A rare gathering of some of the most splendid treasures illustrating China's long history promises to delight visitors to the Olympic city at the Capital Museum.
The exhibition has gathered 169 of the best pieces from 55 museums across the country. The exhibits are the pick of the crop, and rarely if ever leave their home museums. Many exhibits were familiar to Chinese visitors from schoolbooks or from frequent appearances in the media. But for many this was their first time face to face with these relics. It was a thrilling experience and, to many people of all ages a dream come true.
For anyone with an interest in China, and even for those with no knowledge whatsoever, the exhibition will be enlightening. The show was well organized, breaking into four parts and ten chapters: from "The Dawn--prehistoric times before 21st century BC--the times of ritual and music" to "The End of Classics--10th to 19th century AD".
Expo information:
Time: July 29-Oct 7
Venue: Capital Museum Ticket: 30 RMB
8000-year-old Bone flute
Time: the Neolithic Age, Peiligang Culture Period (about 6,000 BC)
Specification: 22.7 centimeters in length
Excavation: a Peiligang Culture type at Jiahu County, Wuyang, Henan Province in 1987
Collection place: Henan Provincial Archaeological Institute
This bone flute was made from Red-crowned Crane wing bones. It was the earliest musical organ found in China and, experts said, the oldest flute on earth that is still playable. Two similar flutes had been dug out of the same tomb. They formed a pair of male and female organs, an arrangement popular among Ancient Chinese.
Jiahu was the site of a Neolithic Yellow River settlement based in the central plains of ancient China, modern Wuyang, Henan Province. Archaeologists consider the site to be one of the earliest examples of the Peiligang culture. More bone flutes were discovered at different phases of Jiahu site. The discovery of these flutes presents a remarkable and rare opportunity for anthropologists, musicians and the general public to hear musical sounds as they were produced about eight millennia ago.
Jade burial suit
Time: the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC- 24 AD)
Specification: 174 centimeters in length and 68 centimeters in width
Excavation: at the tomb of a king of the State of Chu located in Lion Mountain on the outskirts of Xuzhou, in 1994-1995
Collection place: Xuzhou Museum in Jiangsu
A jade burial suit, from Xuzhou Museum in East China's Jiangsu Province, testified to ancient Chinese people's love of the material. It boasts the finest jade, the best craftsmanship and the largest number of small rectangular jade tablets, compared to other similar works found in the country.
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