Staff in Beijing pose with a 5,000-year-old pot and a Terracotta Warrior, both from Shaanxi province.[Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily]

Many of the most globally recognized Chinese cultural relics have been chosen for this exhibition, like the oldest artifact in China's catalog－a pot dating back to 3000 BC which is decorated with images of human faces and fish. It was unearthed in Banpo, a Neolithic relic site in Shaanxi province.

The world-famous Terracotta Warriors, which will also be on show, are known for being the life-size figurine soldiers that guard the mausoleum of Qinshihuang, the first Chinese "emperor" from the 3rd century BC, in today's Xi'an.

A two-meter-high figurine of an admiral was chosen for the exhibition to allow people to catch a glimpse of "Qinshihuang's secret army". Admiral figurines are very precious, since only a handful of them were dug up during the excavation work at the mausoleum.