(Handout via Xinhua Daily)

Jiangsu has contributed 25 cultural relics to the "Tang China" exhibition, which opened at Guimet Museum in Paris on November 18, supported by China’s National Cultural Heritage Administration and France’s Ministry of Culture.

The exhibition showcases 207 works curated from more than 40 Chinese museums, highlighting the flourishing art and literature in the cosmopolitan Tang Dynasty (618-907).

This included Zhenjiang Museum’s 13 relics all unearthed from the Dingmaoqiao hoard site, such as silver tea trays, boxes, and goblet-shaped cups, reflecting the open and inclusive tea and wine culture of the Tang Dynasty.

The site, with a history of over 1,600 years, was discovered in the early 1980s. Zhang Xiaojun, curator of the Zhenjiang Museum, described the Tang Dynasty as the pinnacle of gold and silver craftsmanship in ancient China. 

The site yielded 956 gold and silver items weighing a total of 55 kilograms, including drinking vessels, food containers, storage vessels, tea sets, and personal adornments like hairpins and bracelets.

According to Zhang, Zhenjiang became a bustling shipping and commerce hub during the Sui(581-618) and Tang dynasties as the Grand Canal intersected with the Yangtze River in the city. Although Zhenjiang was not a producer of gold or silver, it emerged as one the most important centers for gold and silver craftsmanship.

Located near the Grand Canal, Dingmaoqiao was strategically positioned for water transport. Experts believe that the Dingmaoqiao area may have housed workshops producing gold and silver items in the late Tang period.

A time travel to the Tang Dynasty would find that Yangzhou was the most prosperous city in what is now Jiangsu Province. Situated at the intersection of the Grand Canal and the Yangtze River, Yangzhou was a vibrant commercial hub during the Tang Dynasty.

The Yangzhou Museum provided 12 relics to the exhibition, including ten porcelain pieces, a horse-hoof-shaped gold comb and gold earrings.

Also notable among the artifacts is a green-glazed double-handled pottery jar unearthed in 1965, characterized by its distinctively exotic style. This relic underscores Yangzhou’s historical significance as a key trade city on the Silk Road, which attracted a great many of merchants from Persia and Arabia to China.

This pottery jar was likely brought to Yangzhou by traders from West Asia, according to experts.