Treasures on the global stage

"In 2009 and 2010 we teamed up with the cultural ministry of Italy for an exhibition that simultaneously looked into ancient Roman civilization and the one formed in China during the Qin and Han period (221 BC-220 AD).

"With Roman marbles standing right beside the terra cotta warriors, the entire exhibition hall appeared to me like an echo chamber.

"The audience was propelled to break into new territory by what they already knew, and at the same time prompted by the unfamiliar to re-examine what they thought they had known," Qian says.

"This explains the success of the exhibition, which was first shown in Beijing and Luoyang, Henan province, and then in Milan and Rome."

In 2013 Qian went to Bucharest with the Treasures of China exhibition, which were in the Romanian capital for the second time, following the visit in 1973.

"At the opening, the curator of the National Museum of Romania, who was about to retire, came up to me and said, 'Having this show here, right now, is personally significant.'

"Through the glass wall of the exhibition cases, I could see not only familiar exhibits, but also that young, fascinated archaeology student who had been there 40 years earlier."