"Research on Bone Fossils", "Ten-Year Itinerary", "Atlas of Chinese Plants" ...... "Centennial Treasures - Exhibition of Fine Documents from the Collection of the Northern Xinjiang Museum" opened at the Northern Xinjiang Museum on April 25, and 101 pieces of fine documents were unveiled in the exhibition, all of which have been published for more than 100 years.
Visitors visit the exhibition. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhou Runjian
Founded in 1914 by the French naturalist Sang Zhihua, the predecessor of the Tianjin Museum of Natural History, the Northern Xinjiang Museum is the only century-old museum in China where the architecture, collections, exhibitions and documents are all well preserved.
Exhibited in the exhibition is the Atlas of Chinese Plants, the first modern botanical atlas in mainland China, published in five volumes. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhou Runjian
After collation, the Northern Xinjiang Museum has about 14,000 volumes of literature, which were published in the first half of the 18th century at the earliest. Among them, there are not only the research results of Sang Zhihua and his academic team, but also the literature related to natural sciences, humanities and social sciences and other multidisciplinary fields accumulated to assist his collection research and museum development, with more than 20 languages.
The exhibition is divided into four units: "Northern Xinjiang Printing", "Natural Science", "Social Science" and "Binding and Protection", and a total of 101 fine documents from the collection of the Northern Xinjiang Museum are displayed, all of which are originals.
Spectators photograph the exhibits. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhou Runjian
Wang Fengqin, deputy director of the Tianjin Museum of Natural History, said that the Northern Xinjiang Museum is a research-oriented museum, in addition to animal and plant specimens, fossils and other collections, these literature references are an important support behind the research, and the audience can understand how naturalists and scientists carry out research, collect data, formulate specimen collection routes, publish papers and communicate with peers through the exhibition. This is of great significance for advocating the spirit of science and carrying out global science popularization.
The exhibition is expected to last until the end of this year and is open to the public free of charge. (Reporter Zhou Runjian)