Jilin Natural History Museum

Jilin Natural History Museum

The Jilin Natural History Museum was established on May 12, 1987. The museum was built upon the foundation of the former Natural History Department of the provincial museum and is a natural history museum covering fields such as zoology, botany, paleontology, geology, natural environment, and natural resources. It conducts scientific research and science popularization education based on its collection of natural specimens. The venue covers an area of 4 hectares, with a building area of 14,700 square meters, an exhibition area of 6,000 square meters, and a storage area of 3,000 square meters.

Development History

The former Natural History Department of the Jilin Provincial Museum was established in 1956. It carried out a large amount of work and organized over 20 permanent and temporary exhibitions, including major ones such as "The Natural Environment of Jilin Province," "From Ape to Man," "The History of the Earth," "Protecting Birds," "Jilin Province's Natural Resources and Their Development and Utilization," "Marine Animals," "Man and the Biosphere," and "The Natural History of Sex."

The Northeast Normal University Natural History Museum, also known as the Jilin Natural History Museum, was initially established on July 20, 1987. It was originally under the administration of the Jilin Provincial Department of Culture and was the only provincial-level natural history museum in Jilin Province. On January 1, 2001, in order to enable better development and greater functionality of the natural history museum, the Jilin Provincial Government decided to transfer the entire museum to Northeast Normal University while continuing to provide full annual funding from the provincial treasury. Additionally, it was decided to invest 40 million yuan in constructing a new museum building, with another 53 million yuan invested by Northeast Normal University, bringing the total investment to over 90 million yuan. The construction of the new museum was one of the key projects in Jilin Province’s Tenth Five-Year Plan. The venue covers an area of 4 hectares, with a building area of 14,700 square meters, an exhibition area of 6,000 square meters, and a storage area of 3,000 square meters. The construction project was completed on September 10, 2006, the exhibitions were installed by May 1, 2007, and the museum was subsequently opened to the public.

Exhibitions

The exhibitions are divided into six sections: "The Charm of the Forest," "The Soul of the Mountains," "Butterfly Valley," "The Spirit of Birds," "The Fun of Beasts," and "The World of Fossils." Among these, "The Charm of the Forest" and "The Soul of the Mountains" are the main sections, highlighting the local characteristics of Jilin Province by primarily showcasing the representative ecological landscape of Changbai Mountain. Other sections complementarily introduce knowledge related to geology, paleontology, animals, plants, and other aspects relevant to Jilin Province’s ecological environment.

Major Activities

The exhibitions also incorporate activities beneficial to the physical and mental health of primary and secondary school students, such as rock climbing to encourage courage, high-altitude glass bridges to overcome acrophobia, forest exploration to satisfy curiosity, specimen-making to enhance hands-on skills, and computer-based quizzes to broaden knowledge. These activities allow visitors to enjoy physical and mental pleasure, gain knowledge, and appreciate aesthetics during their visit.

The opening of the exhibitions will enrich people’s spiritual and cultural lives, and play a positive role in popularizing scientific knowledge and improving the scientific and cultural literacy of citizens. The goal of the exhibitions is to reach the national top level and become an outstanding example of museum exhibitions across the country. Their influence will cover the entire province and extend nationwide.

Collection

As the only provincial-level museum in Jilin Province dedicated to natural science education, the Northeast Normal University Natural History Museum boasts a strong team of professionals specializing in natural science research, science popularization, exhibition design, production, and presentation, along with expert guides and management staff. Since its establishment in 1987, the museum has actively fulfilled its three core functions: natural specimen collection, natural science research, and science popularization education. It houses over 30,000 cataloged items and more than 51,000 specimens, including animals, plants, paleontological fossils, human specimens, minerals, rocks, and meteorites. Among them are over 4,000 fossil specimens of extinct animals from the northeastern region, and over 7,000 large rare animal specimens. The museum has published over 30 popular science books and materials, hosted more than 10 major science exhibitions, and organized dozens of temporary science exhibitions.

The Jilin Natural History Museum houses a total of over 11,000 various natural specimens, including 2,058 animal specimens, 5,531 plant specimens, 843 paleontological fossil specimens, 3,526 rock and mineral specimens, and over 40 soil specimens.

The renowned Changbai Mountain is the pride of the people of Jilin Province and the livelihood foundation for generations in the three northeastern provinces. It preserves the richest wildlife resources in the northern half of the entire Eurasian continent and is the world’s only undisturbed natural complex. Thanks to its unique geographical conditions, the specimens collected by the Jilin Natural History Museum mainly reflect the natural conditions of Changbai Mountain, including relatively complete collections of Changbai Mountain butterflies, birds, mammals, medicinal plants, and soil samples. It also houses natural specimens from both domestic and international sources, such as first-class protected animals like golden monkeys, gibbons, sables, clouded leopards, leopards, Siberian tigers, white-lipped deer, sika deer, white cranes, golden eagles, brown eared pheasants, green peafowls, red-crowned cranes, great bustards, monitor lizards, pythons, Chinese alligators, and Chinese giant salamanders; second-class protected animals like pangolins, black bears, brown bears, red pandas, otters, lynxes, roe deer, moose, Mongolian gazelles, snow hares, spot-billed ducks, white spoonbills, swans, mandarin ducks, red-footed falcons, yellow-legged falcons, peregrine falcons, merlins, hobbies, hazel grouses, blue eared pheasants, white eared pheasants, grey herons, demoiselle cranes, reed parrots, streaked shearwaters, and Eurasian hobby. Second-class protected plants include hot spring bottle gentian, dongliuxie kai carbon, and thorny sea cucumber; third-class protected plants include huangtai, herba cistanche, Manchurian ash, fritillaria ussuriensis, gastrodia elata, wild beans, walnut trees, yellow thistle, Korean pine, Changbai pine, and Changbai willow.

The foreign animal specimens in the collection include penguins, ostriches, giraffes, zebras, North American sea lions, African lions, chimpanzees, and a model of the Archaeopteryx gifted to the museum by the Bavarian State Museum in Germany.

The exhibitions are open to the public year-round, except Mondays in winter, with an annual visitor count of up to several thousand.

The "Exhibition of Rare Animals in the Collection" showcases the highlights of the museum’s animal specimen collection, allowing visitors to observe animals inhabiting various ecological environments—on land, in water, and in the air—through 550 specimens.

The fish section displays salmon that swim upstream to spawn, giant catfish weighing over 40 kilograms, uniquely shaped seahorses and pipefish, and the ocean’s predator, the white marlin. In one corner of the exhibition room, there is a realistic marine ecological diorama. The exhibition also features nationally protected animals such as the Chinese giant salamander, Chinese alligator, softshell turtle, and pythons over 2 meters long. The bird specimens include graceful red-crowned cranes, golden eagles ready to take flight, splendidly colored peacocks, uniquely shaped hornbills, Antarctic penguins, and Australian emus.

Among the mammals, two of the “Three Treasures of the Northeast”—Sika deer and sables—are displayed. Sika deer antlers are a well-known traditional medicine, and sable fur is called “soft gold” due to its high value. Other large mammals such as black bears, wild boars, Siberian tigers, red deer, and African lions are also exhibited here.

The exhibition is arranged according to the sequence of biological evolution: fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. The final section focuses on protection and utilization, conveying that wild animals are indispensable components of the natural environment and the material basis for human survival. Protecting and rationally developing wildlife resources will maintain the benign cycle of ecosystems and the sustainable use of resources.

The Ancient Animals Exhibition Hall displays a dinosaur skeleton model. On either side of the dinosaur skeleton are fossil skeletons of a mammoth and a woolly rhinoceros. The exhibition is divided into five parts: the flourishing era of fossils and aquatic animals, the age when reptiles dominated, the era when mammals ruled, and the animals of the mammoth and woolly rhinoceros in the northeastern region. It provides a general overview of the evolutionary process of animals throughout various geological periods. Through 133 specimens and models, it intuitively reveals profound theories such as survival competition and natural selection to the audience. The layout is well-arranged, and the content is presented in a relatively novel form. On open display stands, visitors can touch the exhibits firsthand to learn about the animal fossils formed through immense geological changes.

Honors

In recognition of the significant contributions made by the Northeast Normal University Natural History Museum in the field of science popularization, it was designated as a “National Science Education Base” by the China Association for Science and Technology in 1999; named a “Changchun Primary and Secondary School Students’ Science and Technology Activity Base” by the Changchun Municipal Education Commission in 2000; recognized as a “Jilin Provincial Science Popularization Base” by the Jilin Provincial Department of Science and Technology in 2007; and jointly certified as a “Jilin Provincial Youth News Junior Journalists Training Base” in 2007 by the Communist Youth League Jilin Provincial Committee, Jilin Provincial Department of Education, Jilin Provincial Young Pioneers Working Committee, Jilin Provincial Journalists Association, Jilin Provincial Education Society, and Jilin Provincial Students’ Federation.

Northeast Normal University and the Jilin Natural History Museum aim to become a top-tier museum in China, welcoming audiences from home and abroad with first-class facilities, exhibitions, and services.

Further Reading:

· China's National First-Class Museums