The British Museum, which has lent 272 artifacts to the Capital Museum of Beijing for an 80-day exhibition, plans to arrange more displays in China in the future, said museum director Neil MacGregor.

The launch of the exhibition on Saturday marks the first time that the 253-year-old British Museum, the world's oldest national public museum, has showcased some of its collections in the capital.

The ongoing exhibition "Treasures of the World's Cultures" covers a vast range of time from 2 million years ago to the present, including sculptures, paintings, jewellery, porcelain, and stone artifacts from all over the world.

"From these 270-plus objects we can see that people of different regions had similar concerns, problems and hopes, and did almost the same kind of things in ancient times," MacGregor told China Daily on Saturday.

The ongoing exhibition, however, does not include any Chinese artefacts collected by the museum.

But MacGregor pledged: "We are going to bring some Chinese objects collected by the British Museum to China in the future."

He said his museum was in talks with the Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, to arrange an exhibition next year based on the relationship between China and Britain in the 18th century. "Some Chinese artefacts, such as porcelains held by the British Museum, will be displayed at the exhibition," the director said.

However, some Chinese officials said the lack of Chinese objects in the ongoing exhibition was because Beijing refused to recognize British claims to Chinese porcelain, paintings, statues and books that were acquired by imperial force.

The British Museum houses about 23,000 Chinese artefacts.

(China Daily March 20, 2006)