"Someone can. The people who owned it, and passed it down to younger generations. And then those people passed it onto this place. They hold the stories. In some ways we might be able to guess what happened."

Xie Lian is probably still older then this vase but he can appreciate the passage of time that it has had to endure. "Each of these items has a little card that tells some of its history." He points to the little plague that is at the base of the item.

"A snippet of its life for all to see."