Shortly ahead of the Children’s Day, Peter Rabbit, the rascal bunny and his friends from British novelist Beatrix Potter’s beloved children’s books, jumped into the UCCA Lab in Beijing, ready to take children and adults alike on a new adventure with a themed exhibition that kicked off on Friday.

Sporting a blue jacket, the mischievous and adventurous rabbit first appeared in The Tale of Peter Rabbit in 1902, and subsequently in five more books between 1904 and 1912. The six books by Potter featuring Peter Rabbit have sold over 150 million copies and been translated into 36 languages, catapulting the bunny to international fame and into the hearts of children around the world.

Jointly produced and curated by the Beijing art museum and the Kiddy Art Museum, a Shanghai-based children’s museum, The World of Peter Rabbit: A Timeless Adventure, marks the first leg of the exhibition’s tour in China.

Featuring installations of various plants, miniature sculptures and interactive games, the immersive exhibition “aims to re-create the classic stories from the Peter Rabbit series, present the audience with the idyllic country scenery depicted by Beatrix Potter and inform them of the author’s legendary life stories,” said You Yang, deputy director of UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, in his remarks at the opening ceremony.

First, one goes down the rabbit hole where Peter Rabbit’s family resides and visitors are greeted by the bunny’s family – Peter, Peter’s widowed mother and his three younger sisters – all presented in sculptures. Then they are led into the living room of its creator where the audience can discover Potter’s love for nature through all those rocks and insect specimens she collected as a child. They can also read the initial version of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, a facsimile of the picture and story letter that Potter wrote for the five-year-old son of her friend who was ill.

After learning about “Where the Story Begins,” visitors are invited to embark on “A Great Adventure,” which takes place in Mr. McGregor’s garden. Here visitors can participate in a slew of hands-on activities ranging from DIY gardening, hide-and-seek and rescuing Peter Rabbit, to a flower pot workshop, to acquire knowledge about plants and animals and gain a fuller understanding of the hero’s adventurous spirit.

The third section, “A Fierce Battle”, re-enacts the scene in The Tale of Mr. Tod, where the grown-up Peter Rabbit and his cousin Bunny Benjamin are engaged in a battle with their troublesome neighbors – fox Mr. Tod and badger Tommy Brock - to rescue Benjamin’s stolen baby.

After Peter Rabbit’s adventures come to an end, the exhibit’s fourth section, “Tell Me Another Story”, guides tourists into a tailor shop inspired by The Tailor of Gloucester, which Potter called her personal favorite of all her books. In the shop, all the costumes worn by Potter’s animal characters are on display, allowing visitors to try them on.

The exhibition culminates in “A Beautiful Legacy”, where the audiences are encouraged to express whatever they want to say about Beatrix Potter and her literary legacy through writing or drawing.

Born into an upper-middle-class household in 1866, Potter, like most girls of her class during the Victorian Age (1837-1914), was educated by governesses. She had numerous pets (among which her pet rabbit Peter Piper inspired her to create Peter Rabbit) and spent holidays in Scotland and the Lake District, nurturing her love of landscape, flora and fauna, all of which she closely observed and painted.

Through reading Potter’s letters, manuscripts and illustrations hidden in the green mailboxes on display at the show, visitors are given a chance to learn about the life and career of the brilliant Victorian woman and her achievements in literature, botany and environmental conservation.

Aside from being a prolific author of more than 60 books, Potter was also a shrewd businesswoman. As early as 1903, she made and patented a Peter Rabbit doll, followed by a mélange of spin-off merchandise over the years including figurines, stationery, board games and china tea sets, earning her and her publisher Frederick Warne & Co. immense profits.

At the Beijing exhibition, a themed gift shop is set up for visitors to bring home licensed Peter Rabbit merchandise such as books, clothes, snacks and accessories.

During the exhibition, running through September 5, multiple public education programs, including a mountain top market, readings, talks and forest hikes, will be held to give the public a deeper understanding of Beatrix Potter’s work and her commitment to nature conservation, according to the Beijing museum.

If you go:
Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am to 7 pm; UCCA Lab, 798 Art District, No. 4 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang District, Beijing