The exhibit, "Possessing the Past: Mysteries of Ancient Chinese Art," opened Thursday, April 22, and will continue through Friday, Aug. 27 in the University's Oviatt Library in the San Fernando Valley. On display are archaic jade, ancient bronze and other stunning objects spanning more than 6,000 years of Chinese history.

The exhibit consists of various antiquities that have been gifted to Cal State Northridge by Chinese-American entrepreneur Roland Tseng and his family, along with many more objects on loan from the family's personal collection. Tseng grew up in the San Fernando Valley near Cal State Northridge, but now lives in Northern California.

The entrepreneur made headlines last September with a pledge to donate to the University $38 million in Chinese antiquities over four years. Now, less than one year later, the University and Tseng reported that his gifts thus far have already totaled nearly $24 million. "The University and I are working wonderfully together and we've made wonderful progress," said Tseng, who ranked as the nation's 25th largest donor in 2003 because of the pledge.

"Roland Tseng and his family have given a wonderful gift to the Los Angeles community and beyond by ensuring that these treasures, now entrusted to Cal State Northridge, can be shown to the public and studied by scholars," said University President Jolene Koester. "This exceptional exhibit reinforces the University's role as the cultural heart of our region."

Among the gifted objects in the exhibit, the highlight is an ornate, 3,000-year-old gold and bronze ritual vessel considered to be unique. The gifted items also include a bronze bull with inlaid gold and silver dated to between the 11th and 6th centuries B.C.E., a glass water buffalo weight from between 400 and 221 B.C.E., and a Stone Age axe blade from 1.5_2 million years old.

Tseng, a preservationist and collector of ancient Chinese art for two decades, said he chose Cal State Northridge to host The Tseng Collection in part because of the campus' diverse scholarly research. In fields ranging from archaeology to Asian studies and history to material sciences, scholars at Cal State Northridge will explore the ancient art from many perspectives.

Tseng said he is particularly interested in research into the technology how the antiquities were designed and created in ancient times. Through that research, he said, people will learn more about the objects themselves and the capabilities of ancient Chinese society.

"It's very rare to see this many items of ancient Chinese art displayed together at one time, especially art of this quality," Tseng said. "One of the goals of the exhibit, the first of three planned yearly showings at Cal State Northridge, is to begin to reconstruct the original cultural context of these objects, the important roles they played in ancient Chinese culture."

The exhibit includes items dating from the Neolithic Era, as much as 3,500 years B.C.E. or nearly 6,000 years ago, to the late Han Dynasty, 221 C.E. In addition to ancient jade and bronze, the exhibit also features porcelain, earthenware, pottery and glass. The exhibit's objects include those used for decoration, ritual/religious and utilitarian purposes.

Tony Gardner, the University's curator of the exhibit, said visitors will be struck by the detail and fine craftsmanship that went into each object. "I personally was amazed at the level of craftsmanship of these ancient artisans," Gardner said. "Their imaginative decorations made thousands of years ago are still greatly admired today."

Behzad Bavarian, a Northridge professor who has analyzed the material composition of some of the objects, said "they are very sophisticated in the way they were manufactured. It's amazing the way they made them. It shows a greater depth of knowledge was available at that time than we might previously have expected."

Tseng's $38 million pledge was the largest gift ever for Cal State Northridge and for the entire 23-campus California State University (CSU) system. In January 2004, the CSU Board of Trustees approved a pair of campus recognitions honoring Tseng and his family for their gifts.

In the opening ceremony for the exhibit, University President Jolene Koester made it official, renaming a Northridge college as the Roland Tseng College of Extended Learning, and the west wing of the Oviatt Library -- where the prized art is on public display -- as the Tseng Family Wing.

Within the library, the University created a state-of-the-art gallery to house the exhibit that has been named the C.K. and Teresa Tseng Gallery, after Roland Tseng's parents. The library is in the center of the Cal State Northridge campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge.

Tseng, a corporate founder and inventor, was one of a group of local Asian Americans honored as role models by Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn in April 2003. Tseng's family also has longstanding ties to Cal State Northridge, including his parents' travel agency -- Northridge Travel Service -- that is located just blocks from the University.

Cal State Northridge has 32,000 full- and part-time students and offers 61 bachelor's and 42 master's degrees as well as 28 education credential programs. Founded in 1958, Cal State Northridge is the only four-year public university in the San Fernando Valley. The University serves as the intellectual, economic and cultural heart of the Valley and beyond.