Ming mania at the British Museum is it time we got over our obsession?

As a blockbuster show of the exquisite Chinese porcelain opens at the British Museum, Jonathan Jones takes a hammer to our cliched obsession with all things Ming

The word Ming conjures up precious, fragile, beautiful things. Man breaks priceless Ming vase was a story to remember in 2006, even though the three Chinese vases smashed by a clumsy visitor to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge werent Ming at all. They were made in the Qing (or Manchu) era. So why are we so quick to reach for this word? Why are we so fixated with this one period in the long, brilliant history of China? And does this Ming mania blind us to the intelligence, ambition and originality of other ancient Chinese art?

If you want proof that we westerners are still as in thrall to the Ming dynasty as our grandparents (mine decorated their house with fake Ming vases), consider the fact that not one but two blockbuster Ming exhibitions can be seen in Britain this autumn. Ming: The Golden Empire is at the National Museum of Scotland, while Ming: 50 Years that Changed China opens next week at the British Museum. Theres even a touring exhibit of a single Ming vase, courtesy of the British Museum, for those who cant get to Edinburgh or London.

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