The last volume of Notes of Hai Cuo Tu has been published by CITIC Press Group in Beijing recently, which means the whole collection, written by science blogger Zhang Chenliang from 2014, has been published.
Hai Cuo Tu (Picture of Marine Varieties) is a picture book recounting more than 300 marine life and anecdotes in the coastal area created by painter Nie Huang in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). It is now divided into four volumes, stored at the Palace Museum in Beijing and Taipei.
But due to limitations of the times, Nie's work has some inaccurate information and he left some confusing biological questions he didn't make clear at that time, hoping the later generation would find the answers.
That is what Zhang has tried to accomplish in this collection. Many of Nie's questions can be solved with scientific knowledge we master today. Zhang has researched on them and found the answers.
"I feel like it's a communication transcending time and space with ancient people," says Zhang.
In the latest volume, Zhang checks 96 original pictures in Hai Cuo Tu, draws information from them and his own research, and organizes knowledge of fish, shellfish, marine beasts and plants in 20 notes.
