Exhibits on display at the National Museum of China show the Russion connection along the Silk Road. [Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

Silk Road and Russian Ethnic Cultural Heritage, an exhibition underway at the National Museum of China, displays dozens of artifacts in testimony to the role of the northern route of Silk Road that ran through the southern regions of European and Russia.

The areas saw a boost in trade between the East and the West, until political instability in western Asia brought the connection to the edge of collapse.

The exhibition tells how the increasing exchanges benefited those ethnic groups along the northern route economically. It also shows the diversity and merging of these cultures.

The displayed costumes, accessories and other daily objects come from the collection of Russian Museum of Ethnography in Saint Petersburg.

The exhibition runs through Oct 7.