All 6,000 items at the Museum of the International Table Tennis Federation have been moved from Lausanne, Switzerland, to Shanghai.

The sport's new museum will be inside the World Expo Garden on the west bank of the Huangpu River. It is expected to open in July 2017, Chen Peijie, president of Shanghai Sports Academy, said on Saturday at the opening ceremony of the collection's exhibition in Suzhou.

Items on show include the earliest ping-pong bats that feature paintings of ladies in gowns, which were made of sheep skin in the 19th century, and the earliest balls, which were made of cotton.

"It has been a tremendous project to transfer all the items from Lausanne," said Thomas Weikert, president of the federation that was founded in 1926.

Weikert's organization signed an agreement with the Chinese Table Tennis Association and the Shanghai government in 2013 to build the new museum, said Cai Zhenhua, president of the Chinese Table Tennis Association.

"China has developed a unique ping-pong culture. Table tennis enjoys incredible popularity across the country and there is the history of ping-pong diplomacy. To have the new museum will further enhance the ping-pong culture," said Cai in Suzhou on Saturday.

At the Suzhou International Expo center, where the exhibition is taking place, hundreds of people lined up on Saturday to buy stamps China Post has issued for the 2015 World Table Tennis Championships.

Pu Jian, 67, had been in the line for more than an hour.

"Table tennis was the most important and popular sport when I was a young man and the championships are taking place in my hometown. I have to get the stamps," he said.

It is the fifth time China Post has issued stamps about ping-pong; the first was in 1959.

wangshanshan@chinadaily.com.cn