The He zun
The earliest written «China».
Gary Todd from Xinzheng, China — CC0 · 幽灵巴尼 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Baomi — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Unknown — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Unknown author — Public domain · 幽灵巴尼 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Gary Todd — CC0 · Gary Todd from Xinzheng, China — CC0
China's largest museum devoted to bronzes and a national first-grade museum, set on a hill in the Stone Drum Park of Baoji, the land where the Zhou dynasty arose some three thousand years ago, which is why so many bronze vessels have come out of its soil. It first opened in 1998 as China's first museum named for bronzes and moved into its present building in 2010; its galleries of 15,000 square metres show vessels of the Shang and Zhou, many of them inscribed. Its greatest treasure is the He zun, a bronze vessel found in 1963 in a nearby village and rescued in 1965 from a scrap yard; inside it are 122 cast characters, including the earliest known writing of «zhongguo», «China», which then meant the central land around Luoyang. Among its other pieces are an elephant-shaped vessel and great decorated cauldrons. Entry is free with a passport after booking ahead on the museum's WeChat account, up to three thousand visitors a day, and it is open Tuesday to Sunday from 9 am to 5 pm with last entry at 4.30 pm, closed on Mondays, per visitor guides.
The earliest written «China».
From the Zhou.
Cast in bronze.
Shigu (Stone Drum) Park, Binhe Avenue, Weibin District, Baoji, Shaanxi
Shaanxi has a large Hui Muslim community, and Baoji has many restaurants under the halal sign serving noodles and lamb, while other restaurants may serve pork, so ask before ordering.