Opening of the exhibition “Blooming Exotic: Chinese Plants in the Western World” at SUSTech

2021On November 5, 2001, a unique exhibition of "Blooming Exotic: Chinese Plants in the Western World" opened in the Humanities Exhibition Hall of the Humanities Center of SUSTech. The exhibition is jointly curated by the Center for Humanities and Sciences of Southern University of Science and Technology and the library. It is divided into seven sections, including plants in traditional Chinese gardens, China's unique plants, Primrose plants, Rhododendron plants, Chinese plants in late Qing Dynasty export paintings, Chinese wild plant specimens, and Chinese plants written by contemporary painters. The first systematically exhibited drawings of Chinese plants in the Western world from the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century, with a large scale and high taste. There were not only original botanical prints in botany literature, but also plant-themed export paintings created for Westerners by Chinese painters at the Guangzhou port in the late Qing Dynasty. In order to increase the visitors' real experience, the Huaxi Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences specializes in providing corresponding plant specimens for the audience to appreciate. Combined with the current folk boom in the creation of museum paintings, the exhibition also specially exhibited the plant drawings created by contemporary Chinese painters. According to the curator, Dr. Wang Zhao, the Chinese botanical prints exhibited this time are scarce, and the collection is quite laborious, because many works were circulated only in the small circle of natural history at that time. The prints were small, the pictures were exquisite, all were hand-colored, and the collectors were not easy to show people. Therefore, this batch of exhibits not only reflected the aesthetic style of natural art at that time and the fine printing technology of prints, but also had a high appreciation value for today's museum art creation and collection.

At the 15th Summit of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, which just concluded in Kunming, Chinese leaders once again stressed the importance of harmonious coexistence between man and nature. The museum paintings exhibited in this exhibition showcase China's biodiversity from a global perspective. The organizers look forward to using this as an opportunity to enhance the public's appreciation of museum art and awareness of species diversity protection, especially among university students. This exhibition adopts the relay method and continues to be exhibited in the exhibition hall of the Southern University of Science and Technology Humanities Center, the exhibition hall on the second floor of the Yidan Library, and other famous venues in Shenzhen.

(Written by Wang Zhao)