The British Museum in London [Photo/IC]

2. Signing agreements and swapping experts

In 2005, the British Museum signed a historic agreement with the National Museum of China, the first cultural agreement between a British art institution and the National Museum.

The following year saw a similar agreement between the British Museum and the Palace Museum in Beijing. They will make possible future collaborative projects, including the loan of terracotta soldiers from Xi'an and, in return, the loan by the British Museum of exhibitions of world cultures unrepresented in Chinese collections.

The British Museum worked with the Palace Museum in sharing its skills to survey the museum's European clocks collection. In return, Chinese scholars assisted on the project to publish the British Museum's Chinese paintings collection.