This ceramic statue represents a knight on horseback. His facial features are Central Asian, with slanting eyes. He wears a pointed hat and his hair is a long braid down his back. The knight rides a well-worn horse and holds a shield repelling a snake that is slithering up the horse’s leg and bearing its teeth. In his right hand, the knight holds up a sword in order to cut off the head of the snake. Below the horse’s belly is a fluted cylindrical column which serves to support the sculpture.

This is a golden ring inscribed with Hittite Luffic Hieroglyphic script. It reads: “The free woman.”

This gold ingot weighs “Fifty Liang” and has a seal of “Yong Le” region; casted by the Ming Dynasty Silver Coin Casting Bureau, it is a rather rare product. The engraved words are as follows: “the seventh year of Yong Le April, casted by Silver Coin Casting Bureau, pure gold, weighing fifity Liang”. This gold ingot is extremely important and valuable for cultural and historical study.

Museum collection

The cup’s mouth is slightly wide with pointed lips, concave and arced belly, round bottom and a handle. The cup is entirely gilded. The inside of the cup is simple, while the outside is decorated with curling vinery and grapes, vividly reflecting the scenery of the countryside. The engraving is quite stylish making the cup a masterpiece of Tang Dynasty.

This painting was discovered at the Astana Graves, which was the main burial site for aristocrats of the Turpan region from the 3rd - 8th centuries. The two conjoined figures are Fuxi and Nuwa, a brother and sister who, according to a Chinese foundation myth, were the only survivors of a great flood. Charged with repopulating the world, Fuxi and Nuwa created vast numbers of clay figures, which they were able to bring to life with some divine assistance.

Gui, a kind of food container, has a big mouth, droopy belly, round bottom and two handles decorated with animal engravings. Its mouth ending is inscribed with the ornamentation of a long phoenix and a couple of animal heads. The belly is carved with the ornamentation of phoenix with hanging comb interspersed in diamond form. The bottom edge is decorated with triangle cloud figures. In the middle of the bottom there is a seal of 14 characters, explaining that this is made for one’s father’s birthday celebration.

Height: 15.5 cm, Caliber: 21.3 cm

Liao Dynasty, 10-12^th centuries

L24cm; W13cm

The Chinese tradition of Yueju opera combines Mandarin operatic traditions and Cantonese dialect. Rooted in the Cantonese-speaking provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi in south-eastern China, Yueju opera is characterized by a combination of string and percussion instruments, with elaborate costumes and face painting. It also incorporates stunts and fights using real weapons and drawing on the Shaolin martial arts, as illustrated by the central Wenwusheng role that demands proficiency in both singing and fighting.

Xi’an wind and percussion ensemble, which has been played for more than a millennium in China’s ancient capital of Xi’an, in Shaanxi Province, is a type of music integrating drums and wind instruments, sometimes with a male chorus.

One of the world’s oldest printing techniques, wooden movable-type printing is maintained in Rui’an County, Zhejiang Province, where it is used in compiling and printing clan genealogies.