Museum's past inspires showcase of the future

In 1962, it was named the Beijing Museum of Natural History with world-renowned paleontologist Yang Zhongjian (1897-1979) as its first director. Yang was quoted by the museum as saying that he "wanted to do some real work" during his term.

According to magazine Man and the Biosphere, before the museum opened, its collection size was considered too small. To guarantee a decent paleontology collection was on display at the opening, Yang asked the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology for help in providing personnel and fossils, as he was then also director of the institute.

Not satisfied with just an exhibition role, he emphasized that the museum should have its own expert team for scientific research.

Under his guidance, the museum staff carried out multiple tasks, such as acquiring, conserving, researching and exhibiting essential sources of biological data.

Facilities for specimen storage were built, while research teams were organized.

Yang's two successors as museum directors were academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who had both been committed to promoting the museum's scientific research.