China's Hubei provincial museum opens new exhibition hall

WUHAN, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Hubei Provincial Museum, located in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, opened a new exhibition hall on Monday, with its most famous exhibits moved to the new location.

The museum is one of the best known in China, with more than 240,000 items in the collection and nearly 1,000 top state-level historic and cultural relics, according to the institution.

The new hall features six themed exhibitions, one of which includes its famed set of chime bells, the largest ever unearthed in China. It was found in 1978 in the tomb of Marquis Yi, a ruler of the Zeng State during the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BC).

Another themed exhibition is dedicated to the Sword of Goujian, which was named after the king of the state of Yue during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC).

With the new exhibition hall, the area of the Hubei Provincial Museum now totals 113,800 square meters, with around 36,000 square meters of exhibition area.