A Tour of China in Winter
Part 1d
The Beijing Museum of Natural History
By Howard Norfolk
Original to Aquarticles.com
I had some spare time in Beijing and wanted to visit a museum. The
National Museum of Chinese History is conveniently beside Tianenmen Square, but I figured
I'd be seeing plenty of Ming vases and figurines elsewhere on my tour, so I checked what
other museums Beijing had to offer.
My 8th Edition Lonely Planet China guidebook said that in the Beijing
Natural History Museum "some exhibits, such as the spliced human cadavers and
genitalia, are best viewed on an empty stomach" and that "other exhibition halls
offer a ghastly menagerie of creatures suspended in formaldehyde." That sounded
intriguing to me, so I asked Billy our guide to take us there.
 
The museum's facade is 1950s Chinese socialist neo-classical.
Click on photos for enlargements, then
go 'BACK' :
Unfortunately the guidebook was out of date. All the exhibits have
recently been refurbished, and weren't anything like what the guidebook said! But I did
find some things that interested me, and I took photos of them:
  
In pride of place behind the main entrance was the dinosaur gallery.
China is well-known for its finds of dinosaur fossils.
 
There were lots of dinosaur skeletons, and some realistic models.
The main floor consisted almost entirely of skeleton exhibits. This
passageway, with whale, led to another gallery...
  
Apes, horses, and a rhinoceros.
The Chinese love pandas, so the panda skeletons were prominently
displayed.
This man and horse were cleverly put together.
 
Turtles and marine mammals. The long-snouted dolphin on the right is
the Yangtse River dolphin, the World's rarest dolphin. (Only about 100 are left in the
wild, and they have recently been relocated to a protected nature reserve).
 
Mammoths are regularly unearthed in northern China.
Other floors of the museum covered every form of life...
...Starting with an explanation of the Big Bang Theory. As can be
seen, information was provided in Chinese writing only, with just a smattering of
English.
  
Onwards from "The Origin of Life" to "The Prosperity
of Invertebrates."
Charles Darwin was featured.
  
Life was shown evolving into mammals. Some of these were displayed
in realistic settings, and there were more in glass cases.
Other life forms had their own galleries...
 
...such as insects...
 
...and plants...
 
...and sea creatures.
There was a sign leading to 'the aquarium.' Since fish tanks leak, it was
wisely relegated to the basement. We descended some narrow stairs.
At last there were some of the guidebook's "ghastly creatures
suspended in formaldehyde," namely the Chinese sturgeons Huso dauricus (a
threatened species) and Acipenser sinensis. (Luckily I could read the Latin names
on their labels).
The rest of the aquarium consisted of two rooms with
rows of tanks like this:
The tanks
I had been hoping to see more of the native fish of
China (China has 400 species), perhaps in their natural surroundings, but apart from these
Myxocyprinus asiaticus I was disappointed! The tanks were mostly
bare-bottomed with no decoration, and they were lightly stocked with fish that could have
been bought in any aquarium store (and presumably were).
Bristle-nose catfish and giant gourami.
No effort was spared to minimalise decoration of the discus tank.
Compared to those in the heavily stocked tanks of the local aquarium
stores, these goldfish looked a bit lonely and bored.
 
There were some saltwater tanks. Here is a moray eel and a dot-dash
grouper.
 
In the centre of one of the rooms was a pond that contained some
native fish. The water was low?
I am sure that what happened was that all the city's best aquarists left
to join the superb new Beijing Aquarium, leaving just the janitor or someone in charge
here! Perhaps they took the best fish and decorations with them too. I imagine the city
blew its 'aquarium budget' on the new facility, and the Mayor told the people here
"No more money for you!"
The Human Evolution Gallery was much more impressive...
...It was guarded by a group of Chinese Neolithics in 'Socialist
Realist' pose.
 
Human evolution was explained in detail, with lots of artifacts.
Many important finds have been made in China, including the well-known 'Peking Man.'
  
Flint tools, skulls, and more skulls.
As the pinnacle of human evolution, Chairman Mao of course had a
prominent place.
Finally, the gift shop had a display of
aesthetically pleasing souvenirs.
The mounted butterflies were nice.
A last word:
The concerns of environmentalists the World over were forcefully
put, this time in English as well. Some people care in China, too.
Billy, our guide, took some time off while my friend and I were in the
museum. He said he'd been there already with his class when he was at school. But I was
glad that I'd visited the Natural History Museum of Beijing, and believe me, I did
later see enough Ming vases and figurines to last a lifetime!
From Beijing we took the overnight sleeper train to the historic city of
Xi'an in the centre of China....
Go to the next in this series:
China Tour Part 2a: Xi'an and the
Army of Terracotta Warriors
The whole Tour of China in Winter series:
Part 1a: Introduction, and the Tourist Sights
of Beijing (Tourist sights)
Part 1b: A Visit to the Beijing Aquarium
(Public aquarium)
Part 1c: An Arcade of Aquarium Shops in
Beijing (Aquarium shops)
Part 1d: The Beijing Museum of Natural History (Tourist
sights)
Part 2a: Xi'an and the Army of
Terracotta Warriors (Tourist sights)
Part 2b: An Aquarium Market in Xi'an
(Aquarium shops)
Part 3a: The Spectacular Scenery of Guilin
(Tourist sights)
Part 3b: A Visit to the Guilin Ocean
Aquarium (Public aquarium)
Part 4a: The Space-Age City of Shanghai (Tourist sights)
Part 4b: A Visit to the Shanghai Ocean
Aquarium (Public aquarium)
Part 4c: Jiangyin Road, a Street of Aquarium
Shops in Shanghai (Aquarium shops)
Part 5: Fish Seen in Chinese
Restaurants (Native fish)
Part 6a: A Photographic Visit to Ocean Park,
Hong Kong (Public aquarium)
Part 6b: The Goldfish Pagoda at Ocean Park,
Hong Kong (Public aquarium)
See also (after a previous visit to Hong Kong):
Tung Choi. The Amazing Aquarium Store Street in Hong
Kong (Aquarium shops)
Or, back to:
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