Banpo Neolithic Village Museum located in the east part of Xi’an city. It is the earliest representative of Yangshao culture, a Neolithic culture settled along the Yellow River. This kind of culture emphasizes the importance of women. So, there are more female tombs and graves here than male, and the women graves contain more objects and valuables than their male counterparts do.
The history of Banpo Village could be dated back to 4500 B.C. The Banpo people lived in the Neolithic age and used technique of grinding, polishing and drilling with stone.
Inside the museum there is a hall housing the complete ruins, a hall storing cultural relics and the clay cave ruins. Among the unearthed pottery vessels, there are 113 painted symbols, which are believed to be the earliest dated Chinese characters. The most famous pottery design is a big plate with a fish and human face. The pottery plate is of significant importance of exploring the history and culture of Yangshao Culture. This design indicates Banpo people’s special bond with fish, and fish was most likely to be the totem of Banpo people. There is a Banpo Lady Statue on the rock in the garden pond, showing how the early Banpo people look like.
Today, the site itself is pretty inspiring. It takes a lot of imagination to picture how this place used to be and the Disney-style "Yangshao Village" which has been reconstructed at the site makes this area much appealing.