Director of the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Heritage Bureau Zhang Tinghao made such remarks in an exclusive interview with Xinhua Tuesday when asked how China managed to achieve the impressive archeological findings that are the very essence of the exhibition titled: "War and Peace- Treasures of the Qin and Han Dynasties" exhibition due to be opened for public viewing at the Hong Kong Museum of History Wednesday.

The exhibition is co-organized by Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Heritage Bureau and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Leisure and Cultural Service Department to bring in cultural relics, some of which have neither been exhibited on the mainland or anywhere else.

"The terra-cotta army, along with other exhibits from the Qin and Han dynasties and Han dynasties (221 BC to AD 200), have come to Hong Kong. The exhibition is characterized by fresh archeological findings China has achieved in the past 13 years. For example, the terra-cotta figures from archeological site No. 6,such as the armored warrior and the acrobat.

"And this is really the first time for these to meet public viewers outside of the Chinese mainland. Even within the mainland, they have not been exhibited publicly," Zhang said.

The exhibition, which will feature 100 items of invaluable artifacts of the two dynasties, includes a terra-cotta figure of a general and the terra-cotta figure of an acrobat.

"In the past 13 years, politics, economics and the cultural and ethical aspects of China have developed in a stable and gradual manner in China, and thereby raising the standard and skills of preserving cultural relics," he said.

China is nowadays a stable country in prosperity and with its determination in building a well-off society in an all-round way, the country will be able to devote more resources in preserving museum pieces and bring China's cultural civilization one step forward in future, he said.

"People have developed stronger awareness for the need to preserve cultural relics. The more stable and prosperous the country is, the more opportunities will be afforded by the stable environment," he said.

According to Zhang, the number of archeological personnel in northwest China's Shaaxi Province has also doubled from the previous 3,000 to the current 6,000.

He said such exhibition reveals that the Han dynasty (206 B.C. -220 A.D.) achieved a colorful cultural development in comparably stable national conditions - in the wake of the reign by Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing - when the Han dynasty was enjoying comparable stability.

"So by way of comparison, our past 13 years' achievements here in China have also similarly been made in a stable environment - whether in the archeology field or others," he said.

(People's Daily November 27, 2002)