Zhejiang Museum of Natural History
Dinosaur fossils and natural specimens rooted in a nineteen twenty-nine worlds fair.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Zhejiang Museum of Natural History in Hangzhou traces the museum back to the West Lake Exposition of 1929, a four-month world's-fair-style show that drew an estimated twenty million visitors and included a working zoo alongside its industrial halls and pavilions. When the gates closed, organizers petitioned the provincial government over what to do with the leftover specimens and animals, and that leftover collection became the seed of the West Lake Museum the same year. You'll hear how it was renamed, split into its own institution, and eventually moved into this building at West Lake Cultural Square in 2009. The zoo's living exhibits are long gone, replaced today by specimens gathered from Zhejiang's own hillsides.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Zhejiang Museum Wulin Branch
Museum hall that once displayed a seven-thousand-year-old ivory carving of sun-watching birds.
Hangzhou Zoo
Forest-style animal park sharing a legendary tiger-clawed spring famed for brewing China's best tea.
West Lake Museum
Lakeside museum whose galleries sit almost entirely underground, lit by skylights beneath a grass roof.
Hangzhou Botanical Garden
Sprawling hillside collection of rare flora built around an artificial lake alive with birds.