On September 21, 2020, on the occasion of the 600^th anniversary of the completion of the Forbidden City, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (“ICBC”) and the Palace Museum once again joined forces to hold the issuance ceremony of the “Commemorative Cards of the Forbidden City’s 600^th Anniversary” at the Palace Museum. Chief Business Officer of ICBC SONG Jianhua and Vice Chancellor of the Palace Museum WANG Yuegong attended the ceremony and delivered a speech.

Song Jianhua, Chief Business Officer of ICBC, said that the Palace Museum, as the pride of the Chinese people, is China’s largest museum of ancient culture and art that records our national memory, extends Chinese culture, reflects our cultural strength, reinforces the value and our confidence in the vitality of Chinese culture. Publicizing the history of the Forbidden City and promoting Chinese culture are also the social responsibility of ICBC. ICBC hopes to organically integrate the cultural heritage of the Forbidden City with modern financial products, and brings the financial products deeply rooted in the former’s cultural connotation to ordinary people. It is expected that both sides can continue to make achievements in exploring and innovating their cooperation featured by jointly inheriting Chinese traditional culture and promoting the essence of our culture.

Wang Yuegong, Vice Chancellor of the Palace Museum, said that the Palace Museum and ICBC have been cooperating for nearly three years by committing to promoting the excellent traditional Chinese culture. For instance, they jointly launched the exhibition of “Having Chinese New Year in the Forbidden City”, promoting the New Year culture of the Palace Museum to all over the world. Now both Parties are deepening their cooperation, integrating the architectural aesthetics of the Forbidden City and the cultural heritage of peace and prosperity of our home and nation, including other concepts, into three bank cards. It is hoped that, through this cross-over cultural and financial innovation, the traditional culture carried by today’s Forbidden City can be better integrated to build our cultural confidence in the new era.

As introduced, the two debit cards in the “Commemorative Cards of the Forbidden City’s 600^th Anniversary” are named as “Stars and Brightness” and “Peaceful Elephant”. The “Stars and Brightness” card is designed with the concept of “building human residence by imitating heavenly palace”. The upper and lower parts of the card correspond to the Emperor Star and the Forbidden City, conveying the good wish of stars shining on the world and bringing good luck and happiness by “octagonal caison ceiling with gold dragons”. The “Peaceful Elephant” card takes the central axis of the Forbidden City as the unfolding picture scroll that matches the image of the “Peaceful Elephant” collection of the Palace Museum, conveying good wishes for auspicious peace and prosperity. “Auspicious Cranes” credit card stands for auspiciousness and happiness through auspicious clouds and group of cranes.

In recent years, the Palace Museum and ICBC have been deepening their cooperation on top of relevant elements of the Forbidden City and unique card production craftsmanship and technology, to develop outstanding cultural and creative products with characteristics of both Parties. In 2019, ICBC and the Palace Museum jointly created the debit card of “Spring· Summer· Autumn· Winter· Dream All the Way”, as well as credit card of “Concord· Unity· Strength”. The old and new version of the Forbidden City Card are jointly named as “Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, Dreaming All the Way, Stars and Brightness, Peaceful Elephant, Auspicious Cranes”. The commemorative cards, as one of the carriers of Chinese traditional culture contained in the Palace Museum, further elevates our cultural experiences and cultural industry.