Have you ever seen such a museum? In this museum, you can learn about how the Chinese dragon evolved 3600 years ago, when noodles were discovered, and the origin of pigs. Here, you can travel through caves from the Paleolithic era and experience the Maritime Silk Road on a "deck." Here, bells can be played, machines can be used for divination, pottery fragments can be touched, and various national treasures can be printed on paper. This is the Chinese Archaeological Museum located at the northern end of the Beijing axis.

The Chinese Archaeological Museum is a national-level professional archaeological museum under the Chinese Academy of History, with more than 6,000 exhibits from field archaeology. Its basic display is themed "Historical China, Casting Civilization," divided into five sections: "Origin of Civilization," "Residence in China," "Great Unity of the Nation," "Harmony of All Nations," and "National Awakening," showcasing cultural relics from various periods from the Paleolithic era to modern times.

The museum features "storage-style display and immersive experience," exhibiting numerous national treasures and using digital technology to simulate real scenes, allowing archaeological achievements to be accessible to the public through technological means. Follow the cultural tourism expert to experience the endless charm of Chinese history and culture.

"Storage-style display" showcases national treasures

Some exhibits in the exhibition halls of the Chinese Archaeological Museum are placed in small grid-like compartments like a warehouse, and archaeological excavations are densely displayed according to sites and ruins, accompanied by graphic explanations. This display method reflects the museum's "storage-style display" characteristics.

Archaeological research often involves the overall examination of a group of relics and artifacts with common characteristics that are distributed in a certain area over a certain period of time, that is, studying them according to archaeological culture, focusing on the series and types of relics and artifacts, rather than studying individual objects in isolation and appreciation.

This disciplinary characteristic fundamentally requires that the display of the Chinese Archaeological Museum should not pursue the display of exquisite isolated artifacts, but should fully consider archaeological culture and archaeological site units, and complete the archaeological interpretation of the formation and development of the entire social production technology level, aesthetic taste, social organization, values, cultural traditions, and other aspects through the organic integration of fine cultural relics and grouped artifacts, and the auxiliary layout of line drawings and graphic explanations.

The many national treasures exhibited by the museum have attracted many tourists to come and take photos!

Terracotta figurine

This terracotta figurine, unearthed from the Beishouling site in Baoji, Shaanxi, is painted with black eyebrows and beards, with holes for eyes and mouth, flat ears with small holes, and rope patterns representing hair on the forehead. The face is plump, the nose is straight, and it shows the facial image of men at that time.

Red inscribed pottery flat pot

This Zhu Shu (ancient Chinese script) pottery flask was unearthed at the Taoist Temple site in Xiangfen, Shanxi Province, over 4000 years ago. The belly of the flask is inscribed with a prominent Zhu Shu character "wen" (meaning "culture" or "writing"), which is very similar in structure to oracle bone script. The other side also has a character, but it cannot be deciphered at present. The discovery of this Zhu Shu pottery flask not only demonstrates the continuity of Chinese writing, but also reflects the uninterrupted and continuous development of Chinese civilization.

Turquoise dragon-shaped object

The phrase "Long Qi Yang Yang, He Ling Yang Yang" from the Book of Songs is confirmed in the turquoise dragon-shaped object in the museum's collection. This is a turquoise dragon made up of over 2000 pieces of various shaped turquoise pieces. The dragon's head is placed on a trapezoidal base, with a slightly protruding mouth, a nose bridge made of green and white jade, a large and striking nose made of turquoise, and two round white jade eyes. There is also a copper bell on the dragon's waist. Its enormous craftsmanship, exquisite production, and large size are very rare among early Chinese dragon-shaped cultural relics. Although it is not the earliest dragon-shaped object unearthed from archaeological excavations, it is considered to be the most direct and orthodox root of the Chinese dragon totem because of its closest resemblance to the image of the Chinese dragon in later generations.

Copper plaque with inlaid turquoise animal face pattern

These two turquoise copper plaques were unearthed at the Erlitou site in Luoyang, and are the earliest gem-set bronze wares in China. Scholars believe that the Erlitou site was the location of the capital city of the Xia Dynasty in the late period. The turquoise copper plaque unearthed in 1987 is the most ingenious of its kind, with a hollow-cast main body and hundreds of small turquoise pieces that have not fallen off after more than 3000 years without any support. Upon closer inspection, one can see the strange mythical beast image with round turquoise beads as eyes.

Bronze sacrificial vessel

This artifact, unearthed from the Western Zhou Dynasty tomb in Zhangjiapo, Chang'an, Shaanxi Province, is a standing monster with a cover on its back. The cover button is a standing phoenix, and a coiled-tail tiger is attached to the neck and back. There is a dragon with a coiled tail on the chest and hips, which looks like a horse or a deer, but has two horns on its head and wings on its belly, with a strange and lovely shape.

Standing bird-shaped pottery

This is an object from the late period of the Dawenkou Culture in the Neolithic Age, dating back approximately 4800 years. It was unearthed at the Weichi Temple site in Mengcheng, Anhui. The artifact is shaped like a bottle with a hollow center, and has a standing bird image on top. The feather-like decoration in the middle is symmetrical, and there are four symmetrical circular holes on the body of the object. Scholars estimate that this object is related to sun worship based on its location of discovery and the bird image on the pottery.Digital technology is used to create an "immersive experience" in the museum.

Another feature of the museum is the "immersive experience". The museum uses various methods such as video presentation, multimedia interaction, scene simulation, OLED transparent display screens, and naked-eye 3D to recreate ancient historical scenes for visitors, leading them through time and space.

Walking into the first unit "Origin of Civilization", the entire corridor of the Stone Age exhibition area is designed as a rock cave, with rough rocks on both sides and a starry sky above, making visitors feel as if they are in the wild night of primitive society. There are also images of Homo sapiens on the walls, showing visitors the morphological changes of Homo sapiens from the Old Stone Age to the New Stone Age.

In the exhibition area of agricultural origins, the simulated scenes of rice and millet take visitors to the fields, experiencing the development and progress of Chinese agricultural civilization.

Continuing forward into the oracle bone script exhibition area, visitors can watch the evolution of oracle bone script through videos, experience a divination process of a merchant, and then admire the replicated Xiangfen Taosi City site from a bird's-eye view.

In addition, there are many interactive installations in the venue: flipping through the content of Emperor Yongzheng's red seal with a finger; playing a favorite music with a bianzhong; getting a stamp at the cultural and creative store; sending an antique-looking letter at the Lantai Post Office... Visitors can participate and experience the traces of history while touring the museum.

Digital technology allows visitors to have an "intimate" contact with cultural relics. Through 3D data modeling, cultural relics can be displayed on smart screens. Visitors can touch the glass of the display case to observe the details and colors of the cultural relics up close from all angles. In the "Stay at Home in China" section, there is a movable smart interactive screen that can be stopped in front of the cultural relics that visitors like, providing visitors with the opportunity to enlarge and learn about them, attracting many tourists to experience it.

It is reported that in the future, the China Archaeological Museum will also build a basic platform for the museum's intelligent guide and explanation system, and provide personalized tour route recommendations for visitors through big data analysis. At the same time, combined with indoor positioning technology, it will provide visitors with mobile guide and explanation services.

The National Museum of China Archaeology is committed to showcasing and promoting China's outstanding traditional culture, telling the stories of China's long-standing and splendid Chinese civilization, and creating a historical and cultural living room on the central axis of Beijing and a national window for displaying Chinese civilization. The permanent exhibition is currently open to the public.Exhibition Hall Address

Building 1, No. 1 Courtyard, North Road of National Stadium, Chaoyang District, Beijing (South Gate)Opening Hours

Tuesday to Sunday 9:00-16:30Transportation

Subway Line 8 and Line 15, Olympic Park Station, Exit D.