As the Chengdu Universiade draws near, preparations are in full swing across Chengdu, located in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province. From various platforms to diverse institutions, everyone is gearing up to enhance the experience of the Games. One of the exciting initiatives includes the inauguration of the newly constructed Sichuan University Museum, slated to open on Thursday.
The Global Times learned from local staff that the new museum, not limited to a single domain, is an inclusive space for subjects ranging from natural history to human development. The museum, although new, carries a history spanning almost 110 years. It was originally known as the Chengdu University Museum, established as early as 1914. Back in the 1940s, it was recognized as the most comprehensive museum in Southwest China.
After an extensive renovation of the old building, which closed its doors in 2019, the Sichuan University Museum now stands tall, sprawling across a vast area of 70,000 square meters, with an exhibition space exceeding 10,000 square meters. The impressive establishment was celebrated during its opening ceremony on Sunday, with Liu Shuguang, Director-in-General of the Chinese Museums Association, praising it as the earliest museum in the southwest region and the first comprehensive university museum in China.
The museum boasts a staggering collection of over 80,000 cultural relics and more than 140,000 animal specimens, along with 840,000 plant specimens. This comprehensive collection is thoughtfully organized and displayed across four distinct halls – a general exhibition hall, a temporary exhibition hall, a dedicated nature hall, and an art hall.
The general exhibition area, covering 4,600 square meters, showcases the extensive natural and cultural knowledge of China’s southwest region. Here, visitors can also find spectacular archaeological exhibits brought to life using high-tech dynamic projection, recreating the experience of the Sanxingdui Ruins excavation site. Visitors can marvel at precious cultural relics such as a celadon-glazed brown-green goose cup from the Tang Dynasty (618-907), a jade tablet and jade tube from the Shang Dynasty (c.1600BC-1046BC), and a coveted statue of a Tang Dynasty Bodhisattva, known as the “Oriental Venus.”
The nature exhibition hall is a tribute to the evolution of various organisms, the intricate relationship between humans and nature, and the growth of modern life sciences. A staff member at the museum explains, “In the long evolution of 3.8 billion years, one can witness the coming and going of countless miraculous life forms, and all kinds of creatures on the Earth today, all here in this new museum.”
The museum will remain in a test run phase until August 10, allowing the public to book appointments for visits. Emphasizing the museum’s broader role, Huo Wei, the museum’s curator, said, “While we are a university museum, we don’t only open for our students. More importantly, we see this as a public space where a wider range of visitors can enjoy our museum’s resources.” Huo sees the museum as a unique amalgamation of humanity and nature, art and science, and scientific research and public education. He aspires to use the museum as a base for scholarly research while making the knowledge accessible and interesting for the wider public.
READ MORE: