Many of the bronze pieces on show are 3,000 years old.

The museum paid a handsome amount of money for the bronze pieces. $100,000 could buy dozens of estates on Manhattan Island at that time, according to Chen Kelun, vice director of Shanghai Museum.

In order to present the new archeological discoveries in their broader context, Shanghai Museum borrowed the Jin and the bronze set from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as a third Jin, unearthed in the 1920s and belonging to the collection of Tianjin Museum, presenting the three sets at the exhibition.

It's a rare occasion to have the three sets on show together. They bear the same features from about the same historical age and were unearthed from almost the same geological location, says Wang, the archeologist. "Were it not for this exhibition, I would not have the opportunity to see the one from the Metropolitan Museum."

If you go

9 am-5 pm, till Mar 1, 2015, Exhibition Hall No.1-Shanghai Museum, 201 Renmin Avenue, Huangpu district, 021-6372-3500

上海博物館