The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is sending an exhibition of its indigenous strain of jade to China, where it expects a flurry of interest among museumgoers who haven’t seen how other cultures work with the precious stone.

New Zealand was the first developed nation to sign a free trade agreement with China, but the recent sale of 16 local dairies to Shanghai Pengxin Group has sparked controversy, as New Zealanders grow increasingly concerned about the sale of land to foreign owners.

Against this backdrop, Michael Houlihan says cultural diplomacy is key. “The more you understand about a culture, the better your relationship can be,” said Mr. Houlihan, chief executive of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. “It’s about how you use culture to build bridges of understanding between different societies.”

“Kura Pounamu: Treasured Stone of Aotearoa New Zealand” opens at Beijing’s National Museum of China on Wednesday, part of a celebration of four decades of diplomatic relations between the two nations. Next year it travels to the Liangzhu Museum in Hangzhou, Guangdong Museum in southern China, Three Gorges Museum in Chongqing, and Shaanxi Museum in Xi’an.

The exhibit features 200 pieces carved from Pounamu, a type of jade found on New Zealand’s South Island, and sheds light on the stone’s cultural significance in Maori culture. While greenstone’s history is shorter than jade’s, “there is quite a lot of similarity around practical uses of the materials,” Mr. Houlihan said, “whether it’s for weapons, tools or adornments.”