All in the Best Possible Taste?

Porcelain fragments put to good use.

There are some choice items, however. They include porcelain mosaics of different animals, sceneries, and Chinese characters. The mosaic eagle is a truly handsome bird, while the snub-nosed tiger is somehow engaging, if perhaps a little anatomically challenged!

I must say that some of the ceiling designs, too, have been excellently executed.

Zhang Lianzhi, meanwhile, insists that it has all been done in the best possible taste. “The design is based on my understanding of antique porcelain and traditional Chinese culture,” he once explained. “The experience is like a child building his dream house with toy bricks. With such a large amount of porcelain pieces, all I needed was my imagination to create and explore.”

Many would argue that used in this way, these antique artifacts are now worthless. Zhang retorts that antiques are not things that can be conserved only in storage houses. To his mind he is giving his collection a new lease of life by presenting them to the public. “I want to share my enthusiasm for the collection with many more people. For the past 20 years, I have taken great enjoyment in studying the stories and history behind these ceramics. It would be both a pity and a waste if the joy of all these fabulous works of art were to be confined solely to me.”

If you are wondering how Zhang could afford to compile such a museum, it turns out that he was born to a wealthy Tianjin family, and also owns a profitable Cantonese-style restaurant chain. Having been a collector of antique porcelain for well over 20 years, perhaps he just ran out of space in which to store it all.

One of his latest acquisitions is a fully functional Land Rover covered with approximately 10,000 pieces of antique ceramics. It has an estimated worth of around RMB 1 million. Although its owner is reluctant to put a price tag on China House, certain “experts” have evaluated the museum’s worth as at least RMB 2 billion.

The U.S. Huffington Post has listed China House as one of the world’s 15 most stunning museums. Rumors even abound that Bill Gates wanted to buy it, but was refused.

This all goes to show, I suppose, that there is no single definition of good taste, and that beauty really does lie in the eye of the beholder.

BRIAN SALTER is a broadcaster and journalist who has been working in China for the past five years.