The museum said on Wednesday that nearly all of the pieces in the exhibition, titled “Bank of China (Hong Kong) Presents: The Origins of Chinese Civilisation”, will be shown in the city for the first time.
The exhibition “highlights the achievements of two decades of comprehensive research, which involved large-scale archaeological surveys and in-depth investigations into the origins, formation and development of Chinese civilisation”, it added.
The artefacts on show include ceramics, jades, stone sculptures and objects made from bone and bronze, covering the mid-to-late Neolithic period to the Xia dynasty, or from about 6,200BC to 1,500BC.
Highlights of the exhibition are a cloud-shaped jade plaque from the Hongshan culture, which spanned 4,500BC to 3,000BC, and a bronze vessel from the Erlitou culture, which existed between 1,800BC and 1,500BC.
Other items on display are a jar from the Yangshao culture of 5,000BC to 3,000BC that features plant motifs and a Hongshan period jade dragon (4,500BC to 3,000BC), believed to be one of the earliest objects in China to depict the mythical creature.
The museum said the exhibits hailed from cultures spread across the country and discovered at nine major archaeological sites. They had been housed in museums in Beijing, Gansu, Liaoning, Anhui, Zhejiang, Shandong, Hubei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan and Hong Kong.
The exhibition will be divided into three sections, including a multimedia installation that transports visitors to the Shimao archaeological site dating back to between 2,300BC and 1,800BC, with relics from the Liangzhu culture.
The exhibition will include artefacts from the location, considered one of the country’s largest prehistoric stone cities.
The exhibition will run until February 7. Tickets will be priced at HK$100 (US$12.8) for adults, while concessionary ones will cost HK$50.