Exhibitions foster ties between ancient civilizations

In a dimly lit gallery in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Zhou Jie stood before a life-sized plaster cast of a Pompeii victim, who was encased in volcanic ash nearly 2,000 years ago in what is now southern Italy.

The exhibition, Where Time Stands Still, features over 100 artifacts from Italy's National Archaeological Museum of Naples, two-thirds of which are being displayed in China for the first time.

"The jewelry and glassware from Pompeii look just like those unearthed from Han (206 BC-AD 220) tombs here in Guangxi," says Zhou, peering at a comparative display. "It's amazing how people so far apart developed such similar aesthetics."