A recent exhibition of Maori treasures from the Otago Museum in Shanghai proved a "staggering success", attracting more than 611,000 visitors and far exceeding the 400,000 to 500,000 attendance initially expected.
The exhibition, held at the Shanghai Museum, in Dunedin's Chinese sister city, was the Otago Museum's most popular overseas display.
And Shanghai Museum authorities said the show, titled "Te Ao Maori: Maori Treasures from the Otago Museum", had been the "most popular exhibition" seen at the Shanghai institution this year.
Otago Museum chief executive Shimrath Paul said this had been the first exhibition of Maori artefacts in a Chinese museum, and was a "landmark event".
In 15 weeks, Te Ao Maori had attracted more than the total number of visitors going to the Otago Museum in a full year- usually about 460,000, Mr Paul said.
The combined figures meant "an Otago Museum experience" would have reached more than a million people this year.
