A 2,000-year-old royal garment made up of more than 4,000 pieces of jade sewn together with gold thread is now on display in China's National Museum.

The jade clothing, excavated from an mausoleum dating back to the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 25), is the oldest and most exquisite of its kind ever found in China.

The armor-like garment is 1.74 meters long and is made up of 4,248 pieces of jade held together by around 1.5 kg of gold thread.

The garment was unearthed in the Lion Mountain on the outskirts of Xuzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province. Archaeologist believe it was worn by a king of the State of Chu in the Western Han Dynasty.

Mausoleums of 12 kings of the ancient state were discovered around the city of Xuzhou and Chinese archaeologists have conducted excavations of the tombs.

An exhibition on the discovery of the mausoleums is being held in the National Museum in Beijing till April 20, with nearly 200 pieces of precious cultural relics on display.

The first repaired iron helmet of the Western Han Dynasty is also on show. Experts believe the helmet is of great importance to the research on the military history and the advent of civilization in China.

(Xinhua News Agency January 30, 2006)