Hongkongers can take a half-million-year journey back in time by visiting the exhibition center at City Hall between today and Nov 27.

There won't be any time machines, but visitors can enjoy a photo exhibit showing the evolution and life of the prehistoric Peking Man - based on the ancient Zhoukoudian site uncovered in Beijing.

And best of all, it's free. The show was put together by the Fangshan district government, the Wen Wei Po newspaper and the local Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD).

The exhibition comprises seven sections: an introduction, the discovery of the Zhoukoudian site, the Peking Man of 500,000 years ago, cave men of about 30,000 years ago, and the mysterious loss of the skulls of the Peking Man, providing a comprehensive record of the discovery and excavation of the Zhoukoudian site, and the lives of the Peking Man and Cave Men.

Speaking at the opening ceremony yesterday, Dong Cuiping, vice curator of the Museum of Peking Man site at Zhoukoudian, described Zhoukoudian as the site of ancient humans and the treasury of fossils of ancient man, as well as the integrated research base for archaeology, ancient biology and geography.

LCSD Assistant Director Louis Ng said that the Zhoukoudian site, being the origin of Peking Man, carried huge significance and cultural value in archeological discoveries in China.

Compared with Beijing's archaeological activities that span 500,000 years, Hong Kong's archaeological activities date back about only 7,000 years.

(HK Edition 11/20/2008 page1)