Chinese Embassy Delegation Visits Headquarters of the RGS in St. Petersburg

On June 15, the Headquarters of the Russian Geographical Society in St. Petersburg were visited by Minister-Counselor for Culture Feng Litao, Consul for Cultural Affairs Zhuang Jianping, and the attaché of the Chinese Embassy in Russia Hou Mengxin. As part of the cultural program of the 24th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, they were given a sightseeing tour of the historical building and showed unique exhibitions of the Russian Geographical Society.

The representatives of the Chinese Embassy in Russia visited the Scientific Library of the Russian Geographical Society, where they viewed collections of Chinese luboks from the funds of the Scientific Archive of the Russian Geographical Society, as well as an exhibition of engravings with panoramas of St. Petersburg, made according to drawings by Mikhail Makhaev. On a model of a river ship presented to the Russian Geographical Society by the traveler Pyotr Kozlov in September 1905, Mr. Feng Litao noted the special significance of the details of each figure and their meaning.

The delegation got acquainted with atlases and ancient maps of China, including the original map of the continental part of the country from 1820, made in the technique of woodcut engraving. Ilya Gurov, First Deputy Executive Director of the Russian Geographical Society, told his Chinese colleagues that the submitted materials were posted electronically on the Geoportal of the Russian Geographical Society and are available for remote work with them.

In the Scientific Archive of the Russian Geographical Society, the guests were able to see the originals of the diaries of Nikolai Przhevalsky and Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay, travel documents and personal belongings of the travelers, the world's first photographs of Tibet.

During the visit, the interest in the development of long-term scientific cooperation and mutual exchange of consultations was confirmed. At the end of the meeting, the guests were presented with souvenirs – books published by the Russian Geographical Society.