Liuwan Cemetery, situated in Ledu County about 80km east of Xining, is a short distance from Qutan Monastery. It is the site of public cemetery of a primitive society that lived about 5,000 years ago. The cemetery covers an area of about 110, 000 sqm.

About 1,500 tombs and 30,000 cultural relics have been unearthed there. The tombs include those of various cultures, such as the Majiayao (Banshan and Machang branches ), Qijia and Xindian.

The Machang tombs are the most prevalent. The Painted Pottery, excavated from Liuwan ancient graveyard, is of Majiayao Culture in the New Stone Age.

The excavation covered a total area of 112,500 sqm, and produced 1,730 graves, 35,000 cultural relics and 15,000 painted potteries.

These potteries are ingeniously shaped, especially in painting, so they even shocked the archaeologist at home and abroad. Its graveyard is the largest well preserved graveyard of primitive commune. The Machang painted pottery mainly includes kettles and large utensils.

The patterns on them are chiefly frogs and geometrical figures. There are also some kettles and painted jars shaped like human faces, nudes and bottle gourds. Among them the " Dancing Bowl" is listed as a national treasure.

The graves in Liuwan are the largest group so far discovered in China and are precious materials for study of Chinese ancient primitive society. Editem

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