Hong Kong owes much of its understanding of its flora and fauna to amateur naturalists
- The contributions and stories of the city’s amateur naturalists are the theme of a new exhibition at the Hong Kong Science Museum, ‘Ecology in the Making (1816-present)’
- British surgeon Clarke Abel was the first Westerner to publish a book depicting some of the organisms, scenery and terrain he came across on this ‘remarkably barren’ island
Hong Kong, a bustling city whose residents work some of the longest hours in the world, owes much of its understanding of its plants and animals to those who have studied them for fun, off the clock.
The contributions and stories of these amateur naturalists are the theme of a new exhibition at the Hong Kong Science Museum, “Ecology in the Making (1816-present)”.
Curated by the Lung Fu Shan Environmental Education Centre, the exhibition focuses on seven historical figures – ranging from merchants and civil servants to priests – whose discoveries and written accounts have helped to form a foundation of knowledge about Hong Kong’s natural history.
It begins in 1816, with British surgeon Clarke Abel, the first Westerner to publish a book depicting some of the organisms, scenery and terrain he came across on this “remarkably barren” island.
Other notable subjects include British artillery officer John Eyre – who discovered and drew more than 200 paintings of the bright pink Hong Kong camellia – and “armchair naturalist” Yip Lin-feng, whose Chinese newspaper columns and writings helped popularise the city’s natural history for locals in the 1950s.