Baoji

An area situated on the north bank of the Wei River, a strategic and transportation center since early times, controlling the northern end of a pass across the Tsinling Mountains. There are Neolithic remains which may be antecedents of the Banpo culture. Western Zhou bronzes have been found in the Baoji area. Tombs of the 19th century BC contained ritual vessels and the earliest known evidence of silk embroidery.

[Pao-chi]. A district on the Wei River in western Shaanxi province, China. Neolithic remains at Baoji Beishouling may represent antecedents of the Banpo culture. Western Zhou bronzes have been unearthed repeatedly in the Baoji area, including notably an altar set found in 1901 and now in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Two tombs of the 10th century bc excavated at Baoji Rujiazhuang in 1975 contained bronze ritual vessels, some with stylistic eccentricities that point to contacts with nonChinese (or at any rate less Chinese) populations farther west in Gansu. The Rujiazhuang tombs also yielded the earliest known evidence of silk embroidery.