Museum's past inspires showcase of the future

An introduction to the exhibition says: "These exhibits remind us of the museum's forerunners and motivate us to carry on their course. In the future, we will strive to create an even more glorious chapter for the museum."

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, how to build a State-level natural history museum was a new field to authorities and scholars. With paleontologist Pei Wenzhong (1904-82) as its office director, a preparatory committee to build the museum was set up in Beijing by the culture ministry and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1951.

Shi Mozhuang, a former researcher with the museum, recalls that back in the 1950s, the natural history museums in Western developed countries then had already a history of more than 100 years, and their rich collections, professional teams, methods of management and proper exhibition halls made them a real platform of research, education and public outreach.