A new museum dedicated to the history of Chinese espionage is so top-secret that foreigners are banned.

The director of the Jiangsu National Security Education museum in Nanjing, who would only give her name as Ms Qian, said the collection of tiny pistols, miniature cameras, and concealed wiretaps may be timeworn, but is still too sensitive for foreign eyes.

No photography is allowed inside the museum either, she said.

However, the museum did reveal that it has exhibits including guns disguised as lipstick, hollowed-out coins used to conceal documents and maps hidden in decks of cards.

Chinese spies have recently been accused of using more hi-tech equipment, such as hacking into computer systems in the US and Europe. Such allegations have been dismissed as "lies" by the Chinese government.