Hunan's Best — Universities and Research Bases (Part 1)
Research Facilities, Science Parks: China's first State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry—Hunan University's State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics. In July 2001, the Ministry of Science and Technology approved Hunan University to build this state key laboratory on the basis of its Ministry of Education key lab in chemometrics and chemo/biosensing technology.
This article has been compiled from historical materials in the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com · City Overview section). Some administrative divisions, population, socioeconomic data, and policy information may be outdated and are for reference only; for the latest situation, please refer to official releases by the local government and scenic areas.
Section One
Research Sites and Technology Parks
The First National Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry — the Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics at Hunan University
In July 2001, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China officially approved Hunan University to build a national key laboratory on the basis of the Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of "Chemometrics and Chemical and Biological Sensing Technology," with construction proceeding alongside opening, and determined that the main research directions would be biochemical analysis at the nano and molecular levels, chemical and biological sensing technology, new analytical techniques in the life sciences, and chemometrics. In November 2002, China's first university national key laboratory of analytical chemistry, the "State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics," officially passed acceptance inspection by the Ministry of Science and Technology.
The First Base Undertaking National-Level Scientific and Technological Tackling Projects for Refractory Materials for Industrial Kilns and Furnaces — Xiangtan Intermediate Test Institute
The Xiangtan Intermediate Test Institute is affiliated with the China Building Materials Academy. It is the only scientific research, pilot testing, and production base in China undertaking national key scientific and technological tackling projects for fused-cast refractory materials used in industrial kilns and furnaces such as glass and ceramics, and it is also the only manufacturer in China capable of producing a complete series of supporting fused-cast refractory products. It currently has three fused-cast refractory production lines with an annual production capacity of 6,000 tons. Its products are of high quality and complete in supporting range, and its testing methods are complete, enabling comprehensive physical and chemical performance testing and control of products, fine processing and pre-assembly of bricks according to user needs, and it can also provide supporting services such as furnace design, construction, furnace heating, and consultation.
Hunan's First Agricultural Research Institution — Hunan Provincial Rare Earth Agricultural Application Research Center
Under the attention and care of the National Rare Earth Office and the National Rare Earth Agricultural Application Center, the Hunan Provincial Rare Earth Agricultural Application Research Center was approved for establishment by the Hunan Provincial Government in October 1984. It is the first and only provincial-level rare earth agricultural research institution in the country, and is a research institution integrating scientific research, development, and production. The technical extension of rare earth agricultural research began in 1973. By the end of 1998, it had won 21 scientific and technological achievement awards. In 1988 it published the monograph Application of Rare Earths in Agriculture, the first of its kind in the country. Its products successively won honorary titles such as "Hunan Science and Technology Innovation Gold Award" and "Hunan's First Farmers' Satisfactory Fertilizer." In 1998 it was designated a national key new product by five ministries and bureaus including the Ministry of Science and Technology and the State Bureau of Technical Supervision, and its products were exported to South Korea, Israel, Malaysia, and other countries.
Hunan's First National-Level Bast Fiber Crops Research Institution — the Bast Fiber Crops Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
The Bast Fiber Crops Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences was founded in 1958 in Yuanjiang, Hunan. Located in Lugu, Changsha National High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, Hunan Province, it is the only national-level comprehensive professional research institute engaged in the study of bast fiber crops, mainly focusing on the cultivation and primary processing of ramie, jute, kenaf, flax, hemp, and other bast fiber crops. It has established the 'National Germplasm Changsha Ramie Nursery,' the 'China Bast Fiber Industry Information Network Center,' the 'Bast Fiber Product Quality Supervision and Testing Center of the Ministry of Agriculture,' the 'Kenaf Improved Seed Breeding Base,' and the 'Hainan Sanya Seed Multiplication Base.' Over more than 50 years since its founding, it has presided over 365 research projects, 12 international cooperative research projects, and achieved 120 research results.
The first research institution specializing in rheological mechanics — the Rheological Mechanics Research Institute of Xiangtan University
In 1974, faculty transferred from Tsinghua University, Peking University, Harbin Institute of Technology, and other universities formed the Mechanics Teaching and Research Section of Xiangtan University. In 1982, the Rheological Mechanics Research Institute was established. In 1983, with the approval of the Hunan Provincial Government, the institution and its staffing were formally confirmed, making it the only research institute in the country with rheology as its main research subject. The discipline founder was Professor Yuan Longwei, a well-known Chinese scholar. In 1982, rheology was awarded the first batch of key disciplines of higher education institutions in Hunan Province; general mechanics and mechanics foundations were awarded Hunan Provincial key disciplines during the '10th Five-Year Plan' and '11th Five-Year Plan'; in 1998, it obtained the right to confer doctoral degrees; and in 2007, the discipline was designated a national key discipline.
China's first competitive intelligence institution led by a local government — the Competitive Intelligence Center of the Hunan Provincial Department of Science and Technology
In 2007, the Hunan Provincial Department of Science and Technology officially issued a document establishing the 'Hunan Competitive Intelligence Center,' the first competitive intelligence institution in China formally established under the leadership of a local government. Its construction purpose is: to adhere to the guidance of the Scientific Outlook on Development, to serve the scientific decision-making of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government and the enhancement of industrial and enterprise competitiveness as its goals, to use the basic network platform as a link, to focus on building competitive intelligence centers at the provincial, industrial, and enterprise levels, to construct a provincial competitive intelligence research and application system, to strengthen dynamic monitoring, research, and analysis of economic, scientific, social, and industrial development, to improve Hunan's competitive intelligence research and application capabilities, and to provide reliable decision-making references for promoting Hunan's industrial structural adjustment, accelerating the new industrialization process, and achieving sound and rapid development. The center has selected several developed regions for benchmarking and focuses on monitoring domestic and international competitors.
China's first research institution specializing in agricultural microbiology — the Hunan Provincial Institute of Microbiology
The Hunan Provincial Institute of Microbiology was founded in 1956 in Tianxin District, Changsha. It is the earliest professional research institute in China engaged in agricultural microbiology research and development. With advanced research instruments and complete microbial fermentation equipment, it is a state-owned institution integrating scientific research and production. It has a Veterinary Drug Preparation Research Office, a Biological Pesticide Research Office, a Biological Fertilizer Research Office, an Edible Fungi Research Office, an Agricultural Microbial Culture Collection Center, and the Hunan Provincial Microbiology Testing Center. It also owns Hunan's largest veterinary drug production base — Hunan Runbang Bioengineering Co., Ltd., which mainly produces veterinary drug powder injections, water injections, powder and granule preparations, and disinfectants.
The first institution to develop a double-low hybrid rapeseed variety approved at the national level — the Hunan Provincial Crop Research Institute
The Hunan Provincial Crop Research Institute was established in 1973, affiliated with the Grain and Oil Crops Department of the Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences. It is the only research institute in Hunan specializing in the breeding, cultivation, and processing of upland grain and oil crops. It mainly engages in research on germplasm resources, breeding, physiology, and cultivation of rapeseed, soybean, corn, sweet potato, potato, cotton, and other crops, as well as key technologies for agricultural product processing. Over thirty years since its founding, it has received 30 awards at or above the provincial level and bred and approved more than 50 crop varieties. The institute was the first in China and abroad to achieve three-line matching of Brassica napus hybrid rapeseed. Of the 6 new hybrid rapeseed varieties bred in Hunan, the institute accounts for 3, and 2 have passed national approval. Among them, Xiangzayou No. 2 was Hunan's first double-low hybrid rapeseed variety approved at the national level, and Xiangyou No. 5 won the first prize for technological progress from the Ministry of Agriculture and the first prize for technology extension achievements from the National Agricultural Commission.
The first research organization for plastic extrusion equipment — the Xiangtan High-Tech Ceramic Machinery Factory
The Plastic Extrusion Ceramics Research Institute of the Xiangtan High-Tech Ceramic Machinery Factory has many Chinese firsts: it developed China's first complete set of equipment for a split brick production line, China's first honeycomb ceramic production line, China's first complete glazed tile production line for foreign aid, China's first production line for hollow kiln furniture slabs for refractory materials, China's first ceramic roller production line, and China's first water-washed kaolin production line process technology and equipment. Its products are widely used in daily-use ceramics, building ceramics, special ceramics, electrical ceramics, bricks and tiles, kaolin, and chemical industries.
Hunan's first research institute independently established by an enterprise — the Zhongda Chuangyuan CNC Spiral Bevel Gear Machine Tool Research Institute
The Hunan Zhongda Chuangyuan CNC Spiral Bevel Gear Machine Tool Research Institute is a high-tech enterprise and the first research institute in China's CNC spiral bevel gear machine tool industry independently established by an enterprise. It is mainly dedicated to the R&D, manufacturing, and complete technical services of high-end CNC gear machine tools. It has produced China's first fully CNC gear milling machine, the first fully CNC spiral bevel gear grinding machine, and the first spiral bevel gear digital manufacturing production line, becoming the third company in the world capable of manufacturing fully CNC spiral bevel gear equipment. It has realized the dream of China's gear industry to independently produce fully CNC gear milling machines and gear grinding machines, stepping into the world's leading level in the field of CNC spiral bevel gear equipment.
The world's first specialized hybrid rice research institution — the Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center
The Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center (also the China National Hybrid Rice Research and Development Center) is located in Mapoling, Changsha, Hunan Province. It was established in 1984, with Academician Yuan Longping serving as director, and is the first specialized hybrid rice research institution in China and abroad. In 1995, the China National Hybrid Rice Research and Development Center was established based on it. It has a research building, a molecular breeding laboratory building, a training building, and a science and technology museum. It has departments including the Research Office, Development Office, and Experimental Base Management Office, and possesses multiple laboratories including the Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice Molecular Breeding. It has 25 hectares of experimental fields at its Changsha headquarters and 10 hectares in Hainan. The center focuses on hybrid rice breeding, conducting the selection and breeding of new high-yield, high-quality, multi-resistant three-line and two-line hybrid rice combinations. The center has made remarkable contributions in research results, research papers, and academic exchanges, and has become a hybrid rice professional research and development institution renowned both domestically and internationally.
Hunan's only pharmaceutical specialty development zone — Liuyang Biomedical Park
Hunan Liuyang Biomedical Park was approved for establishment in January 1998. It is the only pharmaceutical specialty development zone in the province established by the Hunan Provincial Government and a key park for the province's '10th Five-Year Plan' and '11th Five-Year Plan' high-tech industry development. The park is a National Torch Plan Biomedical Base, a National Pharmaceutical Export Base, a National Changsha Biological Industry Base, and the only international pharmaceutical industrial park jointly built by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the Changsha Municipal Government. With pharmaceutical professional services as its core competitiveness, the park has established the Hunan Pharmaceutical Industrialization Service Center, Hunan Pharmaceutical Technology Entrepreneurship Center, pharmaceutical public laboratories and public pharmaceutical factory, and the Hunan Central South Pharmaceutical Logistics Center, and has fully launched the construction of the Hunan Laboratory Animal Center and Hunan GAP Medicinal Material Base. It has enhanced industrial connectivity, reduced enterprise investment costs, and built an important platform for the development of the pharmaceutical economy. Hunan Liuyang Biomedical Park has 60 pharmaceutical enterprises, 27 of which have passed GMP certification. It is a national-level biological industry base with the largest number of pharmaceutical industrial enterprises, the richest pharmaceutical dosage forms, and the most concentrated new drug varieties in China.
Section II
Illustrated Exhibition · Featured Pavilion Area
China's first provincial-level public library — Hunan Library
Hunan Library is a provincial-level comprehensive public library sponsored by the state. Its predecessor was founded in March 1904 by Liang Huankui, Long Furu, and other young people with Western democratic ideas who raised funds through donations. With the purpose of 'importing civilization and opening up knowledge,' it was initially named Hunan Library and Education Museum, located at Dingwangtai in Changsha. It is China's first provincial-level public library named 'Library.' From the autumn of 1912 to the spring of 1913, Mao Zedong studied here on his own for half a year, and in 1927 He Shuheng served as its director. The current main building covers 23,900 square meters, with a training building of 7,000 square meters. It has a collection of over 3.39 million volumes, including more than 1.7 million Chinese general books, over 18,000 Chinese newspapers and periodicals, nearly 800,000 ancient and old documents, and more than 360,000 foreign language documents. Many items in the collection are rare editions, genealogies, certificates, calligraphy and paintings, and letters, and it is especially known for its rich local documents.
China's earliest library — Changde City Library
Changde City Library was founded in 1903 (the 29th year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty) by Lei Maocai, a native of Liuyang, who rented land at Lüzu Temple in Changde City to establish it. It currently has a collection of 380,000 volumes and implements fully open-shelf lending. The library places great emphasis on the collection, organization, and research of local documents, which it has designated as its special collection. In March 1988, the new library building was completed, with the library name inscribed by Hu Yaobang. Since 1994, it has received honors such as 'National First-Class Library,' 'National Civilized Library,' 'National Advanced Collective in Cultural Work,' and the national 'Readers' Favorite Library.'
Hunan's first county-level library — Xiangtan County Library
In September of the second year of the Xuantong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1910), the Xiangtan County Library was established. This was the earliest county-level library in Hunan Province, but its collection was not large. In 1925, the county library was renamed the County Zhongshan Library. In 1929, it was renamed the County Public Library, with a collection of 155 titles and 14,976 volumes. In 1937, it was merged into the County Public Education Hall. In 1942, the collection room of the Public Education Hall increased to more than 15,000 volumes. In 1944, the collection was burned by the Japanese invading army, with only 8,000 volumes that had been transferred to Gutangqiao preserved. By 1988, the collection reached 145,200 volumes, including more than 12,000 volumes of ancient thread-bound books, a complete set of the 'Collectanea Integrated Initial Compilation,' a complete set of the photocopied 'Complete Library of the Four Treasuries,' nearly 10,000 children's books, as well as 87 types of newspapers, 224 types of periodicals, and various local document materials, making it one of the county-level libraries with the largest collections in Hunan Province.
Hunan's earliest provincial-level children's library — Hunan Provincial Children's Library
The Hunan Provincial Children's Library was established in 1981 and is one of the earliest provincial-level children's libraries established in China. In 1992, a beautiful and generously designed reading building with unique children's characteristics was completed, and General Secretary Jiang Zemin personally inscribed the library name. The library covers more than 12,000 square meters, with a collection of more than 700,000 volumes, over 1,400 types of newspapers and periodicals, more than 40,000 audio-visual materials, and more than 80 computers and voice devices for readers. It has 13 specialized service windows including the Picture Kingdom, Comprehensive Lending Room, Literature Lending Room, Education Reference Room, Newspaper and Periodical Lending Area, Audio-Visual Materials Lending Area, Braille Reading Room, and Multimedia Electronic Reading Room. In recent years, it has been awarded more than 30 honorary titles by relevant central ministries and commissions and the provincial party committee and government, including 'National First-Class Library,' 'National Civilized Library,' and 'National Advanced Unit in Minors Protection Work.'
Hunan's largest comprehensive history and art museum — Hunan Provincial Museum
The Hunan Provincial Museum is located in Kaifu District, Changsha, adjacent to the beautiful Martyrs' Park. It covers an area of 51,000 square meters, with a public building area of 29,000 square meters, and is the largest comprehensive history and art museum in the province. It has a rich collection of cultural relics, especially characterized by the artifacts from the Mawangdui Han Tomb, Shang and Zhou bronzes, Chu cultural relics, ceramics from various dynasties, calligraphy and paintings, and modern and contemporary artifacts. The museum gathers the cultural treasures of the Hunan region, showing the origins and development of Xiang-Chu civilization. In today's increasingly noisy city, it serves as an elegant and tranquil cultural leisure destination and the best window for understanding Huxiang culture.
China's first farming culture museum — the Leiyang Farming Culture Museum
The Leiyang Farming Culture Museum is China's first thematic museum comprehensively displaying the history and physical artifacts of farming culture. The Farming Culture Museum is built in the beautiful Detailong Development New Area of Leiyang, Hunan. Its architectural style is simple yet modern, reflecting the long, profound, and civilized farming culture of Leiyang. Its exhibition style is concise and clear, highlighting three major features: first, it emphasizes the historical origin theme of 'Shennong Creating the Plow'; the second highlight is the modern farm tool demonstration hall; the third highlight of the exhibition hall is the expression of Leiyang's tremendous contributions to modern agriculture worldwide. The Leiyang Farming Culture Museum certifies the footprints left by the ancestor Shennong here, telling the story of Leiyang's farming civilization from its distant past to its brilliant present and future.
China's first pig culture museum — the Zhuzhou Pig Culture Museum
In 2004, the Pig Culture Museum, jointly founded by the China Pig Breeding Association and Zhuzhou Tangrenshen Group, covers 12,000 square meters and is China's earliest and largest pig culture museum. In the same year, it was awarded the 'Guinness World Record' by the Shanghai Great World Guinness Headquarters. The museum is located in Tianyuan Development Zone, Zhuzhou City. The main building complex consists of three exhibition halls, a sightseeing tower, and an ecological breeding farm. The museum features 26 breeds of famous Chinese and foreign pigs available for viewing, including Taihu pig, Jinhua pig, Ningxiang pig, Meishan pig, Xiang pig, and Duroc pig. Its collection of various texts, cartoons, pictures, and models about pigs reaches more than 20,000 items. Through vivid, comprehensive, and rich texts, pictures, physical objects, live specimens, and audio-visual materials, the exhibition halls vividly and entertainingly present to visitors the history and culture, evolutionary development, folk traditions, nutritional deliciousness, and quality improvement of pigs.
China's only bamboo slip and wooden tablet research museum — the Changsha Bamboo Slips Museum
The Changsha Bamboo Slips Museum is located at No. 92 Baisha Road, covering an area of 30 mu, with a total building area of 14,100 square meters. It is mainly divided into three major sections: exhibition and display, specialized cultural relic storage, and organization and research. It is currently the only medium-sized modern thematic museum in China and abroad that integrates the protection, organization, research, and display of bamboo slips and wooden tablets, and is also an important cultural attraction and window to the outside world in Changsha. It has two floors of exhibition halls: the first floor features thematic displays of bamboo slips and related cultural relics, including Changsha Wu slips, Chinese bamboo slips, and world writing carriers. The second floor features an exhibition of the essence of Changsha cultural relics, divided into four parts: 'Bronze Charm,' 'Xiang-Chu Treasures,' 'Han Dynasty Relics,' and 'Porcelain Splendor,' including Tang Dynasty Tongguan kiln porcelain and the only Han Dynasty silk-stringed musical instrument 'zhu' in the country, with more than 300 national first- and second-class fine cultural relics. The main collection consists of the Three Kingdoms Sun Wu bamboo slips discovered in 1996 at the Zoumalou J22 site in Changsha, totaling more than 100,000 pieces, exceeding the total number of bamboo slips discovered in the twentieth century, and is one of the most important archaeological discoveries in twentieth-century China.
China's first Red Army slogan museum — the Yanling Red Army Slogan Museum
The Yanling Red Army Slogan Museum was established in 2009 in Yanling County and is the first Red Army slogan museum in the country. According to survey statistics, Yanling County still preserves 151 sites (groups) of Red Army slogans with complete content and clear handwriting, totaling 339 slogans and 4,617 characters, 8 cartoons and group paintings, 3 couplets, 2 written messages, and 2 wall newspaper scoreboards from Red Army literacy classes, distributed across 22 villages in 12 townships, towns, and farms. It is the county (city) with the largest number of preserved Red Army slogans, the richest content, and the most complete unit designations in the country. The museum will collect archival materials and historical information of all Red Army slogans in the county, collect most of the physical Red Army slogans and related revolutionary cultural relics and folk cultural relics, and use modern scientific and technological means for display and exhibition. It will also become precious material for studying the early propaganda and ideological work of our Party and military and a rare physical teaching material for carrying out patriotism and revolutionary tradition education.
China's first village-run museum — the Liuyang China Firecracker Culture Museum
The China Firecracker Culture Museum is located at the Firecracker Grand Market in Ludong Village, Dayao Town, Liuyang City, Hunan Province. It opened to the public in October 2001 and was converted by villagers from an ancient dwelling. Covering an area of about 8,000 square meters, it is China's first village-run museum. Firecracker making in China began in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty, with a history of more than 1,400 years. Liuyang is the birthplace of Chinese firecrackers and a major production area of firecrackers in the world, and has long been known as the "Home of Chinese Firecrackers." The museum is divided into four exhibition areas—"A Thousand-Year Review," "Traditional Craftsmanship," "Glorious Achievements," and "Modern Technology"—displaying more than 210 photographs and over 180 kinds of physical objects, and also features a long corridor exhibiting various firecracker samples and more than 20 kinds of traditional firecracker-making tools.
China's Largest Miao Family Museum—the Fenghuang Miao Museum
On October 1, 2002, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at Bagu Village in Shanjang Town, Fenghuang, known as the "Miao Prince's Mansion," marking the official opening to visitors of China's largest Miao family museum. The museum's name was inscribed by Mr. Shen Congwen, a world-renowned master of Miao native literature, and Mr. Long Wenyu, inspector of the Hunan Provincial Government, president of the Hunan Miao Society, senior expert in Miao studies, and Miao educator, served as curator. The museum covers an area of 1,864 square meters, with a building area of 1,600 square meters and a collection of more than 2,000 Miao treasures. The museum consists of "eight halls, two buildings, one area, and one ground"—ordinary farmhouses, ancient dwellings, warrior furniture, a glimpse of costumes, the embroiderer's home, the craftsman's building, the VIP building, the newly built living area, and a Miao customs activity ground—making it the largest of its kind in China.
China's First Tujia Private Museum—Zhangjiajie Xiuhua Mountain Hall
Xiuhua Mountain Hall, located in Zhangjiajie City, is hailed as "the soul of the Tujia people" and "the epitome of Xiangxi culture." It is China's first Tujia private museum. The collection is the fruit of twenty years of persistent effort by the Tujia couple Chen Chuhua and Gong Daoxiu, known as the "guardians of Tujia culture." It basically encompasses various unique and exquisite daily utensils, folk-custom utensils, production tools, artistic tools, and religious sacrificial utensils of the Tujia people of Xiangxi during the Ming and Qing dynasties, including carved wooden furniture, Tujia folk costumes, Tujia cross-stitch brocade, and Tujia silver ornaments. Among them, the Tujia carved drip windows and Ming Dynasty polychrome stones are especially famous throughout the world.
Hunan's Largest Natural Science Museum—the Hunan Provincial Geological Museum
The Hunan Provincial Geological Museum is the largest natural science museum in Hunan Province open to the public year-round. The museum was founded in 1958 and officially opened to the public in 1980. It is a national science popularization education base and a Hunan Province youth science and technology education base, among other designations. In 2002, with the approval of the Hunan Provincial Government, a modern new museum covering 71.9 mu was completed. The new museum has an introductory exhibition hall of more than 3,000 square meters, a collection storage room of more than 3,000 square meters, and a 200-square-meter multimedia lecture hall. It is planned to have nine exhibition halls, including "Walking into the Earth" and "Sudden Changes," with a total exhibition area of more than 8,000 square meters. It is responsible for geoscience popularization education and publicity, science popularization and research in fields related to land and resources, and the investigation, evaluation, and assessment of geological relics; it also carries out geoscience consulting services, domestic and international academic exchange and cooperation, development of geoscience popularization products, and exhibition activities.
China's First Fire and Disaster Prevention Education Hall—the Hunan Fire and Disaster Prevention Education Hall
In November 2000, the Hunan Fire and Disaster Prevention Education Hall officially opened to the public. It is located in the podium building of Yiyou Mansion at the intersection of Wuyi Road and Furong Road in Changsha City, with a building area of more than 600 square meters. It consists of an audiovisual hall, an exhibition hall, a simulation hall, and a knowledge spiral corridor, and is the first fire and disaster prevention education hall in the country. Using modern high technology, the hall popularizes fire safety knowledge among visitors through exhibitions, demonstrations, hands-on experiences, and other intuitive forms, and provides comprehensive and effective fire safety education for schools, hotels, factories and mines, and other units. It is a fire science popularization education and fire safety training base in Hunan Province. The hall is open to visitors free of charge year-round, dedicated to improving the public's fire safety awareness and establishing a sound socialized fire prevention framework. In 2004, the hall was jointly awarded the first batch of "National Fire Science Popularization Education Bases" by the Fire Department of the Ministry of Public Security, the Science Popularization Department of the China Association for Science and Technology, and the China Fire Protection Association.
Hunan's Only Agriculture-Specialized Insect Specimen Hall—the Hunan Agricultural University Insect Specimen Hall
The Hunan Agricultural University Insect Specimen Hall was founded in 1957. After several renovations, its exhibition conditions have been further improved. It is the only agriculture-specialized insect specimen hall in Hunan Province, with a venue area of 334 square meters, housing more than 300,000 precious insect specimens of various sizes and forms for teaching, research, and viewing. The specimen hall is divided into exhibition rooms such as "The Journey of Understanding Insects," "The Origin, Close Relatives, and Life of Insects," "The Great Insect Family," "Insect Culture and Art," "Agricultural Insects," "Natural Enemy Insects," "Ornamental and Interesting Insects," "Insects of Nature Reserves and Forest Areas," and "Resource Insects and Sanitary Pests." It displays more than 2,000 insect specimens and related exhibits, accompanied by more than 200 illustrated display boards. The dazzling array of specimens and exhibits constructs a panoramic picture of the emergence and development of tiny insect life on Earth and its close relationship with human production, life, and scientific development. With insect evolution and their relationship with humans as the main thread, and insect diversity and the complexity of their relationship with humans as the main exhibition content, the hall conveys to visitors the theme of "treat the six-legged creatures well and beautify human life."