Fossils of the Skull of the Peking Men

If you have a free day, you can visit Zhoukoudian - Home of the Peking Man. The remains of the Peking Man (homo erectus) is located on Dragon Bone Hill at Zhoukoudian Village, Fangshan District. To get there, take Bus No. 646 from the Qianmen bus station, or Bus No. 616 from the Beijing west station, to Liangxiang west gate, then change to Bus No. 38 to the Zhoukoudian site. Buses leave every 20 minutes from 06:30-18:00. You could also take Bus No. 917 from over the bridge (Tianqiao) and then change to Bus No. 38 at the crossing of Zhoukoudian to reach the destination. These buses leave every 15 minutes. The tourist Bus No. 7 from Beijing south station will also take you there. The Zhoukoudian Site is open from 08:30 to 16:30 and the admission fee is CNY30.00 per person.

If you are driving your own car, take the Jingshi Express Way, and exit at Yancun and then turn to Jingzhou highway to reach there.

Zhoukoudian has a very good sign directing you to visit different display halls. Please read this sign carefully to avoid missing any of the important sites. Upon arrival, your first stop should be the tourist center, where you can buy some souvenirs and books about Zhoukoudian. Then walk west along the road and you will see the ticket office. Buy tickets and walk for about 10 minutes to the Site Museum, one of the first museums to be built after the foundation of New China. On the way, you will find a restaurant .You may want to take a break there.

The exhibits in the Site Museum are mainly fossils of the Peking man and other animal bones. The first hall contains the panoptic sand table, the geological maps and the relics in large scale. The second hall is a historical retrospect. The third hall is about the Beijing Ape Man and includes models of the Peking Man, the Peking ape man's living conditions, fossils of animals from that time period, and traces the use of stone tools and fire. Hall Four shows the unearthed historical relics and the fifth hall tells visitors the contributions of this site in studying the Peking Man and displays some important photos. This museum is the most important display hall demonstrating the origin of humans in prehistory and the transition from ape to human. You will also find a good collection of information if you are interested in archaeology.

Skull Fossil from Peking Man Site

When you exit from the museum, walk southeast along another path for about 5 minutes to the Upper Cave, and then to Locality No. 4 where the New Cave man was excavated. Next go to No. 3 and No. 12. No. 12 is located at the southwest corner of the site and is about 5 meters away from No. 3. To the east at No 15. and Gezitang hall, is the oldest fossil place in Dragon Bone Hill. Your final destination is the Apeman Cave, which is also known as Locality No. 1 of the Zhoukoudian site and as the Home of Peking Man. From there follow the signs to take the road back to the ticket office and the souvenir store.

Located 90 km away from Beijing, you can take bus No. 929 at the Pingguoyuan metro station to this village directly. With a hundred year's history, the village still keeps its traditional folk culture. When you walk on the old pavements and view the traditional layout of four houses surrounding a courtyard with delicate caved patterns, the old Beijing people's life will come into your mind apparently. The well-preserved traditional Ming and Qing Dynasties style Si He courtyards with exquisite carves are highlights here, these houses were all built on the hillside and if you want to take a visit, you will have to climb up the steep stairs.

The site provides free guided tours every half hour in English, Japanese and Korean. You may follow the guide to visit these sites. You may visit the ruins of the Peking man living in 250,000-600,000 years ago. They used to live in the limestone caves with the certificate for using fair. It is really a great invention for human beings.

After visiting the Zhoukoudian site, take bus No. 38 to Yan Village and change to bus No. 917 to Stone Flower Cave. This is a geological park, and one of the national AAAA tour spot famous for its unique Karst cave. The Stone Flower Cave is located 11.8 kilometers away from the Pecking Man Site in the North, and they both belong to the Beijing Fangshan District. Due to its large space and the Sub Rivers in the deep cave, the cave automatically regulates its own environment, so you will always feel fresh and comfortable. The admission fee is CNY70.00 per person. Take bus No. 917 or No. 7 back to city center.