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Change of scenery
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A huge dinosaur skeleton at the entrance, ancient corpses lying silently in glass coffins, beautiful birds spreading their wings and neat handwritten captions hanging around specimens — these are just some of the things locals recall when thinking about the Natural History Gallery, formerly the Shanghai Museum of Natural History.
Walking into the British-style building is like entering a time tunnel for many residents, who are often amazed to find their favorite animal specimen from childhood still in exactly the same place.
The gallery, managed by the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum since 2001, will move to its new location in Jing’an Sculpture Park in the second half of this year. The current spot remain open until the new location opens.
Founded in 1956, the museum is the oldest of its kind in China. It was planned to cover astronomy, geology, anthropology, zoology and botany. The zoology part was completed first while the anthropology section was finished in the 1970s. The other sections were realized when the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum opened in 2001.
Most of its original 2,000 items are from two early museums in Shanghai — Musee Heude founded by the French in 1868 and Shanghai Museum of the Royal Asiatic Society founded by the British in 1874. Its collection has gradually expanded to about 270,000 items. Considering its limited exhibition space, only about 2,700 pieces are on display at any given time. Everything else is kept in storage.
“Unlike many other museums equipped with multimedia exhibits, most of the exhibits here are real objects made in the most traditional way,” says Zhao Hong, chief of the Natural History Gallery.
Darwin’s theory of evolution has been used as a key clue in arranging exhibits when the museum was founded. Traditional specimen displays and scene boxes have remained dominant.
According to Zhao, many of the scene boxes that recreate the habitats of various animals were handmade by staff members dozens of years ago. Despite limited technology at the time, they created a number of interactive exhibits that amazed many visitors.
For example, visitors will see how a snow hare’s white fur changes to gray with the simple press of a button. The change is created by the use of reflected light.
“It may seem a bit out of date today, but it was quite a clever scene back in the 1970s,” Zhao says.
These old-fashioned scene boxes won’t be used in the new museum and the specimens will be replaced.
The dinosaur skeleton models and ancient corpses are often referred to as the gallery’s highlights, but Zhao says careful observers, especially children, will find their own favorites.
Many children call out “ostrich” when they see the big bird specimen with long legs. But when they get a closer look, the caption tells them it’s an emu. The difference between the two flightless birds is that emus have three toes while an ostrich has two.
Some children are astonished to see a pangolin specimen crawling while others can’t take their eyes off the leg-like fins of the rare coelacanth fish.
“Every specimen has been carefully displayed to recreate how it lives in the natural world so children can observe the truth,” Zhao says.
Children, of course, have been the major target visitors of the museum since it was established.
The gallery has been one of the city’s most popular science education spots, especially in the 1970s and 80s. Temporary exhibitions have been held to attract visitors. Attendance peaked at more than 700,000 in 1981, Zhao says, when exhibits like “Chinese Ancient Corpses” and France’s “Natural History of Sex” were held.
Housed in the former Shanghai Cotton Exchange, the gallery’s six-story building has become a major obstacle over the years. Problems like aging wires and limited space have hampered the gallery’s development.
Jin Xingbao, former vice director of the museum, says other problems have also made things difficult.
“Fire hazards, theft dangers and lack of parking have all lead to complaints,” Jin says. “The elevated road was built right in front of the museum in 1997. And the establishment of other entertainment venues has made the museum less attractive.”
Annual attendance slipped early this millennium to around 75,000, although Zhao says the figures have been rising since 2009, when it was announced the museum would be moved. Attendance reached about 180,000 last year as nostalgic parents took their children to the museum, he says.
“Some complain about the old-fashioned exhibits while others say they are happy the museum kept its original look,” Zhao says.
The new location is in a building shaped like a nautilus. Modern theaters will bring visitors into the natural world while traditional display methods will also be used.
“Technology will be a tool, not the focus, as we continue bringing the natural world of plants and animals to our visitors,” says Bao Qijiong, who works at the museum’s new location.
Natural History Gallery
Open: Tuesdays-Sundays, 9am-5:15pm
Address: 260 Yan’an Rd E.
Admission: 5 yuan for adults, 2.5 yuan for students, free for children below 1.3 meters
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