More than 300 artifacts valued at more than 2 billion HK dollars (256 million US dollars) will be put on display in Hong Kong next month in the largest exhibition of Chinese national treasures outside the mainland, local media reported in Hong Kong Monday.

The collection, scheduled between March 12 and June 10, has just been shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and will be taken to Japan after it closes in Hong Kong, South China Morning Post reported.

The exhibition, called From Eastern Han to High Tang, tells the story of the fall of the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), the coming of the Xianbei nomadic tribes and other nomads, the Silk Road, and the reunification in the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

Most of the exhibits, assembled by China's State Administration of Cultural Heritage from 46 museums in 14 provinces, are recent archaeological discoveries.

Tom Ming, chief curator of the Hong Kong Heritage Museum where the three-month exhibition will be held, said 70 percent of the 300 exhibits were "class one" treasures

(Xinhua News Agency February 16, 2005)