Millions of years in time

"At the 1.1-million-year-old Cenjiawan site (at Nihewan), scholars see 'prepared core technology' — among the earliest evidence of this advanced technique in the world, earlier than finds in Africa or Europe," he says.

Yet here, the small-tool tradition shows incredible local continuity for over a million years.

The museum is designed not as an isolated showcase but as the interpretive heart of a living landscape.

It sits within a wider archaeological park. A new ring road connects it to the open-air sites and dramatic stratified cliffs of the surrounding park, bridging the indoor narrative with the outdoor source.

A century of archaeological exploration and now the museum's opening have profoundly changed the local community. Zhang Baolin, 59, from nearby Shandui village, remembers a very different past.

"This land was just slopes and fields. When we farmed, we'd sometimes find big, strange bones and throw them aside. We didn't know they were treasures."

He says "now people call this the homeland of Eastern humans. We feel proud that the scientists working year after year in the dust have put Nihewan on the world map".

For visitors, this convergence of place, science and community creates a powerful experience. Liu Guibing, a 56-year-old teacher, finds it transformative.

"It overturned my perception. I used to think the core human story was in Africa. Here, I see activity going back 1.76 million years with a complete sequence," Liu says.

He was particularly struck by the display tracing the evolution of tools."Seeing the stones change from rough to refined, you can almost feel the leap in human thinking."

The museum is free of charge and requires a real-name reservation one day in advance. According to Wang, the best time to visit is from July to October. Accessible by car about three hours from Beijing, it can be combined with trips to Yuxian county's ancient fortresses or nearby Great Wall sections.

For Wang and his colleagues, the opening is a beginning. "Our goal is to build a fully functional, international-standard Paleolithic museum," he says.

The vision of the "Nihewan Oriental Human Origins Project", as Xie outlines, is to "enhance research capabilities, expand Nihewan's influence, and cultivate talent for Chinese Paleolithic archaeology".

The Nihewan Site Museum presents a universal chapter in the human story, inviting global explorers to witness where life in East Asia not only endured, but also continuously evolved for over a million years.

Contact the writer at zhangyu1@chinadaily.com.cn