Museum tells story of Silk Road convergence

Since its establishment in the 1980s, the Hepu Han Dynasty Museum in Hepu county of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region has gathered more than 5,200 cultural relics of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24) and the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220).

The museum houses the iconic bronze phoenix-shaped lamp from the Western Han, which is considered one of Hepu's "Three Treasures", together with Beihai pearls and mangrove trees.

The lamp is also environmentally friendly, though it comes from an era long before climate change. The smoke emitted by a "candle" - a pan with burning material that provided light - would funnel up through the long neck of the phoenix into its hollow stomach, where water absorbed the soot.