It seems suitable that China's first green museum should be built in Liaoning Province -- once a lush pre-historic paradise where giant dinosaurs roamed -- and now a land rich with exciting fossils, some of which will end up inside the new museum. Set to open before next year's Olympics, the Yizhou Fossil and Geology Park touts itself as China's first completely green museum, built entirely with environmentally friendly materials.

 

 

Frenchman Damien Leloup aims to turn the Yizhou Fossil and Geology Park into the China's first completely green museum.

 

The building is constructed with a combination of recycled wood and original wood from non-endangered forests. The walls are painted with non-toxic paint and long-lasting bulbs will light up the museum with windmill energy.

 

Damien Leloup, 33, a Frenchman who specializes in underwater archaeology and worked with the late Jacques Cousteau for a few years before he came to China, is the managing director of the joint venture museum in Yixian County and the person who pushed to go all green. Cousteau was known for exploring the underwater world and filming it for television audiences around the world.

 

"We are not the only ones on this planet and should behave as such," Leloup says. "We are trying to make this place a better place, not worse. It will be educational, it will be an adventure for people to come to our park and we will try to have a minimum impact on the environment by respecting all of what surrounds us."

 

Leloup was invited to build the museum by a German veterinarian who has a passion for collecting and protecting dinosaur fossils. The German investor also spearheaded the Wyoming Dinosaur Center and Dig Sites in the US.

 

After he accepted the challenge, Leloup decided to try and convince his boss and the Chinese partners to think green. He says that while it wasn't simple to convince them, for example, that using wind power over coal would save money in the long run, he prevailed in the end.

 

With his employer's approval, he then had to convince the local authorities in Liaoning, the architects and then argue against coal use that is bad for the environment.

 

"Our geology park emphasizes environmental protection," says Xia Qing, the museum's office manager and liaison to the local government. "This year solar power and windmill is a very hot topic for China and more and more Chinese care about the environment."

 

 

Leloup says the cooperation of the local authorities would help the museum play a strong role in protecting fossils discovered by foreign and Chinese scientists working in Liaoning.

 

Liaoning is a major work site for world scientists who have discovered many important fossils there including some that offer further proof of a link between dinosaurs and birds. Recent highly publicized discoveries in Liaoning include fossils of a 124-million-year-old duckbill dinosaur.

 

Leloup says the museum is also preparing to install a 20,000-liter, 5-meter wide tank inside in which to raise endangered species that lived in the time of the dinosaurs. These animals would then be released back into the wild each year and they may include certain horseshoe crabs, fish, different families of turtles and dozens of other animals.

 

Inside the museum, visitors will first walk through a tunnel type corridor with a geological timeline of the earth, starting with the beginning of life to the end of the dinosaur era.

 

But for many visitors, the most interesting part of the visit could be outside the museum building where they will be able to play amateur archaeologists.

 

"We realize that museums are very interesting but to an extent, people get bored and we decided to find a way to have it much more entertaining," Leloup says. "If you come to our museum, you will be able get your hands dirty and dig with us and look for fossils."

 

Those who want to get dirty could sit through a short class on how to use tools before they dig in a specific area. Any discoveries made will not be finder's keepers, Leloup says.

 

"It's a matter of having fun and finding something significant and, of course, everything belongs to the museum," he says.

 

While new museums seem to be a trend sweeping the country, they are becoming different compared to traditional museums about Chinese history. Thirty years ago there were about 300 museums in China, mostly dedicated to Chinese history, but today there are about 2,000. And by 2015, there will be estimated 3,000 museums in the country, according to official figures.

 

There are some long established museums such as the China Tea Museum in East China's Zhejiang Province that provides information about all kinds of teas in China and details about tea culture. Visitors could taste teas and learn about its history from in-house tea experts while sitting in beautiful surroundings.

 

Wang Limei, director of Beijing World Art Museum, says as the economic and social status of China improves, people are naturally seeking new ways to satisfy their cultural needs, although it's not happening fast enough for the museums. "Museums are getting more and more important in people's life. The problem we are facing now is how to get more visitors to go into the museum," she says.

 

Unlike government-backed museums such as the National Museum in Beijing, smaller private museums receive little financial support, if any, from the government so they often rely on ticket sales to balance the books, Wang says.

 

The Yizhou museum's decision to go green will save money, although it may not appear to be so at first glance, says Leloup. For example, while coal is cheaper than windmills and solar panels, they will begin to save money after 12 years, he says.

 

Since the sun only provides enough power for eight months in the year, a backup generator has been installed and fitted with filters to lessen the coal particles entering the air, says Leloup.

 

To Leloup, while being the first green museum in China is a good quality to stand out, he would prefer if the museum gets kudos for its collection instead.

 

"I'd rather our museum stands out in front of all other museums for its fossils and rare dinosaur collection than for being isolated as the only green museum in China," he says.

 

By Bryan Virasami

 

(China Daily July 20, 2007)