WELLINGTON, Nov. 29 -- New Zealand researchers are hoping a vast collection of Chinese art -- with items dating back 5,000 years -- will shed new light on the diplomatic links between the two countries since the founding of New China in 1949.

New Zealander Rewi Alley, who helped to pioneer China's Gung Ho movement during the war against the Japanese and to found the Shandan Bailie School, was instrumental in creating the collection through his links to China's early Communist leadership, said researchers Friday.

The researchers have been given funding to investigate the scope of the collection, why and how it developed and the extent to which the artifacts shaped perceptions of the New China in New Zealand.

University of Waikato historian Dr. James Beattie said the collection at Canterbury Museum, in Christchurch, was unique, assembled with the official sanction of the Chinese government at a time when China was closed to much of the world and the export of antique Chinese art was banned.

The collection was amassed during the 1950s and 1960s through Alley, who lived in China, and Canterbury Museum's former director Roger Duff.

"Duff was convinced that a gallery of Chinese art would do more for New Zealand-China relationships than any other means," Beattie said in a statement.

"And they managed to acquire New Zealand's largest collection of Chinese artefacts -- about 2,000 objects, many of them very old and very rare."

Alley's connections with the upper levels of the Chinese government enabled him to circumvent a ban imposed on art export of antique items.

"He also sourced many objects through excavation rather than through dealers, which helped to establish their authenticity," said Beattie.