A bronze gui vessel on show. [Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

Wishes for well-being and longevity were often at the heart of a variety of Chinese artifacts, including jade carvings, bronze wares, Chinese paintings, calligraphic scrolls and ceramics, to name a few.

An exhibition now on at the Summer Palace in Beijing brings together 99 such artifacts, demonstrating the richness of traditional Chinese crafts. They are on show through Jan 30.

One-third of the objects are on public display for the first time, such as a 3,000-year-old bronze gui vessel, the oldest item in this show, and a jade statue of a crouching oxen that weighs some 80 grams.