Chapter 7 Nantong Museum①

--The first museum run by my country In the autumn of 1979, the preparatory meeting of the National Association of Natural Science Museums was held in Nantong City, Jiangsu Province.Nantong was chosen as the site of the meeting because it was the first museum founded by the Chinese, including natural science content - Nantong Museum, which was established here as early as 75 years ago. ①Original Magazine, Issue 1, 1980. Champion Entrepreneurship Zhang Jian, the champion of the Sino-Japanese War in the late Qing Dynasty, was a member of the Shanghai Strong Society.He is not only an insightful politician, but also a practical industrialist and educator.At the end of the Qing Dynasty, China was facing a critical situation of foreign aggression and internal difficulties, and many knowledgeable people put forward various plans to save the country.Sun Yat-sen advocated revolution, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao demanded reform, but Zhang Jian was keen to learn from Europe, America and Japan, and put forward the idea of ​​popularizing education and saving the peril.Universal education costs money, and he believes that only the industry can provide this fund, and the textile industry is the most beneficial to do industry.In this way, Zhang Jian started with "saving the country through education" and started with "saving the country through industry", embarking on a road of capitalism that no champion has ever traveled.

Beginning in 1898, he founded a textile factory in Nantong, which led to the industrialization of the city.Zhang Jian used industrial profits to set up a series of cultural and educational undertakings. In 1904, he came back from his inspection tour in Japan and opened universities, middle schools, and primary schools; in order to develop cotton planting and textile industries, he also set up the agricultural and textile departments of Nantong College.At the same time, he also believed that it was necessary to establish museums and libraries to popularize knowledge and cultivate talents to supplement the lack of school education.In the 31st year of Guangxu (1905), he wrote to the Qing court twice, suggesting the establishment of "expo halls" (collectively known as museums and libraries) in Beijing and other provinces.Of course, the corrupt and conservative Qing court would not heed this suggestion.So he took it personally and founded the "Nantong Museum" by himself.

Zhang Jian did not use revolutionary means to change the existing social system, but fantasized about saving China through "industry" and "education". Naturally, this road of improvement would not work.But through his personal efforts, he still left us a valuable cultural heritage. Historical overview "Nantong Museum" was founded in the 31st year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty (1905). It was formerly known as "Public Botanical Garden", which originally belonged to Tongzhou Normal University.The garden site is located on the bank of the Hao River in the south of Nantong City. It originally covers an area of ​​23,000 square meters. There are buildings such as the Middle Pavilion, the South Pavilion and the North Pavilion.

The Zhongguan is the earliest building in the garden, and there used to be an open-air observation platform on it, so the Zhongguan used to be called the "weather station".From January 1, the first year of Xuantong (1909), the institute was officially engaged in climate observation, which was recorded on a daily basis and disclosed in newspapers.This is not only the official start of recording the climate observation results in the garden, but also the beginning of "local meteorological stations in each county!" Afterwards, the weather measurement equipment was transferred to other places, and the weather measurement work in the garden stopped.The Zhongguan Pavilion mainly displays animal specimens.Later, the South Pavilion and the North Pavilion were successively built.

The South Hall was formerly known as the "Museum Building", which collects and displays the fine works of the whole garden.Upstairs are the Department of History and Art, and downstairs is the Department of Real Estate.Ancient paintings are displayed upstairs in the North Pavilion, while whale bones and fossils are displayed downstairs.Later, some auxiliary buildings were built successively, various trees and flowers were widely planted, various birds and animals were raised, rockeries were piled up, lotus ponds were opened, greenhouses, small pavilions, waterside pavilions, etc. were built, so that there are both museums and zoos here. , the characteristics of the botanical garden, but also has the victory of the garden, so it is named "Museum Garden".

Some important historical materials about the museum are still preserved in the museum, such as Zhang Jian’s proposal form submitted to the Qing court, the early floor plan of Nantong Museum, and the catalog of garden products.Among them, "Catalogue of Nantong Museum" was compiled and printed in 1910, printed in print, and divided into two volumes.The first volume is the Ministry of Natural Resources, with No. 460 for animals, No. 307 for plants, and No. 1103 for minerals.The second volume is divided into three sections: history, fine arts, and education. The history section includes gold, jade, ceramics, rubbings, civil engineering, clothing, music, portraits, scripture writing, portraits, divination, military weapons, instruments of torture, prison equipment, etc.; Including calligraphy and painting, ceramics, sculpture, lacquer sculpture, embroidery, weaving, silk, weaving, iron, pyrography, pencil drawing, paper and ink, etc.; the Ministry of Education includes three categories: imperial examinations, private schools, and schools; the total collection of the four collections has 2973 numbers.

By 1930, according to the information contained in "Tongtong Daily", the museum had expanded to cover an area of ​​32,000 square meters at that time, with an annual expenditure of 2,000 yuan, and the exhibits were greatly expanded. There are more than 1,400 species of gold minerals, more than 700 species of non-gold minerals, more than 400 species of soil, more than 10 mineral specimens, and 7 deposits; there are more than 4,000 species of flowers and hidden flowers in plants; among animal specimens, mammals There are more than 100 species of birds, more than 300 species of birds, more than 500 species of reptiles and fishes; more than 1,400 species of invertebrates, of which insects account for 1. "3. Roughly estimated, the exhibits of the so-called Ministry of Natural Products, that is, the natural part, amounted to nearly 10,000 pieces! From these catalogs, we can know that the collections at that time were indeed of various types and rich in content.

The exhibition outside the museum is another scene.All kinds of plants are planted by category, most of which are medicinal materials, and there is a special "medicine garden"; followed by flowers, and there are also many bamboos. Each plant has a sign indicating its name and place of origin.Among the animals raised, birds include chickens, golden roosters, turkeys, ostriches, white pigeons, teals, egrets, mandarin ducks, emu, peacocks, storks, etc.; beasts include deer, rabbits, monkeys, goats, and bears. mouse etc.At the same time, there are many mineral rings on the hill; various Buddha statues, ancient bronzes, ancient irons, and fossils are displayed around the museums.

It can be seen that Nantong Museum is not only a museum of historical relics, but also a museum of natural science. It also has the characteristics of a folklore museum, and also has the layout of a zoo and a botanical garden.There are not only collections and displays in the garden, but also field scientific experiments such as breeding and cultivation.It is of great significance to have such a multi-faceted and rich museum in a region to enrich the cultural life of the people and improve the level of scientific knowledge. Vicissitudes With the change of the current situation and the downfall of Zhang's forces, Nantong Museum was transferred from affiliated to Tongzhou Normal University to affiliated to Nantong College, and then again under the management of Tongzhou Normal University.According to the report of "Tongguang Daily" on September 4, 1932, it can be seen: "...the animal rooms on the east side of the North and South Pavilions are also ten rooms and nine empty, only lonely monkeys and curled up hedgehogs are dotted. Houses everywhere , pavilions, ponds and two water towers are actually dilapidated and desolate. Most of the Buddha statues around the south hall are open, and they are left to be eroded by wind and rain. There is no trace, and I don't know where to go." Finally, the author wrote with a sigh, "...In the near future, not only the walls of this museum will collapse, the flowers will wither and the trees will wither, and the birds and animals will disappear; I am afraid that most of the better antiques will be lost. Change your name and surname."

And so it came. In the spring of 1938, the Japanese invaders occupied Nantong, and the museum was facing the fate of destruction.Zhang Jian’s house in the west of it became the headquarters of the Japanese army, and the museum itself became a stable. Except for a small part of cultural relics specimens in the garden, all the rest were destroyed.Today, several photos of the museum’s historical relics still record the tragic scene of the museum being under the iron heel of the Japanese invaders at that time. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the Kuomintang government was busy with "hijacking" and the civil war, so it didn't care about the restoration of the museum.By the eve of the liberation of Nantong, this historic museum with a certain foundation had become devastated and in ruins!

Spring with dead trees On February 2, 1949, Nantong was liberated, and Nantong Museum was reborn. In the early days of liberation when everything was still waiting to be built, the people's government used great efforts to start the restoration of the museum. In 1951, it was renamed Nantong Museum.In addition to the middle pavilion, south pavilion and north pavilion, two pavilions, east and west, and several exhibition rooms were built.The botanical garden originally belonged to the museum has been turned into a people's park since 1951, and a separate management agency has been set up, and a zoo has been established.Although the current museum and the People's Park belong to two institutions, they are still integrated in layout. The two basic exhibitions of historical relics and revolutionary relics held by Nantong Museum mainly use the cultural relics of the region to reflect the history of the region.In addition to the few treasures of the "survival after the catastrophe" in the original museum, many important cultural relics have been collected one after another after liberation.For example, in the Nantong Air Defense Project in 1973, a celadon skin pot imitating the daily utensils of the northern nomads was unearthed. It is an important cultural relic from the late Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties. In 1978, Pantie, a tool for frying salt in the Song Dynasty, was unearthed from Guanhe Commune, Nantong County.The excavation of Pantie not only helps us understand the process of ancient salt production, but also provides information about the coastal extension of this area. Chen Shigong, a famous doctor of the Ming Dynasty who wrote the important classics of "Surgery Authentic", was from Nantong. The blue and white mortar he used for researching medicine is kept in the museum.Li Fangying, a famous Nantong painter in the Qing Dynasty, was one of the "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou".Here is his Momei hand scroll.What should be mentioned in particular among these cultural relics is that in 1976, archaeologists from Nantong Museum discovered a Neolithic site more than 5,000 years ago from Qingdun, Hai'an County.A large number of elk subfossils, polished stone tools, many pottery and human bones were unearthed.The Nantong area is part of the alluvial plain of the Yangtze River Delta, so people used to think that the land here was formed late and the history would not last long. The discovery of the Qingdun Neolithic site has changed this view. The natural science part of Nantong Museum is located in Wenfeng Pagoda Courtyard, and now there are two exhibition rooms: one is "Whale Exhibition" and the other is "Ancient Corpse Exhibition".In addition, a textile museum is being planned.The hand-woven Nantong cotton cloth has been well-known in history, and the modernized Nantong textile industry still occupies an important position in China.Nantong Museum has kept all kinds of textile objects from Ming Dynasty to modern times.In order to vividly explain this period of history and promote the continuous progress of my country's textile industry, it is of great significance to build such a textile museum, which will add another new flower to the career of various professional museums in our country. joint initiative Nantong Museum is basically a topographical museum. It is based on the region and combined with the real objects in the region. It has played its due role in the three aspects of collection, scientific research and display. Set a good example. The representatives who participated in the preparatory meeting of the National Association of Natural Science Museums visited Nantong Museum and gave it a high evaluation.Professor Pei Wenzhong, a famous paleoanthropologist in my country, left a passionate inscription: "China's First Museum is the most valuable treasure." In order to better preserve this treasure, carry forward the pioneering spirit of China's First Museum, and strengthen the international In order to meet the needs of cultural exchanges, many representatives, including all the staff of Nantong Museum, have a common wish and propose that such a museum with historical significance and influence at home and abroad should maintain its original appearance as much as possible. To restore the original system, it is necessary to integrate the People's Park and the museum, even its name should be restored to the original - Nantong Museum.