Yang Li: 眼下伦敦正在举行一个同中国历史文化相关的展览，故宫收藏的一批珍贵黄袍亮相于维多利亚和阿尔伯特博物馆。大家好我是杨莉，欢迎收听《都市掠影》。For the first time in Europe, the Victoria and Albert Museum is showing the magnificent robes worn by the emperors and empresses of the Qing Dynasty, 清朝皇帝和皇后穿过的袍子。Believe it or not even Chinese people in China have not seen them! So how has the exhibition been received by the public? Earlier my colleague Emily put this question to Ming, the curator of the Imperial Chinese robes exhibition at the V&A.

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Emily: Ming, how do you think the exhibition has been received by the general public so far?

Ming: The reception of this exhibition is really great because it is not very often that Chinese robes are shown in the UK, and particularly, it is the first time that Imperial Robes from the Forbidden City, from the Palace museum, are shown in the UK. I write a blog on the V&A website and people have commented on the blog that the exhibition is both very beautiful and very educational.

Yang Li: The reception of this exhibition is really great. In other words it has been very well received. 反映很好。下面是第二个问题：为什么维多利亚和阿尔伯特博物馆决定举办这一展览呢？Listen and find out what is unique about the V&A.

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Emily: Why is the V&A, in particular, hosting this exhibition? Why did they bring these items from Beijing?

Ming: Because the V&A has a comprehensive collection of dresses and textiles from all over the world; and the V&A has always been a centre for the study of textiles and fashion. And the Palace museum, although it has this wonderful collection, it basically is not a purpose-built museum. The palaces were built for the emperors and his family to live in. So they do not have a permanent gallery to display these robes. So I think this is a wonderful opportunity, both for the UK audience, and for the Palace museum, so that people can see what objects they have in their collection, which are not normally on display.

Yang Li: 听出来了吗？The V&A 一直是纺织时装研究的中心，女裙和纺织品收集齐全。而故宫没有专门的永久性的展览厅。 我们刚才听到的关键词语包括：comprehensive collection 收集齐全 dresses and textiles 女裙和纺织品 purpose-built museum 专建博物馆 permanent gallery 永久性的展厅 on display 展出。

Yang Li: As we've heard, the Imperial Chinese robes exhibition has been very well received by the general public. I wonder what our special reporter Emily makes of it.

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Emily: I've just been in to see the Chinese Imperial Robes exhibition, with the curator Ming Wilson. Ming told me there are 85 individual items in the exhibition. And I can tell you they are exquisite; the embroidery and the colours, it's just really beautiful.

Yang Li: There are 85 individual items in the exhibition, the embroidery 意思是刺绣。They are exquisite 精致的。In the next clip Ming describes her favourite piece from the exhibition.

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Ming: I particularly like the double-sided dragon robe for the Empress. I think that is of the most astonishing workmanship, because the embroiderer had to make sure that the dragon pattern comes out exactly the same on both the front and on the inside of the robe. And it would have taken her, I believe, probably three times or four times the time to do it.

Yang Li: 她最喜欢的是皇后穿的双面龙袍 double-sided dragon robe for the Empress. 龙袍两面的图案要完全一致对称，所以她称赞刺绣人的手艺是 astonishing 令人惊讶。刺绣人 embroiderer. Why not take a look at our special photo gallery of the exhibition (below) on our website: bbcukchina.com. 谢谢收听我们下次再会。

The exhibition of Imperial Chinese robes from the Palace Museum, Beijing, contains many beautiful and historic robes worn by the emperors and empresses of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Have a look at this photo gallery of some of the items displayed in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.