Banpo Museum

Banpo Museum is the first prehistoric remains museum in China, built in 1957 by the government on the very site of the Banpo remains. It is located in the north of Banpo Village, east of the Chang River in what is now known as the city of Xi’an. The site of the Banpo remains is actually an ancient matriarchal clan village within the reaches of the Yellow River, a place which has preserved its rich regional and Chinese cultural heritage, prehistoric art, and folk customs up until today’s modern times. The time-honored houses, cellars, tombs, and kitchens in the village fully display the lifestyle of the ancient people who lived here over 6,000 years ago, acting as a living museum and is thus of high scientific value for researchers of primitive Chinese society. In fact, it is often regarded as “The First Village of China.” The Banpo Museum, which integrates scientific research, archaeology, tourism, and entertainment, has attracted over 20 millions visitors from all over the world since its opening in 1958, and it was named a Key Cultural Relic under state protection by the State Council in 1997.

Within an exhibition area of 4,500 square meters, Banpo Museum is composed of 3 sections: the Cultural Relics Exhibit Section, Remains Hall, and the Accessorial Exhibit Section. Inside the Cultural Relics Exhibit Section are the museum’s First Exhibit Hall and Second Exhibit Hall halls, which showcase agricultural tools and articles for daily use unearthed from the Banpo remains. These items have been classified into stone wares, bone tools, and potteries, including stone axes, gravel shovels, stone knives, bone knives, bone needles, bone hooks, jars, earthen plates, and earthen bowls. The patterns on the potteries are simple in style but very true to life, and include animal, plant, and human patterns. As well, the 2 halls display some decorative items, such as birds’ heads, animals’ heads, and human skeletons.

The second of the Banpo Museum’s sections is Remains Hall, which covers an area of 3,000 square meters and is a part of the ancient village itself. The houses in the hall are very low in height and damp in a semi-subterranean style, with wood pillars supporting the roofs. There is also a large ditch measuring 300 meters long, 5 meters wide, and 5 meters deep, which once functioned as a man-made defense for the village in case of invasion from other tribes and attacks from animals. A public cemetery stands inside the hall with many potteries as funerary objects, and there is a hole in the center of each pottery through which the ancient people believe they could reincarnate after they die. As well, the cellars and barns are vivid evidence of the hardships that the ancient people went through in the course of human civilization.

The third and final part that comprises the museum is the Accessorial Exhibit Section, which is composed of the Third Exhibit Hall and the Fourth Exhibit Hall. Here, there are many prehistoric theme exhibitions held regularly which visitors have warmly praised and enjoyed for being all at once entertaining, artistic, and informative.

Address: north of Banpo Village, east of the Chang River of Xi’an
Opening hours: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm every day
Bus routes: 15, 406, and 913