A recent exhibition of Maori treasures from the Otago Museum in Dunedin's Chinese sister city, Shanghai, has deepened understanding of Maori culture in China, organisers say.
The "Te Ao Maori: Maori Treasures from the Otago Museum" show was the Otago Museum's biggest overseas exhibition, attracting more than 610,000 visitors to the Shanghai Museum.
The show, which ran from July 22 to November 6, was also the first major Maori exhibition displayed at a Chinese museum.
Shanghai Museum vice-director Prof Chen Kelun said the show had introduced Chinese audiences to the culture and history of Maori, about which they would previously have had only a vague idea.
Most visitors would have learned about traditional daily life for Maori.
Visitors had been surprised to see "so many similarities between Maori and Chinese artefacts".
