Millions of years in time

New Hebei museum illuminates East Asia's longest continuous human record, Zhang Yu reports in Shijiazhuang.

In the heart of a landscape that is itself a vast archive, a new museum has risen to decipher one of humanity's longest and most continuous records.

On a windswept terrace in Yangyuan county, Zhangjiakou, North China's Hebei province, the Nihewan Site Museum has opened its doors, offering a gateway to a past that stretches back an astonishing 1.76 million years. This modern facility, currently operating on a trial basis, stands atop ground that chronicles nearly uninterrupted human activity in East Asia.

The museum's location is its first and most powerful statement.

Situated in the core area of the Nihewan Paleolithic sites and part of the Nihewan National Archaeological Park, it allows visitors to look out from its observation platforms onto the very landforms where this deep history was buried and later uncovered.