The Pharaohs' world versus the ancient Apennines Peninsula - which are you most interested in?

It does not really matter at the moment as art lovers are able to enjoy two grand exhibitions entitled "Approaching the Pyramid" and "Dawn of Rome," which are being shown in Beijing. They feature the cultural relics of the two glorious civilizations - ancient Egypt and the pre-Roman Etruscan.

The former, which runs until January 5 at the National Museum of China, east of Tian'anmen Square, features 143 cultural relics from Egypt. The collection is valued at US$260 million.

The latter, held until February 28 at the China Millennium Monument in southwestern Beijing, is tipped to be the largest of its kind among the cultural relic exhibitions to be held in the capital this year as it includes 349 pieces from Italy.

But at the weekend, the Egyptian exhibition seemed to come out on top as more than 10,000 people went to view it on Sunday alone, said Gu Xin, president of the Jiangsu Performing Arts Group, which is hosting the event. Even on Tuesday, people were still lining up to check it out.

"The only thing that comes close to this is the Dunhuang exhibition, which was held in 2000 and attracted a huge amount of people," said Shi Yumei at the ticket box.

The national museum hosted an exhibition of cultural relics from the Mogao Grottoes that year to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the Dunhuang Buddhism files.

The number of visitors to that exhibition hit a 10-year record of 8,000 per day, although the tickets were 80 yuan (US$9.6) each - four times that of a major art exhibition.

Chen Yinkun, a book editor visiting the museum, said the Egyptian exhibition has been better than the Dunhuang display.

"The 2000 show mainly featured replicas of murals in the Mogao Grottoes, but I can see here real treasures of a civilization that I learned about in primary school textbooks to be as brilliant and ancient as the Chinese," he said.

"Anyway, we can travel to Dunhuang someday, but who can easily go to Egypt?"

With similar thoughts, many visitors have come equipped with cameras and notebooks.

Chen Jiajia, an electrical engineering student at the Beijing Forestry University, took pictures of almost all the 143 exhibits on display, while her classmate sketched them.

Visitors also queued before the 2-metre-tall stone statue of Akhenaten to take pictures with "the heretic Pharaoh" who ruled Egypt about 3,300 years ago.

Compared with crowds at the national museum, the Millennium Art Museum looked somewhat empty on Tuesday - though 2,000 visitors went there on Sunday.

"The Egyptian and the Etruscan displays are something like Picasso and Titian (an Italian Renaissance painter 1485-1576) for Beijingers. Everyone knows about the Egyptian past and Picasso, but we have to tell people about the Etruscan and Titian," said Wang Yudong, the museum curator.

Even the Chinese academic circle is unfamiliar with the Etruscan past. Wang said the museum found only one researcher studying the Etruscans in China - Zhu Ronghua, a retired Peking University professor.

The Etruscans, who dominated Italy in the pre-Roman period from the 9th to 2nd century BC, were famous in the West as the torch of their lost civilization continued to shed light on the Western world in the millennium after their disappearance, said Shan Yueying, curator of the exhibition.

Centred in Tuscany, northern Italy, the Etruscans introduced the alphabet, writing, urban construction, irrigation techniques, arts and music from classical Greece and the East, providing the foundation for the brilliance of classical Rome.Though less eye-catching than the Egyptian display, the 349 gold, bronze, ivory, stone and earthen armour pieces, weapons, daily utensils and beautiful women's accessories make the "Dawn of Rome" worth the effort.

"The pre-Roman exhibition is as important as the Egyptian one in terms of public education and academic pursuits," said Wang.

"The Egyptian relics have been studied for centuries and displayed for decades, so Chinese Egyptologists can't expect any breakthroughs with the help of a single exhibition.

"But the Chinese public and researchers can learn about a lost civilization and its relics, which have only been unearthed in the past decade."

Art for business

Wang noted the Etruscan show has been a non-profit cultural exchange programme between the Chinese and the Italian governments.

Co-organized by the museum and Italy's Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Tuscany and the Central Promotion Service, the programme is different from the Egyptian show, which is being held to make money.

The State-owned Jiangsu Performing Arts Group from East China's Jiangsu Province and the Bestrue Cultural Development Co paid Egyptian museums US$800,000 to borrow the relics, while the Shanghai International Art Festival Organizing Committee paid another US$800,000 to have the relics displayed in Shanghai last month, said Gu.

They also paid a lot of money to transport and insure the relics, in addition to renting the national museum.

Gu said the investment has exceeded 12 million yuan (US$1.4 million) - and grown daily.

Wang Yudong said his museum actually thought of organizing the Egyptian show, but abandoned the idea because it was regarded as too risky.

But Gu expected profits as his company is predicting 10,000 visitors per day, with tickets going for 50 yuan (US$6).

Though Beijing's freezing December is never usually a good time for an exhibition, Gu said "a show of national treasures is not like an ordinary exhibition. Those who are interested will come."

Compared with the massive outlay for "Approaching the Pyramids," much less was spent on the "Dawn of Rome" as the Italian side covered most of the insurance and transport costs.

World art museums

The non-profit exchange programme with Italy better serves the Millennium Art Museum's long-term goal to be an art gallery for international art, said Wang.

The major art venue in Beijing is talking with the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of the United States about co-operation to build itself into a place where the Chinese can see artworks from around the world.

"To fulfill the goal we must clarify our position as a not-for-profit museum and be recognized by the international art circle. And only such a status will allow us to co-operate with other major museums in the world to attract international shows," said Wang.

However, Wang's museum may also face difficulties at home as Zhu Fenghan, vice-curator of the national museum, claimed in October that the national museum should not only be a museum of Chinese art but also that of world art.

The national museum offered a low rent option to the Egyptian show, and it will organize classical Greek and Roman exhibitions next year.

The public is often more enthusiastic about exhibitions of world arts rather than Chinese displays as the former is rarely seen, said Wang.

And the government is sponsoring some of next year's exhibitions.

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