During the transportation of cultural relics between the two places, both parties ensured that the removal company took proper safety and security precautions. After being transported to Hong Kong, it took almost a week to assemble the components before the exquisite artwork could be displayed in its entirety for the people of Hong Kong to appreciate.

Co-organized by the Development Bureau, the National Cultural Heritage Administration, and the Secretariat for Social Affairs and Culture of the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region, the exhibition, which will run until June 2, includes Lingnan building components and archaeological finds.

"The brick and tile carvings of Lingnan culture possess consistency. You will discover during the exhibition that each brick and tile comes from different locations in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao," Huang says.

A prime example of that theory is that the similarity shared between the two end tiles on the eaves. One from the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24) was unearthed at the Site of the Palace of Nanyue Kingdom in Guangzhou and one from the Song-Yuan (960-1368) period found at Hau Hoi Wan shore in Hong Kong. They were engraved with the characters for "good fortune", and likely originated from the same structure, Huang says.

At the opening ceremony of the exhibition on Dec 12, Wang Qiang, deputy director of the Nanyue King Museum, acted as a tour guide and introduced the distinctive features of Lingnan traditional architecture, from the wooden-columned structures to the tower-like pottery houses influenced by the northern Central Plains culture and Lingnan's local customs.

The exhibition is a strong initiative under the framework agreement signed between the mainland and Hong Kong in November 2022, to enhance cultural exchange and collaboration.