People in long lines wait to enter the hall. [Photo/IC]

Other rare works on display

The Stone Moat, known in Chinese as Shiqu Baoji, is a royal inventory complied by 31 top-level scholars and art appraisers during the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1736-96).

It records about 11,000 paintings and works of calligraphy the emperor collected. After a seven-year investigation, 1,001 paintings and 228 works of calligraphy were found in today's museum collections.

Other must-see exhibits:

Letter to Boyuan, by Wang Xun (349-400), the only surviving calligraphy from the Jin Dynasty (265-420) with an authentic signature by the writer.

Five Oxen, by Han Huang (723-787), the earliest surviving Chinese painting drawn on paper Spring Excursion, by Zhan Ziqian (545-618), one of the oldest surviving Chinese landscape paintings.