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Guizhou, in the millions of mountains, was once an ocean, cruising with ancient fish and dragons; The ruins of the fortress on the top of the isolated mountain show the wonder and majesty of "China on the mountain"; The "history books" worn by the ethnic minorities have gradually found a new way of inheritance and development...... Walking into a museum is like walking into a "time tunnel" where hundreds of millions of years have condensed into a single moment.
Beyond the mountains and seas, connecting the past and the present, here is a fantasy journey in the museum.
Millions of mountains look for traces of the ocean
In the Guizhou Provincial Geological Museum, 54-year-old Luo Yongming sat at the table, looking at the Hu's Guizhou dragon fossil under the microscope, and the pneumatic pen in his hand stirred up bursts of dust. Since he came into contact with fossil restoration 28 years ago, Luo Yongming has fallen in love with this career of "dialogue" with marine paleontology across time and space.
As the deputy director of the Office of the Guizhou Provincial Paleontology Expert Committee, Luo Yongming is also responsible for the restoration of paleontological fossils at the Guizhou Provincial Geological Museum, and leads the team to cultivate reserve forces for paleontological research.
"200 million years ago, the millions of mountains in Guizhou were actually a vast ocean, and the Guizhou dragon was a successful population in this ocean. In the same period, among the nearly 1,000 vertebrate fossils excavated in the Xingyi Guizhou Dragon Fossil In-situ Conservation Museum, there were more than 300 Guizhou dragon species. Luo Yongming, who has restored dozens of Guizhou dragon specimens, said.
There are many difficulties in the fossil restoration process, and the surface of the bone is brittle and can be damaged if you are not careful. The rocks around the bones vary in their hardness and softness, which can hinder the peeling. "During the restoration, we can only glue the ground little by little to improve the firmness before we can start to 'carve' the fossils with a pneumatic pen. A medium-sized fossil usually takes months to restore, and a large fossil can even take about a year. Luo Yongming said.
With the deepening of fossil restoration and observation, the study of fossils has been progressed step by step, and the research conclusions will be updated accordingly. To achieve this goal, only one paleontism needs to restore a large number of fossil specimens and constantly "unlock" its various forms and stages in order to get out of the "species labyrinth" of the paleontology.
"Since paleontological species are judged based on differences in bone morphology, we found that there are two different morphologies in the bones of Hu's Guizhousaurus in the course of our early research, so it is possible that Hu's Guizhousaurus is two species. Later, with the discovery of a large number of pregnant Guizhou dragon fossils, it was determined that these differences were originally caused by different genders, and now we can judge the male and female of Guizhou dragon fossils from the skeletal characteristics, and further improve the systematic research. Luo Yongming said.
"In the field of paleontology, scholars usually define fossils formed by marine reptiles as 'dragons', and Guizhou is not only the 'hometown of dragons', but also the core hotspot of research in this field around the world. The marine reptile paleontological fossil group in Guizhou is the heritage of nature and the common wealth of all mankind. Luo Yongming smiled.
What was the Earth like? How did the mass extinction event happen? How did marine life converge and evolve? Who was the real ancestor of the ancient "ocean fleet"? "There are countless questions to be answered, and we look forward to uncovering more mysteries of the ancient marine world with foreign scientists through strengthening international cooperation in the future." Luo Yongming is full of hope for the future.
Cultural relics are excavated under the ruins of the mountaintop
In the Guizhou Provincial Museum, a model of the ruins attracts visitors: a path leads to the pass through the mountains, and the city walls, roads, and houses and fortifications are all available, revealing the former prosperity and military fortress attributes of this site.
A model of the sea dragon hoarding site in the Guizhou Provincial Museum. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Yang Xin
The model is based on the Zunyi Hailong Hoarding Tusi Site, the first in Guizhou Province to be included in the World Cultural Heritage List, and the original site is located on the top of Longyan Mountain in the northwest of Zunyi City.
"The Tusi site, represented by the sea dragon hoard, is an important physical witness of the Tusi policy in Chinese history, reflecting the diversity of Chinese culture, and it tells us what 'China in the mountains' is like." Archaeologist Li Fei told reporters.
At the end of 2012, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage decided that Hunan, Guizhou and Hubei provinces would jointly declare the world cultural heritage with the "Tusi Ruins". Li Fei led a team to Longyan Mountain and carried out archaeological excavations that lasted for several years.
After going up the mountain, Li Fei and his team seemed to have entered a time and space tunnel. Brick by brick, stone by house, all trying to convey the message of 400 years ago to the archaeological team.
In July 2015, the "Tusi Site" was successfully inscribed on the World Heritage List. In December of the same year, the remains of Southwest Tusi, including the sea dragon hoard, were awarded the "Top Ten Discoveries of Global Field Archaeology". In March 2022, the key project of the National Social Science Fund presided over by Li Fei "Collation and Comprehensive Research on the Archaeological Excavation Data of Hailong Hoard" was successfully completed and won the excellent grade.
From the ascent of the mountain in 2012 to the completion of the project in 2022, Li Fei has sharpened his sword in the excavation and research of the sea dragon hoard for ten years. Today, Li Fei is the director of the Guizhou Provincial Museum, and in his view, the work of the museum is more like a "chef", and the research results need to be designed, processed, and finally formed into an exhibition, which is displayed through the museum.
Recently, the new basic exhibition of Guizhou Provincial Museum "Humanistic Landscape Time Peaks and Peaks - Colorful Guizhou History and Culture Exhibition" officially met with the audience, which is the first time to systematically display the general history exhibition of Guizhou's 300,000 years of history and culture, and 3,503 pieces (sets) of cultural relics open the "Book of Time" for the audience and tell the "Guizhou Story".
"Wordless history books" build a bridge for the development of intangible cultural heritage
Walking into the exhibition hall of "Time Precipitation Beauty" of Guizhou Provincial Museum of Nationalities, there are four series of exhibits of "Qianyin", "Qianxiu", "Qianyi" and "Qianweaving".
"There are 355 exhibits from 41 companies." Wang Xiaojia, a staff member and curator of the Guizhou Provincial Museum of Nationalities, said that the inheritance and protection of intangible cultural heritage is not limited to a piece of dyed cloth and embroidery, "it should not only show the connotation of intangible cultural heritage, but also become a window to connect with commerce, and museums can assume such responsibilities." ”
Telling a good story is the first step. Wang Xiaojia and her team went deep into ethnic minority villages and intangible cultural heritage enterprises, visited intangible cultural heritage inheritors, and selected more than 300 exhibits. "Some of these exhibits are well integrated with commerce, and some are original intangible cultural heritage works. What we want to do is to let everyone who walks into the museum feel the stories behind these exhibits. Wang Xiaojia said.
In addition to the display of objects, the museum also invites intangible cultural heritage inheritors to give lectures and organize visitors to go deep into the village to experience it on the spot. "In this way, we allow the audience to have more interaction with intangible cultural heritage, the carrier of culture is no longer limited to the entity, and the educational function of the museum is better played." Shu Caiqian, deputy director of the Guizhou Provincial Museum of Nationalities, said.
On February 5, 2024, at the social event of the Year of the Dragon Zodiac Exhibition held by the Guizhou Provincial Museum of Nationalities, the masses carried out intangible cultural heritage handicraft experience activities such as patchwork and rubbing under the leadership of teachers in the museum. Xinhua News Agency
The museum craze, which continues to heat up, has brought a large number of visitors to the intangible cultural heritage exhibits, and museums have also inadvertently brought goods for intangible cultural heritage products. "It is not uncommon for visitors to buy and the museum cannot carry out commercial activities, so the contact information of the author or company of the exhibit is attached, and the tourists can buy it themselves." Wang Xiaojia said.
The reporter saw in the exhibition hall that many booths were empty. Wang Xiaojia told reporters that the speed of screening exhibits could not keep up with the speed of tourists buying, and the intangible cultural heritage works were sold one less piece. Yang Zhengying is an embroiderer from Shibing County, Qiandongnan Prefecture, and her work is also on display in the museum. "In the past, embroidery could only be sold when customers came to their homes, but now many people add me to WeChat to buy, and I can't embroider." She said.
"Miao costumes are known as the 'wordless history books' worn on the body." Wang Xiaojia said, "It is also the responsibility and mission of the museum to build a bridge for the inheritance and development of intangible cultural heritage through 'wordless history books'. ”
Producer: Wei Tiemin, Liu Chang
Reporter: Ou Dongqu, Yang Xin, Zhou Xuanni
Video: Yang Yanbin and Wu Siyang
Editor: Zhu Haochen
Xinhua News Agency to the outside
Xinhua News Agency Guizhou Branch
Co-production
Produced by the China Story Workshop