The collecting and connoisseurship of ancient antiquities has been going on since the Han Dynasty. Palaces and imperial storehouses tried to promote ideology or political views with the collected cultural treasures; stratum of scholars hoped to establish their own identity, cultural identity and separation with collection; ancients aspired to enrich themselves in ideas and have dialogues with their past generations to expand the time and space of life. Connoisseurship, growing with collections, depends heavily on people’s appreciation and judgment. With long-time visual training and cultural immersion, people will sharpen their intuitive discernment and judgment. During constant identification and investigation, the collecting and connoisseurship in Chinese art history is full of wonders and mysteries.

The Symposium, held in Zhejiang University from November 11th to 12th, aims at addressing and clarifying some topics in the history of collecting and connoisseurship so as to promote the studies on Chinese art history and contemporary cultural construction. The Symposium was hosted by Zhejiang University, sponsored by Zhejiang University Institute of Cultural Heritage, Museum of Art and Archeology, and co-organized by the editorial board of Complete Collections of the Paintings Throughout Chinese History and Union for the Development of Culture and Genetics Disciplines (Preparatory). The experts and scholars from the Palace Museum in Taipei and Beijing, Art Museum of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Freer and Sackler, the Smithsonian Museums of Asian Art as well as Zhejiang University, China Central Academy of Fine Arts, Taiwan University, University of California, Brown University and other institutions of higher learning delivered wonderful speeches and conducted in-depth discussions.