Contemporaneous with the Parthenon in Athens, the artifacts most representative of Chinese culture are engravings on drum-shaped stone (the earliest discovered stone-carved scripts to date). Take for example the prized possessions of the National Palace Museum--the bronze Zhoudynasty Maogong tripod and the Sanshi bowl.
與雅典巴特農神殿同期的中國代表文物是石鼓文（目前發現最早的石刻文字）。以故宮的鎮館之寶：毛公鼎、散氏盤為例，中國人看重的不只是器物本身，更是上面鑄刻的金文。