Hong Kong Palace Museum’s deputy director on its mission – education – and what led to a job that’s beyond her wildest dreams

Daisy Wang Yiyou, deputy director of the museum that’s expected to open in July, reflects on the ‘unprecedented’ speed at which it has gone from idea to reality

She sees its mission as promoting education about national history and culture, and her role as one that builds on her experience working for American museums

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Daisy Wang Yiyou, deputy director of the Hong Kong Palace Museum, describes working there as beyond her wildest dreams. She is preparing for its opening this summer. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Enid Tsui

Published: 12:45pm, 29 Apr 2022Updated: 9:02am, 4 May 2022

Corrected [8:58am, 4 May, 2022]

[8:58am, 4 May, 2022]
(An earlier version of this story incorrectly spelled Daisy Wang Yiyou. The story has been corrected).

No amount of urging will get Daisy Wang Yiyou, deputy director of the new Hong Kong Palace Museum, to reveal anything about the 900 artworks and antiques coming from the Palace Museum, in Beijing’s Forbidden City.

Wang is one of only a few who know what the exhibits are going to be, when they will arrive, where they are now and how the museum in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District can install everything in time for its planned July opening.

We have been told that next month, when the press are taken around the finished building with Rocco Yim Sen-kee, they will only see empty display cases. Yim is the architect behind the building beside Victoria Harbour, whose design is said to invoke the architectural and cultural essence of its Beijing namesake.

This late, mad dash to the finish line has to do with keeping irreplaceable and important historical artefacts out of harm’s way, among which will be an unknown number of those designated top “grade 1” national treasures.

The Hong Kong Palace Museum is expected to open in July. Photo: May Tse

According to Wang, that involves last-minute checks on the condition not just of the candidates for shipment to Hong Kong but climate control, the suitability of the display cases (made by Italian firm Goppion) and security arrangements.

The lead time, too, for the museum – first announced in 2016 by Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, then Hong Kong’s No 2 official – has been unprecedented, Wang says. “To build a building, select the artworks, develop the educational materials and programmes [within that time frame] is a really big constraint.”