'Treasures from China' On Display in Quebec 

General admission is $10, and the exhibition only has a shot at being truly engaging if you rent the audio guide for another 5 bucks. Without, the information given is limited to palm-sized cards, and a few French-first introductory panels that parrot the information given on the website while besmirching the English language with misspelled titles.

One particular error annoys: Autumn is spelled Automn, glaring out at viewers in a font the size of my fist. I guess the two governments spent all their money on shipping and advertising. There are more billboards, posters, and bus shelter signs about this show than there are sequins on a figure skater's dress.

It's "big," especially if you judge by the wealth of tenuously related mementos offered in the Gift Shop, er "Boutique." You can't miss it. Really. There is no exit from the exhibition except through the tourist trap. I mean trinket warehouse. I mean cultural exchange – that's what the show is supposed to be all about.

In a groundbreaking agreement, the Canadian and Chinese governments shook hands on a deal allowing a one-time showing of China's ancient arts and crafts in trade for a display about Canada's First Peoples, to be presented in Beijing during the 2008 Olympics.

Some of the individual artifacts in Treasures from China are indeed intriguing. Pottery fans will be delighted. Bookish types will like the stone rubbings and carved calligraphy.

The life-size reproductions of terracotta warriors are a hit with visitors. Sadly, the full importance and historical context of these famous mausoleum guardians is better illustrated through Wikipedia than through the teaser info. offered at the museum.

The whole show seemed quite breezy, fluffy, a little too easy to digest like cotton candy. Not to sound entirely embittered, but when I see "promoting cultural exchange" and "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," my eyes glaze over, and those are the sorts of promotional hoo-hah that this exhibition rides on.

What isn't being sold in terms of warm-and-fuzzy PC lingo and the age-old now-or-never marketing technique? Our politicians and furniture salesmen use the same terms, but they rarely deliver. Neither did this exhibition.

The promoters pumped things up too much, or I listened to them too closely. For a show claiming to fascinate with evidence of how China has contributed to world history, humanity, and civilization, I expected a combination of premiere pieces of art and more references to scientific innovations.