Qing Dynasty Stories: US exhibition offers rare glimpse into lives of China's imperial women

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03:09

We begin today's show with a rare glimpse into the life of China's imperial court. For centuries, the FOCUS has been on China's emperors -- now it's time to learn about the women around him. Meet the Empresses in the Forbidden City who defied expectations and helped DEFINE a dynasty.

"Welcome to the Peabody Essex Museum."

DAISY YIYOU WANG CO-CURATOR, 'THE EMPRESSES OF CHINA'S FORBIDDEN CITY'"Their life is relatively unknown and also their life story could also be told through some spectacular objects."

"That's why we want to feature women in this particular exhibition to tell their stories."

"Just like in many other cultures, in China historically, there is relatively less textural evidence about women than about men."

"We didn't know from historical records how she feels, what she saw. But we want to help our visitors to imagine."

JACKIE MUSTO MUSEUM VISITOR "Hi, I'm Jackie Musto."

"I don't know, something struck me about this piece."

"It's really interesting to see an exhibit that's focused on women from history, especially women who have otherwise been sort of ignored but played such a dramatically important role to a culture."

"Women always were able to maneuver in some gray areas, and women are always resilient and one very important role I think that the Qing Empresses were able to play in the court in the Qing Dynasty is that they were valued in their time -- in a hierarchical, in a patriarchal society - - for their role in the family."

"My name is Wen Teo." "It's fantastic here."

WEN TEO MUSEUM VISITOR "I had to see for myself to witness a 1000 years of history of Chinese history."

"It's Charlene Sokal." "You have to be amazed by the workmanship - which is probably the work woman-ship, really, really beautiful."

CHARLENE SOKAL MUSEUM VISITOR "So this is only from Beijing, this is from the Forbidden City. We were there some years ago and none of this type of material was available."

"My name is Yiqian Hua." "You know the Smithsonian has part of a Chinese section, they included like a lot of stuff."

YIQIAN SUAY MUSEUM VISITOR "But there are exceptions and more like a focus on one period, so it's like very rare in America."

"We want to present a complex picture about woman's role in China's history but also we want to actually break some stereotypes."

In fact, all Qing Dynasty women weren't allowed to bind their feet.

XIN WAN MUSEUM VISITOR "Xin Wan that's my Chinese name." "Empress woman, they are beautiful and you can see they have a lot of jewelry and beautiful clothes, can change the minds of the way to see, to see China."

"By doing this exhibition we are encouraging more people - particularly in the United States to love Chinese art and culture."