The huge variety of exhibits provide evidence of the dynamic exchanges between the East and West along the ancient Silk Road.[Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

Eight seal stamps found on Tang official papers unearthed in Turpan are also on display at the exhibition. Etched in Zhuanshu-style script, the seals show a facet of the administrative system being implemented across several protectorates and counties in Xinjiang.

Shan Wei, deputy director of the National Museum, says: "Xinjiang's various ethnic cultures have always been rooted in the soil of Chinese civilization and constitute an inseparable part of it. The region is a place jointly developed and owned by the different ethnic groups of China."