdoors at the main hall of the National Palace Museum on October 15 and 16, 2010, and at the Miaoli Arena from October 21 to 23. Through vivid dramatic storytelling, it revives the splendid historical civilizations and cultural exchanges between China and the West during the 17th and 18th centuries.

The National Palace Museum’s special exhibition “Emperor Kangxi and Sun King Louis XIV” not only displays precious artifacts, paintings, documents, and ancient volumes from the Kangxi era in the museum’s collection but also collaborates and borrows exhibits from multiple international museums, including the Palace Museum in Beijing, the Shenyang Palace Museum, the Palace of Versailles Museum in France, and the Louvre Museum in France, among fifteen participating institutions. With refined and intricate content, the exhibition fully presents the cultural exchanges between Emperor Kangxi (1662–1722) and King Louis XIV (1643–1715) during the 17th and 18th centuries.