National Museum of Nature officially unveils its curriculum system | Museum | National
On June 5, 2023, the National Museum of Nature was officially unveiled in Beijing, marking a new chapter in the development process of China's natural museums.
The National Museum of Nature, renamed from the Beijing Museum of Nature, is the only national and comprehensive natural museum in China. It represents the national protection, research, collection, interpretation, and exhibition of natural objects and natural heritage with historical, scientific, and artistic value in the process of human development.
The construction of a national level nature museum has received enthusiastic attention from society and active support from the government since the birth of New China. In March 1951, with the approval of the Culture and Education Commission of the Central Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Culture and the Chinese Academy of Sciences jointly established the Preparatory Committee for the Central Natural Museum; In April, the Preparatory Office of the Central Museum of Natural History was established, located in the Palace Museum's Wenhua Hall, Chuanxin Hall, and Qing History Museum.
In May 1958, the main building was completed. Guo Moruo, then president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, inscribed the name of the museum. The museum opened in January 1959. In January 1962, it was named Beijing Natural History Museum. In January 2023, in accordance with the approval of the Central Compilation Office, the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China officially approved the renaming of "Beijing Museum of Nature" to "National Museum of Nature".
After decades of construction and development, the National Museum of Nature has achieved fruitful results in specimen collection, scientific research, and scientific popularization in the fields of paleontology, animals, plants, and anthropology in the Earth and life sciences. The museum currently has a collection of over 370000 items, with the number of rare specimens ranking first in domestic natural museums. In recent years, he has published more than ten papers in international academic journals Nature and Science, and has won more than ten important awards such as the first prize of the Beijing Science and Technology Award. The basic display continues to be updated, and temporary exhibitions and touring exhibitions with different themes are launched every year. Many popular science education activities such as "Museum Night" and "Little Explanator", which were first planned and launched in China, have formed distinctive brands.
As a bridge connecting human society and the natural world, and a platform for dialogue between humans and nature, natural museums are increasingly playing a crucial role in addressing the challenges of the Earth's ecological crisis, and have begun to play an important role as advocates, disseminators, and guardians of the Earth.
Based on the orientation and functions of the National Museum, the National Museum of Nature will further enrich and expand its collection of specimens, actively build research museums, carry out in-depth educational planning and curriculum system design, strengthen academic exchanges at home and abroad, and enhance the overall ability in an all-round way. At the same time, the construction of the new pavilion will be promoted with high quality, making the new pavilion, which covers an area of about 135000 square meters and covering an area of about 5.77 hectares, a landmark building on the future southern axis. The official website of the National Museum of Nature is www.nnhm.org.cn.
The National Museum of Nature will focus on the mission positioning of the National Museum, enhance its overall capabilities, and promote the construction of the new museum with high quality. This new museum, which covers an area of about 200000 square meters and covers an area of about 5.77 hectares, will become a shining pearl in the Dahongmen area museum group, leading the urban renewal in the southern part of the capital and becoming a landmark building on the future South Central Axis.
The National Museum of Nature will take the unveiling as a new starting point, based on the world, and strive to become a new model for the protection of world natural and cultural heritage, a new platform for cultivating guardians of the Earth's home, a main landmark for practicing ecological civilization construction, and a new window for showcasing China's international exchange and the image of a great country. At the same time, it will also lead the country and become a new bridge connecting the Chinese natural museum industry and the world natural history museum industry, a big classroom for natural science education and lifelong learning for all, a new benchmark for the standardized construction of Chinese natural museums, and a leader in the integrated development of culture and tourism.
