Hong Kong Palace Museum to exhibit statues, masks from mystery ancient Chinese civilisation in autumn show

Four-month exhibition, which opens in late September, will present the latest archaeological discoveries from Sanxingdui ruins in Sichuan province

In total 120 pieces from ruins, which were only discovered in the 20th century, will be on display, with half of the items unearthed over past three years

Reading Time:2 minutes

Archeologists work on relics at the Sanxingdui ruins site in Sichuan province. Photo: Captured from CCTV

Published: 7:30am, 23 May 2023Updated: 11:15am, 23 May 2023

Distinctive 3,000-year-old statues and masks uncovered in mysterious ruins in Sichuan province will be among 120 artefacts to be exhibited at the Hong Kong Palace Museum in the autumn.

Most of the exhibits had never been shown outside the province in southwestern China before, Louis Ng Chi-wa, the museum’s director, said on Monday.

He said the four-month exhibition, which will open in late September, would present the latest archaeological discoveries from the Sanxingdui ruins, with half of the items unearthed over the past three years.

Excavation cabins for four sacrificial pits at the Sanxingdui ruins. Photo: Xinhua

The Sanxingdui excavations had “attracted great attention domestically and internationally”, Ng said.

The exhibition, “Gazing at Sanxingdui: New Archaeological Discoveries in Sichuan”, will display a total of 120 pieces from the ruins, a site only discovered in the 20th century and which some believe to be at the heart of the obscure Shu Kingdom.

The museum on Monday signed a letter of intent on collaborating with four institutions in the province for the exhibition, which it said was to commemorate National Day on October 1.

Considered one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the last century, the Sanxingdui ruins were first unearthed in the late 1920s when a farmer stumbled across more than 400 jade relics while digging a trench.