Museum traces western frontier's enduring legacy

A delicate bronze vessel unearthed from the Zhuo'erkut ancient city site in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region features a square socket once fitted with a wooden or bone handle and a rare cross-shaped pattern embossed on its base.

This first-of-its-kind discovery is on display at the Museum of the Western Regions Frontier Command, which opened to the public in May in Luntai county, in Xinjiang's Bayingolin Mongol autonomous prefecture.

In 60 BC, the Western Regions Frontier Command was set up, Xinjiang was formally incorporated into the territory of China, becoming an integral part of this unified multiethnic country.