[Photo provided to China Daily]

At the exhibition, the National Museum of China has also displayed one of its treasures as an example of Chinese aesthetics in jewelry design.

Called the "Phoenix Coronet", it is dated to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and was made for the Empress Xiaoduan.

It was unearthed from the Dingling Mausoleum in Beijing in the 1950s.

It is made from lacquered bamboo and silk, and inlaid with more than 100 rubies and 5,000 pearls.

The Persian Gulf's pearl business died in the mid-20th century.

Then, over harvesting led to the depletion of oyster beds, putting the business indecline.

Nowadays, natural pearls are no longer fished and people farm pearls in seas and rivers.

If you go

9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays, through Jan 8, 2017. 16 East Chang'an Avenue, Dongcheng district, Beijing. 010-6511-6400.