Discovered in 2001, the Jinsha relics was the most significant archaeological discovery in the 21st century in China.

It unveiled an old kingdom’s brilliant culture, which is quite different from those in other parts of China, and yet is scarcely mentioned in Chinese records. Through six years, around 6,000 gold, jade, bronze and stone artifacts, tens of thousands of pottery items and also hundreds of elephant tusks have been unearth from this site.

Among them, Holy Bird is the most excellent one. It is a round gold foil made of 94 percent pure gold and it is only about 0.02 centimeters thick, the width of a piece of paper, and 12.5 centimeters in diameter. On the foil, there are images of the sun and four flying birds. It is speculated that the four flying birds represent the four seasons. It shows the ancient kingdom’s worship for the sun and birds .

Holy Bird was designated as the sign of China Cultural Heritage in 2005. To exhibit the treasure, a museum called Jinsha Relics Museum was built on the site and has been opened to the public.