An array of dragon-related cultural relics are being showcased at the newly opened Chinese Archaeological Museum in Beijing, bringing the dragon totem under spotlight.

Among the various dragon-related historical relics on display at the museum, the piece with the longest history is the painted pottery plate with dragon design, which was unearthed at the archaeological site of the Taosi in north China's Shanxi Province.
Having a history extending more than 4,000 years, the artifact highlights the image of dragon in Shanxi Province at the late Neolithic Age. The dragon, with a body of snake, has black scales and a square head, holding a plant in its mouth.
A turquoise dragon-shaped vessel, with a history of some 3,800 years, was unearthed at the Erlitou site in Luoyang City of central China's Henan Province.
With a total length of 70.2 centimeters, the dragon on the artifact features a large square head and a snake body and is composed of more than 2,000 pieces of turquoises.
Due to its rarity among the cultural relics with a dragon image in ancient China, the vessel is known as "super national treasure."
An ivory cup was excavated in the Tomb of Fu Hao, an archaeological site at Yinxu, the ruins of the ancient Shang Dynasty's (1600-1046 BC) capital, within the modern city of Anyang in Henan Province.
With turquoises engraved on it, the cup was carved with various fine patterns.
"Xizun", a bronze ritual wine container dating back to the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046-771 BC), was unearthed at the Fenghao site in the historic city of Xi'an, the capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
With two dragons featuring animal heads and curled tails on its chest and behind, the vessel owns the same characteristics with those in earlier times.
"It's fair to say that this 'Xizun' represents the peak of the bronze ware during the Western Zhou Dynasty. It has a history of about 2,000 to 3,000 years. The dragon with a curled tail has an animal face. Even though it appeared about 1,000 years later than the turquoise dragon-shape vessel, the image of the dragon is basically the same," said Gong Wen, the curator of the museum.
The curator further noted that the image of dragon did not experience dramatic changes in general after the Qin (221 BC-206 BC) and Han (202 BC - 220 AD) dynasties, reached its peak during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), and almost formed the current appearance that is common for people nowadays by the Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368).
"This porcelain pot with patterns of dragon and phoenix was unearthed at the Yuan Dynasty Capital City Wall Site Park in Beijing. It features a dragon on one side and a phoenix on the other side. The image of dragon gradually evolved and finally developed into a unified one, manifesting the development process of our country with the unification of multiple ethnic groups," said Gong.
Located in the northern part of the Beijing Central Axis, the Chinese Archaeological Museum, a national-level professional museum, opened to the general public on Friday. It boasts an exhibition space spanning over 7,000 square meters and showcases over 6,000 exhibits categorized in five themed sections.