The Musée Hoangho Paiho () was a museum of natural history and

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s founded by the French Jesuit

Émile Licent Émile Licent (1876–1952; with the adopted Chinese name, 桑志华, while he was working in China) was a French Jesuit trained as a natural historian. He spent more than twenty-five years researching in Tianjin. His expeditions spread across var ...

(1876–1952) in

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

, China, in 1914. Also known as the Beijiang Museum, it is now part of the

Tianjin Natural History Museum Tianjin Natural History Natural history museum, Museum is in Tianjin, China, and is located in No. 31 Youyi Road, in the Hexi District, Tianjin, Hexi District. It was founded in 1914 as the Hoangho Paiho Museum. The museum has three floors and spa ...

. From 1914, under the sponsorship of the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

in Tianjin,

collected a large number of specimens and fossils of geology, rocks and minerals,

paleontology Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure ge ...

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

and

fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

, etc. and stored them in the Chongde Hall of the Jesuits in the French Concession in Tianjin. 1922, with the support of the Church and the French Concession in Tianjin, Émile Licent built a special building for the Musée Hoangho Paiho Museum on the land adjacent to the

Tsin Ku University Tsin Ku University (, ), was a Jesuits, Jesuit Catholic Church, Catholic university established by the France, French Jesuits in Tianjin, China. It was the second Catholic higher education, Catholic university in China and one of the earliest un ...

, which was founded by the Jesuits in China. The institute hired a number of foreign experts to work, such as

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (; 1 May 1881 – 10 April 1955) was a French Jesuit, Catholic priest, scientist, palaeontologist, theologian, and teacher. He was Darwinian and progressive in outlook and the author of several influential theologi ...

, and filled the gaps in the field of paleontology in northern China, centered on the Yellow River and Haihe River Basin, and many of the publications and writings were included in the world's database of

zoological Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

botanical Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

, and paleontological literature, which is still an important basis for examining the early scientific records of the various disciplines of biology in northern China. In the 1930s, the Musée Hoangho Paiho Museum and the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 ...

and other European museums to maintain long-term academic exchanges, in the international community has a certain reputation, until 1937 after the Japanese occupation of Tianjin, the following year, Émile Licent returned to France, the 1940s, the Musée Hoangho Paiho Museum of scientific investigations and research work came to a standstill in a state of retention. Currently, the Musée Hoangho Paiho Museum is located on the campus of Tianjin Foreign Studies University on Machang Road in Hexi District, Tianjin, and has long been used as the office of

and the storage of its collections, which is not open to the public.On January 22, 2016, the Musée Hoangho Paiho Museum was renovated and reopened to the public, and it is considered to be an important object of research for the study of the museums of the early years of China. The former site of Musée Hoangho Paiho is a Tianjin cultural relics protection unit and a key protection grade historical style building. On October 7, 2019, the former site of Musée Hoangho Paiho was upgraded to the eighth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

About the museum

The Musée Hoangho Paiho was established by the French Jesuit and natural historian Émile Licent in Tianjin, China, in 1914. The name translates as "Museum of the Yellow River and the White River". It was one of the first museums created in China. It was also known as the Beijiang Museum () "Museum of Northern Borderlands"). In 1952, the museum was renamed as the

. The museum is located at 117–119 Machang Avenue, Hexi District, Tianjin, originally in the Institut des Hautes Études et Commerciales () (now part of Tianjin Foreign Language University). It covers an area of 2000 square meters, consisting of two parts: the museum and the laboratory. The museum part (the northern part) was designed and constructed by the Credit Foncier D’Extreme-Orient in 1922. The laboratory part (the southern part) was constructed by French Yonghe Company between 1925 and 1929. The two parts are connected by an enclosed overpass. The building is three-storied (part of it is two-storied). The museum was well used by artists in Tianjin, including Liu Kuiliang (1885–1967).

Publications of the museum

The series "Publications du Musée Hoang Ho Pai Ho" was published between 1916 and 1936, and printed at the Imprimerie de la mission catholique at Sienhsien: *No.12 ''Listes des sauriens et serpents des collections du Musée Hoang ho Pai ho de Tien Tsin'', by P Pavlov 1932) *No.14. ''Les collections néolithiques du Musée Hoang ho Pai ho de Tien Tsin'', by E. Licent *No.19. ''La Collection d'oiseaux du Musée Hoang ho Pai ho de Tien Tsin'', by G Seys; Emile Licent (1933) *No.20. ''Les poissons des collections ichtyologiques du Musée Hoangho Paiho'', by B. Iakovleff (B.P. Jakovlev) (1933) *No.23 ''Reptilia and Amphibia collected in 1932 by the staff of the Hoang-ho Pai-ho Tientsin. Publications du Musée Hoang Ho Paiho'', by P.A. Pavlov (1933) *No.25 ''Brahmaeidae des collections du Musée Hoangho Paiho'', by V Strelkov (1933) *No.26. ''Collections des Mammifères du Musée Hoang ho Pai ho à Tien Tsin'', by B Jakovleff; E de Laberbis (1933) *No.27. ''Notes sur les oiseaux observes an Jehol de 1911 a 1932'', by G Seys (1933) *No.28. ''Collection des mammifères du musée Hoang ho Pai ho de Tien Tsin. Carnivora. III. Fam. Ursidae et Mustelidae'' / par B.P. Jakovleff,... ; traduit du ms. russe par E. de Laberbis (1934) *No.30 ''Bibliographie critique du Musée Hoang ho Pai ho (H.H.P.H.) de Tien Tsin : 1914–1933'' by Emile Licent (1934) *No.31. ''Additions faites de 1928 à 1933 à la collection d'oiseaux du Musée Hoang ho Pai ho de Tien Tsin'', by G Seys; Emile Licent (1934) *No.34. ''The non-marine gastropods of north China. Part 1'', by T.C. Yen (1935) *No.38. ''Hoang Ho-Pai Ho. Comptes-rendus de onze années (1923–1933) de séjour et d'exploration dans le Bassin du Fleuve Jaune, du Pai Ho et des autres tributaires du Golfe du Pei-Tcheu-Ly'', by H.I. Harding, Émile Licent (1936) *No.41. ''A survey of the amphibia of north China based on the collection by E. Licent S.J. in the Musée Hoangho-Paiho de Tientsin'', by Alice M Boring (1936) *No.42. ''Notes on some Dytiscidae from Musée Hoang ho Pai ho, Tientsin, with descriptions of eleven new species'', by Hsiao-tʻang Fêng (1936) *No.45 ''A guide to Hoang ho Pai ho Museum, Race Course Road, Tientsin'', by Emile Licent (1937) *No.51. ''Annélides Poluchètes du Golfe du Pei Tcheu Ly de la collection du musée Hoang ho Pai ho'' by Pierre Fauvel (1933) * ''Hoang ho-Pai ho. Comptes-rendus de onze années, 1923–1933, de séjour et d'exploration dans le bassin du Fleuve Jaune, du Pai ho et des autres tributaires du Golfe du Pei Tcheu ly'', by Émile Licent. ith atlas(1935–1936)

External links

Musée Hoang ho Pai ho – on Bibliothèque nationale de France websiteMusée Hoang ho Pai ho – on Worldcat

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Musee Hoangho Paiho Museums in Tianjin Natural history museums in China

About the museum

Publications of the museum

See also

External links

References