My Years Restoring Artifacts at the Palace Museum

An ancient bell rings before dawn. What people call gods and ghosts can sometimes be right before our eyes, for the things we see are often the best at deceiving us. A melody rings out, separating yin from yang. We glimpse dreams sealed away in the river of a thousand years of history, transmigrate through ancient tombs and old houses, and uncover secrets whose true faces have long been hidden. Heaven gave us eyes so we would see only the light we are allowed to see, forgetting that the darkness holds what we most need to understand. With a pupil jade, an eye forged in underworld fire, we gaze through the farthest reaches of darkness. What lies beyond: the fall of a god, or the legend of an era? Porcelain from the Tang Dynasty, woodwork from the Song Dynasty, goldwork from the Yuan Dynasty, stonework from the Ming Dynasty, and bronze vessels from the Qing Dynasty. Behind every dynasty lies a series of untold truths, and the source of these truths must surely be found by speaking of those ancient artifacts