NEW YORK (REUTERS)- A new exhibit featuring massive statues,
dragon-shaped roof ridge ornaments and art from the Yuan dynasty
gives visitors a glimpse of ancient China that the first
Westerners would have seen 700 years ago. "The World of Khubilai
Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty," at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art features 200 works of art. Many are being shown
outside of China for the first time. It focuses on the era
spanning the birth in 1215 of Khubilai Khan, Gengis Khan's
grandson and the Mongol founder of the Yuan dynasty, to its fall
in 1368. "As you enter the galleries, you'll discover the
extraordinary world of Khubilai Khan, in a sense, as Marco Polo
did," said Thomas Campbell, the director of the museum. Khubilai
Khan was the emperor who welcomed Marco Polo to China in 1275.
The show, which opens on Tuesday and runs through January 2, is
the museum's largest exhibit about Asian art since "China: Dawn
of a Golden Age" in 2004. Two 10-foot (3-meter) tall,
8,000-pound (3,636 kg) statues of Yuan