|
IBM and Palace Museum Announce Opening of The Forbidden City Virtual World Celebrating 600 Years of Chinese Culture
(Marketwire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) BEIJING, October 10 / MARKET WIRE/ --
Today, some 600 years after construction began on
the 178-acre site that would become the center of unrivalled imperial power
known as China's Forbidden City, the Palace Museum and IBM (NYSE: IBM) will
open the walled fortress -- and hundreds of years of history and culture --
to the world.
Three years in the making, IBM has meticulously built a virtual recreation
of the architecture and artifacts of the former palace grounds, enabling
online visitors to get a first-hand view into imperial China as embodied in
the intricate design, history and storied culture of this newly accessible
Forbidden City.
"The Forbidden City: Beyond Space & Time" (www.beyondspaceandtime.org) is a
first-of-a-kind, fully immersive,
three-dimensional virtual world that recreates a visceral sense of space
and time of this Chinese cultural treasure -- as it was centuries ago
during the height of the Ming and Qing dynasties -- for most anyone with
access to the Internet.
A video news release and high-resolution photo images are available for
journalists at: www.thenewsmarket.com/ibm
"The rich cultural heritage of China's imperial past, embodied in the
Forbidden City for over five centuries, is now brought to life and
accessible to all through a virtual world created by IBM and the Palace
Museum," said Henry Chow, Chairman, Greater China Group, IBM. "This
initiative takes the online experience to a new level of innovation with
rich content, educational storytelling, community and social networking
features that represent the next generation of 3D-Internet applications.
"What makes me proud is that IBM now has opened the door to a cultural
treasure and rich heritage to everyone, everywhere which in the past was
only available to relatively few."
Originally, the Forbidden City was constructed to embody the idea of the
emperor as the center of the universe with a series of dramatic courtyards
and gates, buildings and landings underscoring a design built to reinforce
security and power. This huge palace complex was completed in 1420, about
twelve years after construction began, and contains hundreds of exquisite
buildings and historic artifacts, and on October 10th, celebrates its 83rd
anniversary as a museum and one of China's major cultural attractions.
Now, using virtual world technology, visitors can experience the awe
inspired by this vast and amazing space. Rather than experiencing its
wonders in isolation, the virtual Forbidden City allows you to see and
interact with other users and a range of helpful automated characters. As
you explore the virtual Forbidden City, you can choose to simply observe
the buzz of activity, or you can take tours and participate in activities
that provide insights into important aspects of Qing culture.
Visitors to the virtual Forbidden City will be able to take tours that
correspond to major historical topics and stories from the Forbidden City,
such as Dragons of the Forbidden City, the Supreme Golden Halls of the
Forbidden City, the Imperial Garden, and the Symbolic Animals in the
Forbidden City.
"'The Forbidden City: Beyond Space & Time' is a program that combines
China's world-class cultural heritage with state-of-the-art information
technology. Three years in the making, the Palace Museum worked closely
with IBM in jointly engineering the program. Both parties have been deeply
touched by the profound and dazzling ancient Chinese culture," said Zheng
Xinmiao, the Director-General of The Palace Museum. "Meanwhile, we would
like to express our sincere gratitude to IBM for its full investment and
devotion and its strategy of applying innovative technology to social and
cultural promotion. This program is only a start, which, as we believe,
will have an unlimited future to explore China's traditional culture."
Visitors to the virtual Forbidden City may also engage in activities in
which their avatars take an active role in the culture of the period. For
example, avatars can take part in activities such as archery, cricket
fighting, and playing the ancient game of Weiqi, the "board game of
surrounding" now popularized as GO.
Visitors may also view and inspect artifacts and scenes such as "The
Emperor Having Dinner" and "Court Painting."
The recreation of the Forbidden City represents how 3D technology can be
used to educate and provide cultural experiences on a large scale. At the
Forbidden City in Beijing, local visitors can also use a kiosk to interact
with the virtual world. It is the first virtual world to be built using SOA
architecture and includes open source components such as Linux.
IBM's BladeCenters with Linux Blade Servers are at the heart of this
virtual world -- supporting robustness with the capability to enable
thousands of concurrent users and the scalability comparable to that of
massive multiplayer online games. IBM built the application using WebSphere
Application Server, Tivoli, ESB (Message Broker), DB2 Viper, and IBM
BladeCenters. The virtual world runs on Linux, Windows and Mac operating
environments.
IBM has dedicated more than a decade to creating successful cultural
heritage projects, including the Vatican Library, the Piet?, Hermitage
Museum, Eternal Egypt, and the Smithsonian's National Museum of African
American History and Culture.
For more information about IBM, please visit www.ibm.com
To access "The Forbidden City: Beyond Space & Time," please visit:
www.beyondspaceandtime.org
Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=851450
Add to Digg Bookmark with del.icio.us Add to Newsvine
Contact:
Clint Roswell
IBM Media Relationsroswellc@us.ibm.com
914-409-4045
Copyright ? 2008 Marketwire
[ Back To it.tmcnet.com's Homepage ]
|