Showcasing over 200 images and some 290 sets of everyday objects used by people of China between the 1950s and 1990s, this exhibition introduces aspects of daily life of the Chinese during this period. It also illustrates the material changes people have undergone in their lives since economic reform and the opening up policy were implemented in China in the late 1970s.

The exhibits, most of them were provided by the Chaoyang District Culture Center, Beijing, include ration coupons and ration books in use between the 1960s and 1990s, including coupons for food, rice, flour, fabric and industrial goods rations. There are also children¡¦s toys like lamb guai bones, tops and iron toys, all sorts of utensils and objects printed with the portrait of Mao Zedong and lines from the Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung, false collars that were intended to save fabric when supply was scarce, the ¡§three important objects¡¨ required for weddings in the 1970s, and popular electrical appliances that became available when economic reform and the opening up policy were first implemented. The exhibition provides visitors with a new perspective to help understand the changes in people¡¦s everyday life in mainland China over the past half century. At the same time, this exhibition illustrates that even common everyday objects can tell stories and encapsulate a part of history.