Seeing is believing, the national treasure 'Chinese Dragon'

Stepping into the China Archaeological Museum adjacent to the central axis of Beijing city, in the 'Dwelling in China' exhibition area, a blue giant dragon rises from the LED light waterfall pouring down from the ceiling. Below it, in the display cabinet, is the precious cultural relic known as the 'Chinese Dragon' - the turquoise dragon-shaped artifact. In 2002, the turquoise dragon-shaped artifact was unearthed from a high-ranking noble tomb in the south courtyard of Palace No. 3 at the Erlitou site in Yanshi, Luoyang, Henan. When the dragon-shaped artifact was unearthed, it was located from the shoulder to the hip bone of the tomb owner, with its head facing northwest and its tail southeast. The dragon is 64.5 cm long, and about 4 cm from the tail there is a turquoise strip inlaid vertically with the dragon body, and the overall artifact is over 70 cm. The dragon-shaped artifact is composed of more than 2,000 pieces of turquoise, fixed on a long base (already decayed) with adhesive. The dragon has a huge head and curled tail, and the dragon body is curved. There is a copper bell with convex string patterns in the middle of the dragon body, and there is a jade bell tongue inside. The turquoise dragon-shaped artifact is extremely rare in China's early dragon-shaped cultural relics due to its huge workmanship, exquisite production, and large volume. It has extremely high historical, artistic and scientific value. The huge dragon head is composed of three solid semi-circular green and white jade pillars forming the ridge and nose in the forehead, the turquoise garlic-shaped nose end is large and eye-catching, and the eye socket is a round white jade with a convex top surface. The dragon body is composed of multiple rhombus units to form a long body, and the decorative pieces on both sides of the dragon's spine have been chamfered to form sharp ridge lines. Each piece of decoration has been finely polished, varying in size from 2-9 mm and only about 1 mm thick, like scales continuously distributed throughout the body. Today, this high-precision replica of the turquoise dragon-shaped artifact is displayed in an important position in the Henan Yanshi Erlitou Xia Capital Site Museum, showing its style to visitors.