NCI joins City Council in grand send off for 'Dinosaurs of China' exhibition

2/11/2017

On 29th October, the world-exclusive ‘Dinosaurs of China’ exhibition ended its four month run in style with family fun activities and a dragon dance parade at Wollaton Hall in Nottingham. The exhibition was organised by the University of Nottingham and Nottingham City Council in partnership with the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing and the Long Hao Institute of Geology and Paleontology in Inner Mongolia and supported by the Nottingham Confucius Institute.

This major international exhibition is of great scientific significance. It tells the story of how birds evolved from dinosaurs by combining broad themes with intricate details and bringing the journey vividly to life for all. Many specimens within the collection, which includes some of the best-preserved dinosaur fossils from anywhere in the world, have never been seen outside of Asia. Several of the species are new to science, only discovered and named in the last 20 years, and some as recently as 2015.

The exhibition ran for four months from 30th June to 29th October and attracted over 130 thousand UK and overseas visitors. His Excellency Liu Xiaoming, Chinese Ambassador, also visited the exhibition.

A variety of family activities took place on the closing day. Dragon face painting, dino-lego, dino-mask making, and the dragon dance parade were organised by the City Council, whilst Chinese calligraphy and dino-balloons were delivered by NCI staff and student volunteers. The celebration event attracted many children and their families. Large numbers of them tried their hand at Chinese calligraphy, writing Chinese characters with ink and brushes for the first time. Several of them asked our artist to write their names in Chinese so they could take them home as souvenirs.

The exhibition was a direct result of The University of Nottingham’s and Nottingham Confucius Institute’s long-term work with Chinese places of learning. It brought ground-breaking Chinese science and creativity to Nottingham and was a great opportunity to strengthen friendship and understanding between China and the UK.

~ENDS~

文/沈卓丹  图/陈茜 

       10月29日，由中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所与诺丁汉市政府、诺丁汉大学主办，中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所、诺丁汉孔子学院协办的“中国恐龙：从撼地巨人到飞羽精灵”科普展在诺丁汉市沃伦顿城堡圆满落幕。

      古生物学是中国科学界在世界上处于显著领先地位的学科之一，如今，我国已经成为世界古生物学发展的中心，中国的古生物学家们也已经在国际学术舞台上不断推出令人震惊的研究成果，而诺丁汉中国恐龙展旨在向英国的公众们首次展示中国最前沿、最具有影响力的古生物发现。

      展览中的所有26件，25种物种全部属于中国一类保护化石标本，而且很多标本的展示创下了“英国之最”，甚至“世界首次”。例如：全新装架的巨盗龙——2007年世界十大科学发现之一——是历史上首次在博物馆中面向公众开放展出；新装架的马门溪龙是英国历史上装架最高的恐龙；顾氏小盗龙与董氏尾羽龙的模式标本是首次赴西方展出。

      此次恐龙展经过了中英两国科学家五年的精心准备才面向公众，受到了英国许多国家级和地方级媒体的关注，也得到了国内国土资源部、中科院等各方面的大力支持。此次展览共为期四个月，吸引了13万英国与来自海外的参观者，驻英国大使刘晓明先生也曾到访。而诺丁汉孔院作为组织者之一，根据恐龙展主题举办了数次活动，为前来看展的观众增添了更多乐趣。而此次恐龙展圆满落幕，孔院也推出了书法和用气球制作恐龙两大活动。

      活动当天，天气十分晴朗，前来看展的人络绎不绝，都想见证这次规模巨大的恐龙展落下帷幕。书法项目前，许多市民家庭都驻足观看书法表演，很多孩子和家长更是亲自体验了一番，还有很多人带走了自己用书法写的名字，除了体验书法外，不少市民都表示汉字十分独特和有趣，想要更多地关于汉字和中国；气球恐龙的制作也十分受欢迎，非常适合家庭合作，是非常好的亲子项目，吸引了许多家庭。孩子们拿着自己制作的恐龙十分兴奋，还与扮演恐龙的工作人员进行了亲密互动。

      此次恐龙展不仅仅是一次规模巨大的科学普及展览，也是丰富英国人民生活、加强中英人民友谊、向世人介绍中国文化和中国科学研究成果的一次极好机会。