Poster for the exhibition at M Woods Museum. [Photo provided to wuxi.gov.cn]
The Monkey King-themed exhibition recently opened at the M Woods Museum in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, marking the official opening of the museum.
Entering this art space, transformed from the Chen Wenzheng Memorial Hall, feels like time folds in on itself. The traditional Jiangnan garden layout — featuring pavilions, towers, winding paths, and courtyards — replaces typical white-box galleries, creating a distinctive setting for the exhibition.
Xiao Hui, a viewer born in the 1990s, said, "It's a whole different experience from usual art galleries. Visiting the exhibition in the old houses with pavilions, towers, and courtyards is so exciting. The exhibits appear to grow in the environment, making it a very immersive and engaging experience."
The exhibition is divided into sections based on the classic scenes from the animation Havoc in Heaven, including Huaguo Mountain Paradise, the East Sea Dragon King's Palace Adventure, and Peach Garden Frolic.
This exhibition displays over 100 precious original archives of Havoc in Heaven for the first time, including storyboard scripts, character design drafts, scene background sketches, original sketches, and celluloid originals.
The exhibition also reveals to more people that the deeply ingrained animated images and scenes from Havoc in Heaven were created by the Wuxi-born artists Zhang Guangyu and Zhang Zhengyu. They incorporated the essence of local folk arts such as Huishan clay figurines and Wuxi paper horses into their works, resulting in this widely recognized animated classic.
Address: Yingyuli Block, No 18 Baoshan Road, Liangxi district, Wuxi (无锡市梁溪区宝善街18号映月里)
Time: 11 am to 7 pm from Tuesday to Sunday
Date: Until Nov 16
