In Beijing, at the Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, the exhibition Mirroring the Heart of Heaven and Earth: Ideals and Images in the Chinese Study opened to the public last week. Located in the Meridian Gate Galleries, it unveils that literary essence, which has lingered through time.

"A study is not only a space to read, write and collect books," Wang Zilin, curator of the exhibition, says. "It also marks the continuous lineage of culture and reflects a bigger picture of social prosperity.

"The exhibition may reveal an interdependent relationship between the literati and the items in their studies," he explains. "We can think of calligraphy and paintings with strong Chinese characteristics as being 'co-created' by them as well."