In September, Lu Zhihua, an heir of municipal intangible cultural heritages in the form winemaking skills, is going to turn his personal collection of over 20,000 Chinese drinking vessels into a quadrangle courtyard museum in north China’s Hebei province. /VCG Photo.

The 64-year-old man came from a winemaking family in East China’s Shandong province whose career can be traced back hundreds of years to Fan’s Wine Shop in the Ming dynasty. He also has a certificate from the authority confirming his status as a first-level winemaker. /VCG Photo.

Lu began collecting drinking vessels in the 1980’s. And now, according to experts in cultural relics, his collection is worth more than 10,000,000 yuan. The oldest vessel can be traced back to the Yangshao culture of roughly 6,000 years ago. /VCG Photo.

The collection includes various sections of Chinese culture, with themed imagery that includes opera, mythology, humans, animals, architecture, nature, calabash, and folk customs. The improvement in vessel making skills, from bronze to porcelain and from plain to polychrome, also shows a clear path through ancient Chinese history. /VCG Photo.

The collection gives people a glimpse into ancient China’s rich wine culture, and tells countless small stories from the country's past. /VCG Photo.