Chinese guests at the exhibition “Obruchev: The Territory of Discoveries" in the Small Hall of the RGS Headquarters. Photo: Olga Semenova
A delegation of Chinese scientists visited the historical Headquarters of the RGS in St. Petersburg. The visit took place within the framework of the program of regular academic exchanges between geographers of Russia and China.
The guests from China learned about the history of the founding of the Russian Geographical Society, visited the exhibition «Obruchev: The Territory of Discoveries», and got acquainted with the unique collections of the Scientific Library of the RGS. Of particular interest were scientific publications of Soviet geographers translated into Chinese, specifically, the hydrology textbook by Anatoly Ogievsky, one of the founders of the Russian hydrological school. The head of the Chinese delegation, Professor Guoyu Zhang, shared his memories that he had once studied using these textbooks at a Chinese university.
In the Great Hall of the RGS Headquarters in St. Petersburg, Huiying Liu, a junior researcher at the Lanzhou University Research Center, read a report in Russian and Chinese «The IRGS and the Formation of Modern Central Asia. The Imperial Network of Knowledge and Modernization of the Region (1896–1917)».
The delegation of the Geographical Society of the People's Republic of China on the grand staircase of the Headquarters of the RGS in St. Petersburg. Photo: Olga Semenova
During the visit, the guests were shown a film about the history of the Russian Geographical Society, and at the end of the meeting, Roman Ryabintsev, Director of the RGS Headquarters in St. Petersburg, and Dai Wang, the head of the delegation, exchanged memorable gifts.
The Chinese delegation is going to get acquainted with the iconic places of St. Petersburg, the Leningrad Region, and the Republic of Karelia.
More news from the RGS Headquarters in St. Petersburg is here.