The Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum recently completed a major exhibition of Bronze Age artefacts from Sichuan province that's now travelling around Japan. And elsewhere in Tokyo, the Nezu Museum is hosting an exhibition of Chinese lacquer ware and other objects from the Song and Yuan (960-1368) periods, while the Suntory Museum is showing Chinese calligraphy from the periods of the Han and Three Kingdoms (206-265), written on wood, silk and bamboo strips.

Although Tokyo has seen its fair share of Chinese historical exhibitions in the past, there seems to be a consensus among curators that this latest series is special, with significantly more China-related exhibitions. Kunihiro Kemmotsu, deputy secretary general of the Ueno Royal Museum, sees a connection to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, with the forthcoming games stimulating interest in China and encouraging the Chinese government to pull out the stops to assist exhibitions that raise the national profile abroad.

Although there are special factors, such as exhibits that were pushed from last year because of Sars, the frequency of Chinese exhibitions has been rising not only in Japan, but all over the world. 'I think it's the economic development of China that's driving a lot of the exhibitions,' says Nobuyuki Matsumoto, head curator of Oriental Art at TNM. 'This leads to construction. And wherever you dig in China, it seems you're likely to make some archaeological discoveries.'

The exhibition at the TNM, Treasures of Ancient China, is a case in point. Planned as purely an exhibition of Buddhist artefacts - a relatively safe project with the Buddhist-friendly Japanese public - it was decided to include recent, non-Buddhist archaeological finds, such as a jade shroud made from small squares of jade sewn together with gold wire. The shroud, intended to preserve the body from decay, is a good example of pre-Buddhist attitudes to death.

The context for the Buddhist items includes jade funeral ornaments from the 8th to 9th century BC, found during construction of a dam, and Tang dynasty guardian deities discovered when the Xi'an University campus was expanded.

The other exhibitions tell a similar tale of recent discoveries uncovered by China's economic development. The exhibition of Bronze Age artefacts from Sichuan made use of finds at Sanxingdui and Jinsha. This show included highly stylised and complex bronze heads that international scholars now see as proof the Shu people of Sichuan had a culture just as highly developed as the better known Shang dynasty (1766BC-1122BC), centred on the Yellow River.

The Suntory Museum's calligraphy-related materials are also from two archaeological finds, both in Hunan province. The second of these, a vast hoard of bamboo message strips from the Eastern Han and Three Kingdom periods, was excavated from a construction site at Changsha's Zoumalou Street in 1996.

While China's quickening economic pace is helping to unearth the artefacts, Matsumoto says the economic advantages of displaying the objects overseas is tempting to Chinese museums and institutions. 'We pay a lot of money to display these items,' he says. 'Local museums in China have tight budgets, so they really need to raise funds in some way.'

It's a mutually beneficial arrangement. The exhibitions are often crowded, even though ticket prices in Tokyo usually range above HK$80 a head. But with so many Chinese exhibitions at the same time, isn't there a danger of overloading the public's appetite for Chinese culture and history? Matsumoto doesn't think so. 'The exhibitions in Tokyo each have a different theme,' he says. 'So, they present unique exhibition experiences. I think exhibitions in the west tend to present a more generalised view of Chinese history and culture. In that case, there would be a danger of different museums having quite similar shows.'

This is a significant difference. The close connection between Chinese and Japanese culture means Japanese audiences already have a much higher level of knowledge than audiences in the west. This means Chinese historical exhibitions in Japan can be shaped to more specific areas and developed in greater detail.

This degree of knowledge also means these exhibitions don't have to waste time setting the scene with introductory information. Another advantage is that it spares curators the need to present clear historical views, which, given the often troubled political relationship and disputes over recent history between China and Japan, avoids controversy.

All the exhibitions have some input from Chinese curators, although Matsumoto says the final interpretation for the TNM exhibition was firmly in the hands of Japanese curators. This seems to be the case at all the exhibitions, except the one of Bronze Age artefacts from Sichuan, which echoes the strong curatorial storyline established when most of the objects toured America in 2001-2002.

Although the TNM exhibition purports to be 'a sweeping survey - the first ever - of the changes undergone during a period of some 1,000 years by the Buddhist art of China', it's nevertheless a rather limp performance and makes no new points. The Japanese curators may be firmly in charge, but they seem to have little to say.

'Japanese scholars haven't investigated enough how Taoism, Confucianism or nature beliefs had an impact on Chinese Buddhist art,' Matsumoto says. 'In general, the area of Chinese art or culture hasn't been developed enough to examine these issues.'

This lack of interpretation, perhaps reinforced by an unwillingness to stick a curatorial neck out, means the objects are left to work viscerally, rather than intellectually, on the minds of visitors.

The reluctance of Japanese curators to set Chinese history and culture in a firm historical framework, combined with the public's strong interest and knowledge, means Chinese culture continues to have a deep, though unspecified resonance with the Japanese public, often resolving itself into simple awe.

Kemmotsu at the Ueno Royal Museum admits the large debt that Japanese culture owes China. 'Our language is from China, so our thinking method is also from China,' he says.

Curator Nobue Mito at the Suntory Museum also draws attention to the way the Japanese identify with Chinese culture. 'For Japanese people, objects of the ancient Chinese symbolise the high level of Asian culture - something they take pride in.'

Treasures of Ancient China, Tokyo National Museum, until Nov 27. Civilisation of Ancient Sichuan, Aomori Sangyo Kaikan Museum, until Dec 5. Terracotta Warriors and Horses, Ueno Royal Museum, until Jan 3. Treasures of Ancient China, National International Museum, Osaka, Jan 18-Mar 27, 2005.