[Photo by Lin Qi/China Daily]

Tong says about two-thirds of the national museum's collection of Buddhist art represent Tibetan Buddhism, and the final section of the exhibition shows a wall of inlaid caves in rows in which dozens of selected statues from Tibetan Buddhism are seated.

"The design is to engage the audience with an artistic atmosphere, thereafter ushering them into the infiniteness of the world of Buddhism," she says.

Contact the writer at linqi@chinadaily.com.cn