I've never thought about a feared Mongol warlord this way, but I've got a good feeling about Genghis Khan.

"Genghis Khan: The Exhibition," that is, which opens to the public today at San Jose's Tech Museum of Innovation.

Tech CEO Peter Friess and Team San Jose CEO Dan Fenton welcomed a crowd of VIP guests Thursday night to a preview of the sprawling exhibition, which features more than 200 artifacts from the conqueror's 13th century reign.

The festivities included cultural performances from Mongolian dancers, musicians and even wrestlers.

Most people I talked with were impressed by the exhibit's authenticity, as many of the pieces come from Mongolian military and historical museums. The exhibit doesn't ignore Genghis Khan's legacy of brutal warfare that devastated much of Asia and the Middle East, but it doesn't dwell on it either.

The Tech, of course, prefers to concentrate on the innovations developed during the time period — things like the passport, paper money and chopped meat — but there's a trove of interesting material about the customs and culture of 13th century people, too.

The mummified remains of a 13th-century noblewoman are even on display, which seemed like an inadvertent callback to "Body Worlds 2," the Tech's first blockbuster exhibition a few years back.

The Tech and Team San Jose hustled to bring the show to San Jose just a month after the underperforming "Star Trek" exhibition

closed. After the show ran for several months in Denver, a deal was made for the Silicon Valley stop before the exhibit artifacts were shipped back to Asia.

The show runs through Nov. 1. Go to www.thetech.org for details and ticket info.

MOUSE'S TOP CATS: MOUSE Squad of California honored its volunteers of the year at a Tech Museum reception Wednesday.

Xilinx engineers Dan Chan and Vinay Verma were recognized for their work at San Jose's Dartmouth Middle School and Oster Elementary School. Rambus engineer Louie Lu was honored for his work at San Jose's Fischer Middle School.

MOUSE Squad of California began as the Student Tech Corps at five Silicon Valley schools in 2003; it now has a presence at 80 schools statewide.

The program provides students in elementary through high school with tech and leadership skills while allowing them to provide tech support to their schools.

Pizarro: ’Genghis Khan’ exhibition worth invading

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