Erlitou Site of the Xia Capital
▲Erlitou Site Museum of the Xia Capital [Photo by Zeng Xianping]
The history of Luoyang can be traced back more than 3,800 years to the Xia Dynasty. The Erlitou Site at the east end of the ancient city is the epitome of the long-standing Xia civilization.
The site shows the earliest capital in China, including not only palaces and sacrificial areas but also a complicated network of roads and even the earliest official handicraft workshops in China. People may be amazed by its advanced layout.
"The capitals of the first three dynasties are all located between the Yellow River Basin and Luo River Basin," said Sima Qian in the Records of the Grand Historian. In the Erlitou Site Museum of the Xia Capital, you will find exquisite and vivid turquoise dragon-shaped appliances, elegant bronze cups with "rudingwen" (a type of embossed pattern), and bronze ornaments with elegant turquoise inlaid. Precious cultural relics in the museum show the glorious past of the "First Capital of China".
