Since the Prime Meridian Is Met: Commemorating the 20th Year of Moon Gallery
Since the Prime Meridian Is Met: Commemorating the 20th Year of Moon Gallery
Since the 15th century, due to the advancement of navigation technology in European countries, the Age of Discovery has begun. In 1884, at the international conference held in Washington, D.C., the 22 participating countries voted to set a longitude passing through the Greenwich Observatory in the United Kingdom as the prime meridian (0 degrees): the Eastern Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere (for an east-west notational system). Since then, global navigation and aviation coordinates had formal standards and consensus. After the 20th century, the originally distinct opposition between Eastern and Western civilizations has rapidly transformed due to globalization and Internet.
The Meiji Restoration in Japan began in 1868, with the reforms in the political, economic and educational systems made Japan the first country in Asia to emulate European modernization as a model. Tokyo University of the Arts founded in 1887, not only attracted students from East Asia (China, Korea, and Taiwan) to study, but also laid an important foundation for East Asian modern art in the 20th century. In addition, Japan's policy of adopting European laws during the Meiji Restoration encouraged a large number of Japanese students to go directly to France and other countries to study art. "Move learning" has facilitated the exchange of culture and art between the East and the West. Hence, we see Tsuguharu Fujita, San Yu, and Xu Beihong in Paris, and Li Shutong, Liu Jintang, and Chen Chengbo in Tokyo. The meridian was originally used as a symbolic concept to separate the East and the West. By now, it can be the beginning of the intersection of Eastern and Western civilizations.