Artifacts Will Be on View at ‘Silk Road’ Exhibit

As a result, the museum would only show photographs, multimedia presentations, and a recreation of an excavation site; it offered refunds to those who had bought advance tickets and said that the exhibition would now be free. The problem now seems to have been crossed signals between the museum and the Chinese government, in which the museum was approved as a venue by regional officials but not, as required, by the central authorities in Beijing. The Philadelphia Inquirer on Thursday quoted a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy, Wang Baodong, saying that the central government had only approved the show going to Santa Ana and Houston. Now the museum has reached an agreement with China that will allow the exhibition to proceed with the artifacts on view, although they will be displayed for a much shorter period than originally planned. The modified exhibition will close on Sunday to allow for the installation of the full show, which will open on February 18 and run, complete, through March 15. It will then continue until March 28 with all of the artifacts except for the two mummies. To make up for the limited duration of the exhibition (which was originally scheduled to run through June), the museum will be open seven days a week for extended hours, including until 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. In an interview, Mr. Wang said that the regulations governing the display of antiquities in China are very strict, and artifacts are not supposed to be on display overseas for more than a year. (The exhibition opened at the Bowers Museum last March.) “The exhibition was originally approved to be on display for only two stops, one in California, the other in Houston,” Mr. Wang said. However, after repeated requests from the University of Pennsylvania, Beijing had decided to grant it special approval. What was important, he said, was that Americans understand they have to follow China’s rules. “We just want the American public to know we have the relevant laws and the regulations, he said. “You’ve got to follow the laws,” he added. A museum spokeswoman, Pam Kosty, declined to comment on the nature of the original mixup with the Chinese government, but said, “We’re very grateful for the Chinese Embassy — a lot of Chinese officials really worked with us to make this happen.”