陕西历史博物馆英文导游词The Shaanxi History Museum

The Shaanxi History Museum Hello, 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. 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.

Now we are in the Preface Hall. Here we can see a giant lion and three big pictures. The giant stone walking lion was originally erected in front of Shunling Mausoleum. It represents the cultural exchange between China and other countries. The massive picture shows the surging and roaring Yellow River and the vast Loess Plateau, the habit of Shanxi residents and the candle of their ancient civilization. //序言大厅

Ok, we are going to rhe first gallery. The first section focuses on the history of the Prehistoric Age. Here is the Liantian Ape-man, the fossil of a human skull in Liantian. It was the earliest known Homo erectus in North Asia. And this is the painted pottery. There are a lot of symbols on the edge of it.//史前时代Ok, we are going to the Zhou Dynasty which was a slave society. The bronze casting technology was in the high period, so we also call it the Bronze Age in Chinese history. The “ding” or tripod, which is a cooking utensilof ancient times, is the symbol of power and rank (and were things used by royal family members). Divination had to be practiced for all major activities at that time. A record of the divination results was carved onto the tortoise-shell or animal bone, which formed China’s earliest written script, known as “oracle bone inscription”.Here we can also see some other artifacts, like the Chime Bell, wine vessels.//周代And next, let’s come to the Qin Dynasty. Agriculture was integral to the economy of the Qin state. The iron implements unearthed from the site indecate that iron wares widely used instead of bronze wares. Here we see a tiger tally（虎符）. The body of it can be divided into two halves. The left was held by the general while the right was held by the Emperor. When both pieces were matched together, the general was allowed to move the army. We can also see a bronze sword which retains its sharpness and glitter without a sign of rust after being buried for 2000 years.

Well, then, we come to the Han Dynasty. This is a very important historical stage in China’s history. The Han nationality was officially formed during this period. So did the languages. The Han city of chang’an was the first international metroplis in Chinese history. The Han Dynasty also paid great attentions to agriculture and animal husbandry. Here, we can see a national treasure- a Jade Seal(皇后玉玺). This one belonged to a queen in Han Dynasty. Called LuZhi, she was a very powerful woman at that time. And the gold and silver censer is another national treasure. Well, This lamp was very famous in Han Dynasty. At that time people lit an oil light on the round part. The smoke would collect in the stem and then would be filtered in the water filled body.//秦汉时代Next, we come to the Wei, the Jin, the South and North Dynasties. It was the most turbulent period in ancirnt times. There were wars of unification and national dividion. This multi-faceted seal is made of jet, and there are 26 faces all together. The owner of it was DaGuXin. His three daughters were respectively married to three emperors. Therefore, people call him as the first father in law in ancient China.//魏晋南北朝

We will now to the third gallery of the Sui and Tang Dynasties. The Sui and Tang Dyn asties was a period when China’s feudal society was at the height of its power and splendor. It also marked a golden era in the history of Shaanxi. T he Sui Dynasty was a very short period, but it made a strong base for thre development of the Tang Dynasty. Compared with other dynasties, the Tang Dynasty got high marks for its economy, politics, and culture and so on. So next we will see some handicrafts of the Tang Dynasty. Here is the Tang Tri – colored glazed Pottery, which brought Chinese pottery craft into a new stage. And one of the best qualities of natioanl treasure is this Lotus-flower design golden-bowl. There are many design cuts on back of the lotus, such as dragon, phoenix, and deer and so on. It shows us the royal technology was very high. Well, this is a fresco, called “Chinese officals and Foreign Envoys”. It shows the active exchange of friendly and diplomatic visit between China and foreign countries during the Tang Danasty.

Ok, ladies and gentlemen, here is a national treasure and is a symbol of our museum ---the Ox-headed Agate Cup. It was made out of one whole piece of agate. This one is one of the most valuable national treasures in our museum.