Address: Shaanxi Province, Xian City,Banpo Road, #1
Admission Fee: CNY 35 (Mar. to Nov.)
CNY 25 (Dec. to Feb.)
Opening Hours: 08:30 to 17:00
Telephone:+86-29-83512375
Recommended Time for a Visit: Four hours
Bus Route: From Xian Railway Station: Take No. 213, 42, 105 and 231 buses;
From the South Gate: Take No. 232 bus;
From the Bell Tower: Take No. 11 and 15 buses
From the Wild Goose Pagoda: Take 237 and 715 buses
hotels nearby:Tianyu Gloria Plaza Hotel - Xian .Grand Castle Hotel - Xian.. Royal Garden Hotel - Xian .
scenic spots nearby: Drum tower and Bell tower,Huaqing Spring.City wall.
Banpo Museum
Description The Banpo Museum is situated at the east bank of the Chan River and in the north of Banpo Village Xian City, Shaanxi Province. Its name comes from its location on the northern side of Banpo Village. The site was discovered in 1953 when constructing a power factory and the excavation work last four years from 1953 to 1957. The Banpo site was first opened to the public in 1958 and since then, two million people have visited it.
Banpo site is a typical Neolithic Matriarchal community of the Yangshao culture ( 5000-3000 BC) around 6000 years ago. At that time, the Banpo people used tools made primarily of wood and stone. Women, the crucial labor force, were responsible for making pottery, spinning, and raising the family, while men fished.
The Banpo site, occupies an area of approximate 45,000 square kilometer, which is divided into two sections: the cultural relic section, auxiliary exhibitions Section.
The showpieces in the cultural relic section are primarily production tools and domestic tools used by the primitive Banpo people, including axes, chisels, sickles, and stone and pottery knives from which we can have a general picture of the production activities of the Banpo people thousands of years ago.
The auxiliary exhibitions contain two halls. The Site Hall is about 3,000 square meters and contains residential, pottery making and burial section. The residential section is the main part of the site, including the huts, kilns and tombs of the primitive residents. All these present us an outlook of the aboriginal village and the hard situations of the forefathers in pursuing the civilization, reflecting the production level and the social systems at that period of time. Special shows are held here on ethnology, folklore and the history of art related to the prehistoric culture.
Masterpieces in Banpo Museum: 1：Fish and Human Face Design Pottery Painted Basin
About 100,000 years ago China entered the Neolithic Age -- an age flourishing with the clan society and the beginning of Chinese ancient culture. Pottery was a prominent invention during early man's struggle with nature.
It is the masterpiece of colored pottery painting discovered at the site in 1955 consists of red clay pottery with designs of a human-face and a fish-body.. The basin was gracefully decorated with a design of fish and a human face. on its head, the hairs were well-pinned into a knot. A fish was held in each corner of its mouth. The design depicts close relation between Bnapo people and fish, which probably the totem of them. The motif is novel and the designs, very vivid, indicating that primitive artists in Banpo Village generally used fish designs to decorate painted pottery.
2：Children's Burial Jar
When a child was died, he was placed into a big pottery jar, which would then be covered by an earthen bowl or pottery basin. A hole was chiseled in the earthen bowl or pottery basin for religious reason. The pottery jar with the dead would then be buried in a pit, dug before just right besides the dwelling.
The tip-bottomed bottle and pottery steamers are the most characteristic potteries. While these potteries were far away from men's life in modern life, they were the daily need of ancient men; each has the specific use and character.