Jade has a special place in Chinese culture. Ancient bone and bronze inscriptions tell us that jade was offered as tribute to the gods. The Liangzhu site has yielded more than forty various types of jade vessels. But items bearing the animal-god image have only been found in the finest tombs. Perhaps it was priests who were buried there.

The god is wearing a distinctive headdress with lines radiating outwards. Similar symbolism is also evident in the seven-thousand-year-old Hemudu culture. Are the two somehow connected?

The symbols inscribed on the Cong also appear on other Neolithic relics. This raises the question of how, at the dawn of history, ancient cultures interacted with one another across China's vast territory.

Gazing at us from 5,000 years ago, these eyes seem to be summoning us back to the ancient past.