BEIJING, May 31 -- The exhibition "Great Romance of the Three Kingdoms" opened in Hubei Museum on Thursday.

    A total of 138 items of cultural relics representing the history of the Three Kingdoms period are on display.

    Among the relics is a rubbing of calligraphy written by Cao Cao, a renowned warlord posthumously titled as the Emperor Wu of Wei.

    Another treasure is the grave clothes of Cao Song, Cao Cao's father. It is 188 centimeters long and consists of 2,464 pieces of jade connected by silver threads.

    Other treasures include bronze chariots and color-painted tomb figures.

    The exhibition was held in seven Japanese cities from May last year to March this year as a cultural exchange program, attracting 1.3 million visitors and causing a great sensation in Japan.

    The exhibition in Hubei Museum is going to last till August 7. After that the treasures will be moved to Zhejiang Province and Beijing for further exhibitions.

    The Three Kingdoms is a chaotic and unstable period in ancient Chinese history, beginning from 220 AD. Though it only lasted for about 60 years, the period had a dramatic impact on the Chinese culture.

    Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Wuhan.