A Chinese art exhibition featuring the thousand-year-old mural artworks of Dunhuang in northwest China's Gansu Province opened Thursday in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city.

Attending the opening ceremony of the "Soaring through the Sky" Dunhuang Art Exhibition were over 100 people, including Chinese Consul General in Auckland Chen Shijie, Mayor of Auckland Wayne Brown, New Zealand China friendship advocates, art lovers and media representatives.

The attending New Zealand guests spoke highly of the artistic and historical value of Dunhuang culture, highlighted the important and positive role of Chinese culture in the development and progress of the world, and offered to promote exchanges and cooperation in various fields in pursuit of the further development of bilateral relations.

Local art groups presented dance and folk music performances at the opening ceremony.

The exhibition is organized by China's Dunhuang Academy and co-organized by the Chinese Consulate-General in Auckland and China Cultural Center in Auckland.

The exhibition will run until March 23.

The Dunhuang murals are among the most celebrated artistic legacies of ancient China, housed in the Mogao Caves, near the city of Dunhuang. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Mogao Caves are home to 45,000 square meters of murals and more than 2,400 painted sculptures housed in 735 caves built from the 4th to 14th centuries. The murals are a vivid representation of the artistic, religious, and cultural exchanges that occurred along the Old Silk Road.