The Banpo Museum of Xi'an is the first site of prehistoric museum in China. The locus of the museum-the Banpo site is situated on the east bank of the Chan River in the east district of the Xi'an City, and more than 6000 years ago, it was typically the site where the enatic tribes met in the drainage area of the Huanghe River. In 1957, the Government of Xi'an built the museum basing
on archeology and diggings, and the museum was officially open on the 1st day of April. In 1962, the State Department of the People's Republic of China announced that the Banpo Site a national major unit of cultural relic that should be protected. The Banpo Site was found in 1953, it covers almost 50,000 square meters presently, and through archeology, 10,000 square meters was dug, it was divided into several districts respectively for inhabitancy, ceramics and graves. What were unearthed were 46 relics of rooms, 2 folds, more than 2000 vaults, 6 relics of pottery, more than 250 graves and almost 10000 tools of manufacture and appliance of life. In addition, there were still many artworks of colored pottery which showed the prehistoric civilization in the drainage of the Huanghe River in muster. The display exhibition of the Banpo Museum covers almost 4500 square meters, divided into 3 parts, the display of the unearthed cultural relics, the hall of the site and the auxiliary display. The display of the unearthed cultural relics is composed of 2 exhibition rooms. They're the No.1 room and the No.2 room. In these two rooms, many things are exhibited. There're the Banpo Site and the manufacture implements. There are living appliances and artworks used by the primitive people. And the hall of the site was a part of the living district of the primitive people in Banpo. All these show the original appearance after being found. And it covers almost 3000 square meters, including the rooms where the former human beings lived, and the stoves, kilns and graves used and etc. used by them. There are the No.3 and the No.4 exhibition rooms in the auxiliary display, mainly holding some special exhibitions of ethnogeny, folklore, history of art and palaeoanthropology related to the prehistoric culture. The decorations on the great door of the style of the primordial villages, the stone carving of the bailing girl of Banpo standing in the fish pool, and the 4 powerfully meaningful Chinese characters "Banpo Ruins" written by Mr. Guo Moruo on the front of the gate, all give more sentiment to the cultural atmosphere of the Banpo Museum, and make people have a real feeling of returning to nature and history. And all these scenes always make many people on the scoop. In the recent years, the museum built the Banpo village of enatic tribes reflecting the conditions of the manufacture and life of the primitive society. It's the organic extension of the display of the Banpo Museum for reproducing solidly the society of the enatic tribes. It has moved the precious heritages from under the earth to on the earth according to the materials of archeological discoveries. The precondition of this is to protect the relics positively. The village enriches the connotation of the museum, carries forward the centuries-old Chinese cultural history, and gathers together the prehistoric art in the drainage of the Huanghe River, mores and rurality. And it's praised as "the first Chinese historical village" by visitors from China and foreign countries for exerting the predominance of the culture, integrating the scientific research, archeology, teaching, tourism and entertainment.
