According to Wang Xudong, director of the Palace Museum, it is the first time since the Forbidden City became a public museum in 1925 that it has showcased cultural relics pertaining to the Panchen Lama.

"It's also the first time these relics from the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery have left the site to be shown to the public," Wang says.

"We also have more than 10 Buddhist temples in the Forbidden City," he says. "And tens of thousands of Tibetan Buddhist statues and other related religious artifacts are housed in our museum."

Some of these statues were made by the imperial household's workshops of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), but many were precious artifacts that were paid as tributes by the Tibetan and Mongolian ethnic groups.