The year 2017 is dedicated to cultural exchanges between Greece and the People's Republic of China.

The Benaki Museum will showcase exhibits from its collection of Chinese art in a specially-commissioned cabinet,one for each month.

The object of May

Dish. Porcelain with enamel decoration. China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen. Early Qing dynasty, AD 17th c. Donated by George Eumorfopoulos (2701).

According to the Chinese historian Sima Qian (司馬遷,145/135–86 BC), in the year 213 BC the First Emperor of China Qin Shi Huangdi (秦始皇, 259–210 BC) ordered all poetry, philosophy and history books in his dominion to be burned (焚書). Only books recording the history of his own dynasty were spared. Anyone who used history to criticise the present had his family executed; anyone who failed to burn the books was sentenced to forced labour at the Great Wall.

The same historian claims that three years later the First Emperor buried alive more than 460 scholars (坑儒). However, there is a possibility that Sima Qian’s narration of such extreme acts was but simply a slander against Qin Shi Huangdi.