Hall of Asian Peoples May 31, 2009

The Museum's holdings in Asian ethnology constitute one of the finest such collections in the Western Hemisphere. This extensive collection provides the foundation for the Hall of Asian Peoples, the Museum's largest cultural hall. The hall explores such topics as prehistoric Eurasia and the rise of civilization, early Asian cultures and Asian trade, and includes such vastly different and diverse regions as Korea, China, India, Armenia and Siberia. The hall also documents the rise of the great world religions of Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Confucianism. Highlights include the shaman diorama, which faithfully re-creates a late 19th-century healing ceremony of the Yakut of Eastern Siberia. The scene depicts a shaman who has come to heal a woman whose soul has been captured by evil spirits. Also featured in the hall is an ornate wedding chair, which would have carried a traditional Chinese bride to her new life with her husband's family. The chair is covered with auspicious symbols to invite good fortune.