An exhibition showing pricless cultural relics from China was unveiled Friday in Japan's Tokyo National Museum.

The exhibition titled “Two Hundred Selected Masterpieces from the Palace Museum, Beijing” is marking the 40th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations. The exhibits are selected from almost two million pieces in Beijing's Palace Museum and will be on show in Japan until February 19.

Chinese ambassador to Japan, Cheng Yonghua, attended the ceremony Friday night.

“I think this activity is very significant in that it unveils the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the normalization of Sino-Japanese relations. ”

Many of the valuable paintings and calligraphic works on show in Tokyo had never left China before. A centerpiece of the exhibition is Riverside Scene at the Qingming Festival by Zhang Zeduan, a painter from the Northern Song Dynasty that reigned between 960 and 1127.

Visitors have to arrive early in the morning and stand in a long line to see the painting, and latecomers may have to leave the museum without getting to it.

On display are also many articles of daily use belonging to the imperial family of the Qing Dynasty that ruled China between mid-17th and early 20th centuries.