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An exhibition of 260 invaluable jade objects collected from 17 museums and institutions across China opened at the Palace Museum in Beijing on July 16, celebrating UNESCO's tribute to a 5,000-year-old Chinese culture.
Liangzhu and Ancient China: The 5,000-Year Civilization Demonstrated by Jade exhibits jadwares from Liangzhu, an ancient city that flourished 5,000 years ago near what is today Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province, in east China. The ancient Liangzhu city ruins, first discovered by a local archaeologist in 1936, were named a world heritage site by UNESCO on July 6. The Liangzhu people established a hierarchical ritual system represented by jade objects, such as the cong, yue and bi. This exhibition of jade artifacts brings the civilization of this advanced state before the public eye. The highlight is a jade cong, a funeral object, regarded as "the king of all congs." Once belonging to the king of Liangzhu, it is the most exquisite, heaviest and best preserved cong in China's archaeological history. Equally impressive is a yue, which literally means an axe, with a complicated pattern of faces and birds. The exhibition will run through October 20. (Text and photos by Wei Yao) Copyedited by Sudeshna Sarkar Comments to weiyao@bjreview.com |
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