陕西历史博物馆英文讲解词.doc

陕西历史博物馆英文讲解词Introduction of Shaanxi History MuseumHello, ladies and gentlemen， welcome to Shaanxi History Museum. First， I want to give you a brief introduction of this museum Shaanxi History Museum is a sizable national museum with a wide range of artifacts， about 375，000 historical and cultural relics, which were all excavated in Shaanxi Province It covers an area of 70,000 square meters, with a floor space of over 50,000 square meters. Shaanxi Province had been the cradle of the ancient Chinese civilization。

And people often say that the ancient history of Shaanxi is a microcosm of Chinese history. The museum shows a great deal of elegance and originality in style It was designed by Zhang Jinqiu， a very famous female architect in China， and assumes the architectural features of ancient Chinese palaces and courtyards of Tang Dynasty. PREFACE HALLNow we are in the hall The giant stone walking lion was originally erected in front of Shunling Mausoleum， the tomb of Empress Wu Zetian's mother of the Tang Dynasty。

With its exquisite craftsmanship and imposing appearance， the lion is believed to rank the first in Asia Since lion and their carving skills were introduced to China from Afghanistan through the Silk Road in ancient times, so this lion also represents the cultural exchange between China and other countries THE MAP OF SHAANXI PROVINCELying in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, and in the eastern part of the northwest region of China， Shaanxi Province serves as the gateway to the northwest of the country, and offers a link of communication between the Southwest, Northwest and East China。

Shaanxi Province covers the area of about 205,800 square kilometer, and has the total population of 37 million. Topographically, Shaanxi Province can be divided into three natural regions The top part is the Loess Plateau in the northern part of Shaanxi Province. The middle part is Guanzhong Plain， and here is Xi’an city where 13 dynasties set their capitals during 1，100 years in Chinese history. The southern part of the Shaanxi Province is mainly about some mountainous regions. This is Qingling mountainous region， which is not only the natural boundary in separating the northern and the southern part of China but also the watershed of the two greatest water systems in China—the Yellow River system and the Yangtze River system。

THE PREHISTORIC AGE（1，150,000 years ago—21st century B.C)The first section focuses on the history of Shaanxi Province during the Prehistoric Age, which ranges from 1，150,000 years ago to the 21st century B Shaanxi is an important source of information on the origin of the human race in Asia In 1964, the fossil of a human skull and jawbone were discovered in Liantian County The archaeologists put these together and shaped this female figure around her 30’s. The Liantian Ape—man had a much smaller brain capability comparing with people living today, only 780 milliliters about half the size of people today. And the thickness of their skull is twice as much as people today. All of these tell us that the intellect of Liantian Ape—man is not well developed。

However, the results of the latest research grogram prove that Liantian Ape—man lived about 1,150,000 years ago and was the earliest known Homo erectus in North Asia This background picture shows Gongwangling， where the fossil of Liantian Ape-man was discovered In the display case are the pointed stone implements excavated from the site， which were made and used by Liantian Ape—man. These stone implements, thought slightly chipped and irregularly shaped， were used for multiple purposes And all of these stone tools belonged to the Paleolithic Age。

After the discovery of the fossil of Liantian Ape—man, the fossil of a rather complete hominid skull was found in Dali County, Shaanxi Province in 1978. The brain capability of the Dali Men was larger， reached to 1120 milliliters， only 300 less than people today. Dali Men lived about 200,000 years ago, and belonged to a new stage of human evolution， known as Homo Sapiens. The stone implements ever used by the Dali Men are relatively small in sizeThe earliest Neolithic cultural heritage in Shaanxi is known as Laoguantai Culture， which originated about 8，000 years ago。

The Neolithic Culture is different from the Paleolithic Culture in three major respects: the use of polished stone implements, the invention of pottery utensils， and the emergence of settled habitation and primitive farming The appearance of these early pottery utensils provided the human being with the cooking vessels, and helped a lot to improve the living condition at that time. The polished stone spades and knives on display indicate that at that time people made a living not solely by gathering and hunting， but by means of slash—and-burn。

Yangshao Culture dates about 7，000—5，000 years back. In Shaanxi Province， the representatives of Yangshao Culture are the Banpo site and the Jiang。