And on show now at the Beijing China Art International Fair are treasured antiques as well as important contemporary art pieces. The event runs for only five days in the Chinese capital, so let's not waste any time and take a look.

At the Beijing Convention & Exhibition Center, the main venue of the event, items on display fall into three categories: ancient utensils, ancient painting and calligraphy, and contemporary art works.

Meanwhile, the sub venue at the World Trade Center focuses solely on contemporary art works.

Yu Ping, Vice Dir. Admin. of Cultural Relics, Beijing, said, "This exhibition is both of high quality and large scale. It gathers a whole lot of art relics and art creations from both ancient and modern times."

Items attracting the most attention include a porcelain plate in the shape of a water chestnut made in the royal kilns during the Song dynasty. Porcelain from that period is rare.

There is also a jade seal used by emperor Qianlong, and some other treasures that have set record prices at auction.

The entire value of the collected exhibits amounts to billions of Yuan. And they are borrowed from art centers like New York, London, Frankfurt, and Tokyo. Also, some pieces are owned by private collectors from Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Many of the items are seeing their first exposure to the public.