KUWAIT: Kuwait's First Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah has given China's Poly Art Museum a rare antique out of his own personal collection.

The Chinese museum received the exquisite object, which is believed to date back to a turbulent era in Chinese history - circa 422 to 771 BC - in a lavish ceremony yesterday, read a statement by the Kuwaiti Embassy in Beijing.

The antique, which belongs to HH the Amir's envoy, resembles a phoenix, which in Chinese mythology is a sacred bird that symbolizes resurrection, the statement revealed, emphasizing "recent progress" in Kuwait's ties with the world's most populous nation. - KUNA