Recently, the results of the 19th Zhejiang Provincial Museum Exhibition Excellence Awards (2024), organized by the Zhejiang Museum Society under the guidance of the Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Heritage Bureau, were announced. The exhibition "Family and Nation: The Culture of Ningbo Lineages" by the Tianyi Pavilion Museum was honored with the "Excellence Award".

It is reported that this exhibition was an upgraded display following the restoration of the Qin Family Ancestral Hall within the Tianyi Pavilion Museum.

A century ago, the Qin Family Ancestral Hall integrated various architectural techniques of eastern Zhejiang, becoming a masterpiece among Jiangnan ancestral halls. Over the past hundred years, it has weathered storms and challenges, witnessing the legacy and vicissitudes of the Qin family, a prominent Ningbo business group in the banking industry. Today, as one of the fifth-batch of National Key Cultural Heritage Protection Sites, it writes a new chapter in the transition from heritage conservation to cultural inheritance.

The enhanced exhibition follows the concept of "architecture as the form, culture as the soul, and family-nation ties as the thread". Through four dimensions, value extraction, spatial reconfiguration, cultural preservation, and technological innovation, it reinterprets and revitalizes the traditional ancestral hall in a modern exhibition context.

Starting with the history and architecture of the Qin Family Ancestral Hall and incorporating the Tianyi Pavilion Museum’s signature collection, genealogical records, the exhibition delves deeper to unveil the progressive logic of "self-cultivation, family harmony, state governance, and world peace" embodied by the Qin Jun'an family, Ningbo’s representative lineages, and traditional Chinese families. By reflecting the "greater nation" through the lens of "smaller families", it deciphers Ningbo’s cultural DNA, showcasing the shared roots and blood ties of the Chinese people while exploring the enduring modern code of the Chinese nation.

The exhibition breaks through the spatial constraints of traditional architecture by adopting a "central axis with two wings" narrative structure. The axis, comprising the "opera stage, central hall, and rear hall", is divided into three sections, namely "Illusory Splendor", "Honoring Ancestors" and "Family Virtues", forming a thematic system of "architecture-institutions-spirit”. The side rooms serve as auxiliary lines, featuring four sub-themes of "The Qin Family and Tianyi Pavilion", "A Hundred Children at Play", "Three Golden Legacies of Ningbo" and "Tracing Roots". Through interconnected displays, the objectively scattered exhibition spaces are unified into a cohesive yet relatively independent narrative.

"The Qin Family Ancestral Hall itself is one of the highest achievements of Jiangnan ancestral hall architecture. During curation and installation, we prioritized heritage conservation as a baseline, minimizing intervention with the historic structure and courtyard to achieve harmonious coexistence between preservation and display," explained a representative of the Tianyi Pavilion Museum.

The exhibition design employs reversible installation techniques and independent support structures, with all display components and materials assembled off-site. Additionally, protective measures were implemented throughout construction, including fireproofing, anti-corrosion, and pest control treatments for all concealed wooden structures.

Notably, the exhibition enriches the visitor experience through diverse digital interactions, encouraging active exploration. For example, the "Illusory Splendor" opera stage AR zone deciphers the ingenuity of mortise-and-tenon joints, harmonizing heritage with technology. The "A Hundred Children at Play" digital hall draws inspiration from the architecture, showcasing prayers for familial prosperity and reflecting the Chinese pursuit of happiness. The "Tracing Roots" digital library helps visitors explore surname origins, even allowing them to create personalized genealogies as keepsakes.

The exhibition also released digital resources of 464 Ningbo genealogies from the museum’s collection for public access, advancing the vision of "readable architecture, tangible family values, and palpable culture".

Since its opening in October 2024, the exhibition has garnered widespread acclaim. By May this year, it had welcomed 1.12 million visitors, with a single-day peak of 15,800. Supporting events like lectures, hands-on inquiry-based learning activities, and family interactive experiencing events attracted over 18,000 participants.