Taiwan's National Palace Museum has launched a permanent exhibition which displays Chinese bronze artifacts spanning 1,500 years, from the late Xia dynasty (early 1700 B.C.) to the Zhou (475-221 B.C.) -- a period known as the Bronze Age of China. The artifacts, which went on exhibit Friday, are from the royal collections of the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties between the 10th and 20th centuries, and reflect the exquisite taste of China's royal families. The museum hopes that through the exhibit, 'Rituals Cast in Brilliance -- Chinese Bronzes Through the Ages, ' people will be able to learn the complete development of an exquisite material culture in early Chinese ages, a museum spokesman said. Categorized based on their materials, the items in the exhibit are displayed in the permanent exhibit galleries 305 and 307. According to the museum, in the remote eras that existed during the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, bronze was mainly cast into ritual objects, in addition to weaponry, to offer sacrifices to ancestors for their blessings of an everlasting lineage. Furthermore, from the arrangement and quantity of bronzes displayed in a given ceremony, one can discern the specific social status and position of that noble host. Bronzes were thus the most important ritual objects in the aristocratic Shang and Zhou Dynasties (1600-221 B.C.). In many aspects, these two early dynasties were crucial to the formation of Chinese culture. Politically, with a burgeoning humanistic awareness, the belief in rule by theocracy gradually transitioned to that of rituals and proprieties. Materially, the advanced bronze melting and casting skills initiated a new age of ritual vessels and weaponry, and the breakthrough in craftsmanship and technologies gave rise to a wide range of flourishing industries. 