Beijing Excursions

Zhoukoudian Cave

About 25 miles (40km) south of Beijing in the Fangshan District is the Zhoukoudian Cave, source of the largest collection of Homo erectus fossils from any single site in the world. The fossils recovered from Zhoukoudian represent about forty individuals. Most famous of these remains is a cranium element commonly known as the 'Peking Man', the world's earliest fire-using primitive man who lived between 200,000 and 700,000 years ago. German anatomist Franz Weidenreich studied the Peking Man remains in the 1930s and recognised 12 anatomical features that he believed Peking Man shared with modern Chinese, a milestone in the study of paleoanthropology. Visitors to the Zhoukoudian site on Dragon Bone Hill can view a comprehensive seven-room exhibition of fossils and artefacts depicting human evolution and the lifestyle of primitive man. Visitors can also enter the cave where the Peking Man cranium and other Homo erectus remains were found.

Address: Zhoukoudian, Fangshan; Admission: ¥20 (adults), concessions available