On Apr. 9, 2015, Ceramist Li Jun donated some purple-clay works created in accord with the "Food" theme of Expo Milano 2015 to WEM. Liu Xiuhua, Curator of WEM, accepted the donation as the representative. It was said that these purple-clay works would take part in Expo Milano 2015 together with WEM and appear in "World Expo Museum Pavilion" located at "Bio-Mediterranean Cluster" of Expo Milano Park.  

Liu Xiuhua, Curator of the World Expo Museum accepted the donation of purple-clay works from Ceramist Li Jun.

The purple-clay works donated this time reproduced the long-lost purple-clay painting technique which uses the purple-clay slurry to paint and then fires the ware at high temperature. This special colorful painting technique which was once prevailed in the heyday of three dynasties of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong was lost at the late Qing and early Republic period. Li Jun combined the mud-painting, the intangible cultural heritage, with the purple-clay pottery and upgraded the artistic value of the works itself to a new level in the artistic recreation.

 
Square teapot   Material: purple clay   Front: painting of landscape at the south of the Yangtze River   Back: poetry of the Tang Dynasty

Qieduan teapot
Material: original pure purple clay  
Front: painting of cucumbers  

Huakai Jianfo (Lotus blossoms and Buddha appears) teapot
Material: original pure purple clay

Front: painting of a blooming lotus    Back: printing of Buddha's-hand

"World Expo Museum Pavilion" jointly held by BIE, WEM and Expo Milano Company is adjacent to the Italy Pavilion and located at the "Bio-Mediterranean Cluster" of Expo Milano Park. It is a stand-alone pavilion with two storeys, occupying an exhibition area of about 500 m2. Its exhibition theme is "Everything Begins with Expo--Expo X Expos Travelling Exhibition of BIE". This exhibition will utilize the language of art space to show the historical stories of the Expo lasting for 165 years, Expo 2010 Shanghai, future Expos and World Expo Museum. In the meantime, this exhibition will also combine the "Food" theme of Expo Milano and display a series of classical wine and food born in the history of the World Expo with interesting interactive means. With the combination of multimedia technologies and traditional handcrafts, this exhibition will openly display the physical exhibits and sculptures related to the history of the World Expo in the form of contemporary installation artworks.  

This participation in Expo Milano 2015 is the first time that WEM has taken the identity of a stand-alone exhibitor. As the cooperation project between Shanghai and BIE, WEM will expand the communication and cooperation with the international big family of Expos through inter-pavilion exchanges. During the Expo, WEM will promote the city culture and city image of Shanghai, develop the cultural exchanges with the member countries of the World Expo and further the exchanges and cooperation between Shanghai and Milano, the sister cities and World Expo cities, thus becoming the platform and external publicity window for "Culture Stepping-out" of Shanghai. （4/13/2015）