After its debut in Hong Kong early September last year, the exhibition entitled "East meets West-cultural relics from the Pearl River Delta region" returned to Guangzhou on January 18.

Through some 200 cultural relics from 20 museums in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, the exhibition attempts to unfold the commercial and cultural contact between China and the West over two thousands years.

"By studying the design of export wares in ancient times, the spread of Christianity, the introduction of scientific knowledge and the materialization of cultural synthesis, visitors are able to learn about the specific roles that the Pearl River Delta region played in the history of Sino-Western commercial and cultural exchanges," said Tao Cheng, director of the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture.

According to Tao, the Pearl River Delta region has long been an important link between China and the Western countries.

The foreign trade of Guangdong Province developed in the Qin (221-206 BC) and Han (206 BC-AD220) dynasties, and reached its peak from the Tang (618-907) to Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.

Hong Kong and Macao, situated strategically near the Pearl River Estuary, guarded the waterway to Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, and prospered in different periods under the Maritime Silk Route.

"The roles of the Pearl River Delta region in the East-West cultural exchanges since the early 17th century via the Maritime Silk Route are explicit in the design of export commodities," Tao said.

According to Tao, the Maritime Silk Route one that linked China with Southeast Asia, the Indian sub-continent, the Middle East and eastern Africa, helped the Pearl River Delta region further strengthen its commercial and cultural contacts with the overseas countries.

Jointly organized by the Guangdong Cultural Department, the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, the Home Affairs Bureau of Hong Kong and the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Macao, the exhibition's debut in Hong Kong from September last year to January 2 featured about 160 cultural relics from the Pearl River Delta region.

In the running Guangzhou tour, it will display some 60 more relics, which specially reflect Guangdong's contact with the West in ancient times.

The salvaged wares from the Nanhai No 1, a commercial ship of the Song Dynasty (960-1279) discovered in 1987 in the South China Sea, will be showcased for the first time in Guangzhou.

Early in 2002, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao signed an agreement to establish a foundation for cultural collaboration.

Part of the cultural exchange and co-operation within the region, the exhibition runs until April at the Guangzhou Museum of Art and will then be moved to Macao.

"Since the Pearl River Delta region was the melting pot where East meets West, co-operation of diversified cultures will bring vitality to the region and fuel their economic growth as well," Tao said.

(China Daily February 5, 2006)