River's tales

Another feature of the exhibition is a summary of the ancient cultures arising from the Yangtze River basin to glorify the Chinese civilization.

Artifacts from cultures along the upper, middle and lower stretches are on show, such as a stone scraper made about 240,000 years ago, which was unearthed from the Guanyindong site in Guizhou province－the largest early Paleolithic site ever found in the southern part of the Yangtze－and a stone slab from the Neolithic age which was engraved with a human figure, under a sun with 23 rays of light and four stars.

Zhao says the exhibition is not merely to praise history and beauty of the Yangtze, the cultural accumulation as well as its significance as "a golden waterway" for economic and social development－equally important is "an intention to raise people's awareness of the ecological protection of the river".

At the exhibition, a wall of plant specimens shows the restoration work carried out in the Three Gorges Dam area by the Yangtze River Rare Plant Research Institute affiliated to China Three Gorges Corp.

Also on display are specimens of fish found in the Yangtze, some of which are critically endangered, such as the Chinese sturgeon, pressing the need to continuously improve the ecology of the river.