Curators at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which opens Age of Empires, a major loan exhibition of ancient Chinese art from the Qin and Han dynasties, this month (3 April-16 July), are working on a major show about Mughal India and another on the Middle East, the Met’s outgoing director, Thomas Campbell, tells us in one of his first interviews since announcing that he is stepping down in June. The result of years of research and negotiations with peers in China, Age of Empires is a “statement about how long China has existed as it emerges as a great superpower”, he says. As well as expansion in New York, Campbell made it a priority to develop the museum’s global role. He has visited China six times, for example, and fostered relations with peers in Asia, Latin America and India through an annual colloquium—inviting directors more diverse than the North American and Euro-centric Bizot group. The Met’s next colloquium of international leaders is planned for 2018.