Glory of sports

Games and Athletes in the Ancient World, is underway at the Beijing World Art Museum. On display are the cups of champions from ancient games, which date back 2,480 years. Unearthed from an athlete's tomb in Taranto, Italy, they show the glory of sports and ancient Athens. The three champion cups and a replica belong to one athlete who won titles in four events, including long jump, discus, boxing and horse-drawn war chariot.

9 am-5 pm. Beijing World Art Museum, China Millennium Monument, A9 Fuxinglu, Haidian District. 6851-3322

State gifts

An exhibition features more than 300 gifts presented by foreign government officials to Chinese state leaders in the past six decades. Highlights include: a pair of porcelain swans that the former US President Richard Nixon presented to Chairman Mao Zedong in 1972; a wooden elephant statue bequeathed by the Thai premier to Deng Xiaoping in 1978; and a blue and white porcelain vase that Boris Yeltsin gave Jiang Zemin in 2001.

8:30 am-5:30 pm. Military Museum of Chinese People's Revolution, 9 Fuxing Lu, Haidian District. 6681-7166

Traditional touches

Taiwan artist Hsu Yu-jen makes innovative contemporary ink paintings in his current series named Wordless in Tranquility. Hsu's work includes geometric patterns and lines, including squares, circles, triangles, parallel lines and even tiny points, to bring forth his ideas.

10:30 am-6:30 pm. Expol-Sources Art Space, 2 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang District. 6431-4793

History of coins

This exhibition of the 4,000-year history of Chinese currency narrates the evolution from shell coins in Shang (BC 1600-1100) and Western Zhou (BC 1100-771) dynasties, to the unified coin with a square hole, since the Qin Dynasty (BC 221-206), to the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The technology of coin minting is also on show.

9 am-4 pm. Beijing Ancient Coins Museum, 9 Deshengmen Dongdajie, Dongcheng District. 6201-8073

(China Daily August 20, 2008)