“A gift from Egypt to the world” – the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) officially opened on November 1, with dozens of official delegations led by heads of state, government leaders, and heads of regional and international organizations attending the opening ceremony that evening. President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message to Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi that day on the museum’s inauguration. He noted in his message that he believed the Grand Egyptian Museum will leave a profound mark on Egypt’s cultural history and play an important role in preserving and passing on the ancient Egyptian civilization.
As the world’s largest museum dedicated to an ancient civilization, the GEM has finally made its long-awaited public debut following over two decades of delays during construction. The museum houses approximately 100,000 artifacts spanning seven millennia of Egyptian history, with 5,000 treasures being exhibited in their entirety for the first time. These include Tutankhamun’s golden mask, throne and chariot. Beyond significantly boosting local tourism, the GEM’s inauguration carries profound civilizational significance. As Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi stated in his opening address, the museum’s creation represents “a product of global partnership and a tribute to human civilization.”
Since modern times, the military and economic ascendancy of Western nations has given rise to a deliberately constructed binary narrative that frames relations between Western and non-Western societies as “civilization VS barbarism.” Countless precious artifacts from African, Asian and Latin American nations were dispersed to the West through colonial plunder and illicit trade, leaving their peoples reliant on Western museums to glimpse their own cultural treasures. Yet for decades, this harsh reality was simply taken for granted. The once-prevalent Western argument that “developed nations provide more reliable safeguarding for artifacts” essentially repackaged cultural plunder as a civilizational benevolence, representing a deprivation of the cultural sovereignty of the Global South under Western cultural hegemony. Even today, certain Western media outlets covering the GEM’s inauguration deliberately emphasize so-called Egyptian artifact security concerns, revealing an underlying arrogance rooted in Western exceptionalism.
The collective rise of the Global South is not only a leap in national economic strength but also an awakening of civilizational subjectivity. More countries in the Global South are beginning to rethink their civilizational positioning. It is noteworthy that a significant backdrop to the opening of the GEM is the recent trend of Global South countries organizing and touring exhibitions of their important cultural relics worldwide, as well as the growing demand for the return of stolen artifacts from Western museums. The opening of the GEM reflects the awakening of civilizational subjectivity among Global South countries and holds significant global meaning.
Currently, humanity stands at a new crossroads, and the world urgently needs to move away from the outdated view of “Western centrism” and the hierarchical world order built upon it. The wave of civilizational awakening among Global South countries undoubtedly provides a solid foundation for global civilizational governance. In this regard, China has played a crucial role. In recent years, China has not only actively participated in the protection and cooperation of cultural relics in the Global South but has also proposed the Global Civilization Initiative in 2023, emphasizing the importance of civilizational exchange and mutual learning based on civilizational diversity, so that cultural exchange must overpower estrangement, mutual learning must come before clashes, and coexistence must overcome feelings of superiority.
For the GEM, while the current exhibits are rich, they are not without shortcomings. Many reports have mentioned that there are still some “priceless treasures” of ancient Egyptian civilization that remain abroad, such as the Rosetta Stone, known as “the key to deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs,” and a large number of ancient Egyptian mummies that far exceed those in Cairo, all of which are still considered the “highlights” of the British Museum. Egyptian scholars have repeatedly requested the return of significant ancient Egyptian artifacts, including the Rosetta Stone, from the British Museum, but they have not received a response. People hope that one day, these artifacts will shine in their homeland. If the UK were to do so, the respect it gains will far outweigh any “loss” of artifacts in its collection.
In recent years, several countries, including Egypt, have been continuously enhancing their ability to protect and reclaim cultural relics, taking various measures to recover lost artifacts from abroad. This involves complex legal issues, touches on national sentiments and international relations, and requires multiple countries to strengthen cooperation to promote the development of international rules in the field of artifact restitution toward a more equitable and just direction. While congratulating the GEM on its official opening, the international community looks forward to more artifacts being able to “come home,” allowing nations that were once colonized to reclaim the narrative rights to their own civilizations, and enabling them to recount their cultural histories more fully. GT
