A cooking vessel common in the Chinese Neolithic and Bronze Ages in both pottery and bronze. It is a small tripod bowl with hollow legs, characteristic of the Henan and Shaanxi Longshan cultures (Hougang II, Kexingzhuang II) that in Shang and Chou times was copied in bronze. The Xian steamer was a perforated bowl set atop a li and first appeared in Henan Longshan pottery and bronze in the Shang period.