The sign at the entrance to the Cyrus Tang Hall of China (top) and inside, Spirit Stones from Suzhou grace the East Garden (above). [Photos by Jian Ping / for China Daily]

The Cyrus Tang Hall of China, a new permanent exhibition that explores China's long-standing and diverse cultural traditions, will open to the public on Wednesday.

"A total of 350 artifacts are selected from over 33,000 pieces in the Field Museum's China collection for the exhibition," Gary Feinman, the Museum's East Asian Anthropology curator, said during a media preview on Tuesday.

Feinman told China Daily that a team from the museum worked with scholars from around the world on the exhibition, including professors from Peking University and Shandong University.

The exhibition is divided into five galleries, including Neolithic pottery and jades, Shang and Zhou Dynasty bronzes, Han and Tang Dynasty burial objects, Song and Ming Dynasty ceramics, Buddhist and Daoist sculptures from multiple periods, and rubbings, textiles and paintings.

Matt Matcuk, exhibition development director, said that touch-screen interactive labels are a first for the museum. There are 45 rails that "allow visitors to learn many things about an object", he said.

Matcuk demonstrated on a display rail by touching an image that corresponds with a piece in the display case. Options to view stories, photos, including 3D, and videos appeared, showing the artifact from various perspectives, with zoom and rotation.

"This is a real labor of love for everyone on the team," said Deborah Bekken, adjunct curator. She said the permanent exhibition at the museum will last 50 years, and because of the fragility of the artifacts, pieces will be rotated.

The organization of the exhibition combines a thematic and chronological approach, with the five galleries structured around themes, ranging from China's diverse landscapes and political systems to traditional beliefs and practices.

Highlights in the exhibition include a 27-foot-long hand scroll painting detailing a panorama along a riverside city during spring, statues of temple guardians, a divination text in the rare Naxi language, and masks from the museum's Chinese theater collection.

"I hope the exhibition will help Americans to learn China's rich culture and convey to people from China that we are very interested in China," said Feinman. "The understanding and knowledge of China can make a better relationship between the two countries."

The exhibition is sponsored by the Cyrus Chung Ying Tang Foundation.