Prehistoric creatures, centuries-old art and rock carvings on show

Zhejiang Museum of Natural History has always been popular with children during the summer vacation due to its collection of fossils and various exhibitions.

It is currently hosting three exhibitions introducing centuries-old craftsmanship, rock carvings and prehistoric reptiles. Let's take a look.

The "Wenzhou Crafts" exhibition, which runs through September 15, is in partnership with the Pingyang, Wencheng, Taishun and Cangnan counties in south Zhejiang Province, showing 40 handicrafts from local artisans, including woodblock prints, embroidery, plant dyeing, paper cut and wooden and stone sculptures.

For years, the museum has held exhibitions in tandem with county-level museums across Zhejiang Province to raise awareness of the need to protect intangible cultural heritage.

Boxwood, a slow-growing shrub and small tree, typically 1 to 6 meters tall, is a popular material with local sculptors. Only trees over 50 years old are suitable for making sculptures. Generally, a 50-year-old boxwood is just 15 centimeters in diameter.

A single piece can take a sculptor a month to finish, including molding, cutting, carving, polishing and lacquering.

Fang Jianghong's vivid portrayal of a withered lotus leaf is one example. Usually, boxwood sculptures darken over time, giving them a patina that resembles the real color of dried leaves.

Traditionally, Buddhist characters and immortals were major subjects of local craftsmen. However, present-day sculptures take ordinary life scenes, elegant women, animals and flowers as their subject matter.

Visitors to the exhibition can also linger over wondrously detailed stone figurines. Vivid figures and a glossy finish characterize the exhibits carved by Zhuang Weiping.

The "Helan Mountains Petroglyphs" exhibition features images dating from 3,000 to 10,000 years ago, which held profound cultural and religious significance for the societies that crafted them.

Helan Mountains in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region is home to the country's petroglyphs, which are images created by ancient artists by incising, picking, carving or abrading surfaces in caves or on cliffs.

Scenes of rituals, nomadic life, hunting and wars with abstract symbols and simple lines provide historians with material to learn about the life of ancient people.

The exhibition, which runs through the end of August, is co-hosted with Ningxia Geological Museum. In addition to petroglyphs, it also showcases geological specimens found in the Helan Mountains.

Helan is an isolated desert mountain range forming the border of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Ningxia.

This area is characterized by gorges, desert and irrigated fields. The specimens on display provide visitors with evidence of geological changes over billions of years.

The "Reptiles Going Back to Sea" exhibition mainly displays four types of creatures living in the Triassic period. Most specimens were found in China and visitors can imagine how the animals looked millions of years ago, namely the ichthyosaur, thalattosaur, placodus and sauropterygia.

The exhibition also includes rare specimens that represent the fauna from prehistoric China, now long extinct. These include the Glyphoderma kangi (康氏雕甲龟龙), a long extinct animal belonging to the placodus genus; Anshunsaurus wushaensis (乌沙安顺龙), the first variety of thalattosaur found in China; and Yunguisaurus liae (李氏云贵龙) which is named after the Yunnan and Guizhou provinces where the holotype was found.

This captivating showcase of ancient sea dragons will be open until August 25.

The museum also has a 24-hour exhibition space, which opened in 2022. It shows 300 exhibits through metaverse technologies. Multimedia, augmented artificial intelligence, voice and interactive installments are used to vividly present the displays.

This 24-hour venue is open round the clock on weekends and until midnight on weekdays, perfect for parents and children during the summer vacation.

If you go

Venue: Zhejiang Museum of Natural History

Opening hours: 9am-5pm (closed on Mondays)

Address: No. 6, West Lake Cultural Square

西湖文化广场6号