The Ministry of Culture and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage have organized an exhibit at the National Museum of China featuring cultural artifacts retrieved along the historical Silk Road.
Similarly called "Silk Road," the exhibit launched last week has on display more than 400 relics gathered from 44 museums in 14 province-level administrative regions.
The exhibit, which is said to be a premier showcase of cultural pieces from the Silk Road, is the culmination of a previous mobile exhibition that presented about 200 relics from 21 museums in northwest China, according to China Daily.
"The Silk Road was a complex road network connecting the East and West and an artery for the different civilizations on the route to absorb one another's goods and cultures," said Song Xinchao, deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.
"It was a non-bellicose path for peaceful development, which created a fundamental tone for our exhibition today," the official continued.
Among the exhibit items are porcelains, textiles and stone carvings, which are all considered important national treasures.
Song said that the showcase of these items is a testament to China's recent achievements in archaeological work, with some artifacts being shown to the public for the first time even if they had been in the authority's safekeeping for decades.
"Top-tier experts will offer explanation of the cultural relics. A catalog of the cultural relics will also be published soon (in Chinese)," Song said.
"We'd love to extend the duration of the show and organize a tour nationwide. But as many exhibits are the most precious collections in the museums, I'm afraid we'll have to give them back as scheduled," he said.
"Silk Road," co-presented by several provincial governments, will run through Jan. 4 next year.