For the first time in 60 years, treasures from the Palace Museum in Beijing have been sent to Taipei for a large-scale exhibition about Qing Dynasty Emperor Yongzheng (1678-1735).

The exhibition Harmony and Integrity: The Yongzheng Emperor and His Time opened on Oct 7 at the Palace Museum in Taipei. It was the result of cooperation between museum directors Zheng Xinmiao from the mainland and Chou Kung-shin from Taiwan.

A visitor looks at a vase on display at the first joint show held in Taipei by China's two leading museums.

Scheduled to run until Jan 10, 2010, the first formal cooperative show by the Palace Museums in 60 years presents 246 sets of carefully selected exhibits.

Divided into two parts - The Life and Times of the Yongzheng Emperor and Arts and Culture in the Yongzheng Era - the colossal exhibition features a rich variety of artifacts and cultural relics. On show are Qing Dynasty archives, historical books, vintage maps, portraits of ladies of the court and of Yongzheng, ink paintings, Chinese calligraphy, ink stones, porcelain and lacquer works, agate carvings and enamelware.

Among the exhibits, 37 historical and cultural artifacts portraying Emperor Yongzheng are on loan from its mainland counterpart in Beijing, plus two ancient vases from the Shanghai Museum, organizers say.

The show is intended to provide viewers in Taiwan with a complete narrative of Yongzheng's life, administration and achievements in art and culture. It also includes a video produced by Palace Museum in Beijing about the Hall of Mental Cultivation (Yangxin Dian), once served as Yongzheng's bedroom and study. A multimedia display prepared by Palace Museum in Taipei presents the origins of some widely circulated legends about the emperor.

"People are curious about why we've prepared this exhibition," Chou says.

"The answer is that we want to depict a different image of the legendary emperor."

The Qing emperor, who was posthumously given the temple name Shizong, is better known by his reigning name, Yongzheng.

After ascending the throne at age 45, he ruled for 13 years until 1735. He was the third ruler after the Manchu overthrew the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).