At least 8,000 years ago, Chinese ancestors discovered a beautiful stone – jade, while making polished stone tools – the start of a distinct jade-carving tradition. Ancient Chinese beliefs held jade to be the crystallization of the quintessence of heaven and earth. Thus, jade was sacred and often personified as well as endowed with aesthetic values. The exhibition displays the finest jade objects dating from the Neolithic times to the Qing Dynasty.[China.org.cn]