In order to further deepen the understanding and knowledge of Chinese marine culture among international students, on the afternoon of March 26th, under the organization of Professor Ma Mingfei, the lecturer of the compulsory course "Chinese Marine Civilization" for postgraduate international students, more than 40 international students from more than 10 countries visited the Dalian Natural History Museum, embarking on a journey of blue ocean culture that crosses mountains and seas and time and space.
The theme of this event is "Embracing the Blue Ocean and Experiencing Chinese Culture". As an extracurricular practice part of the English taught course "Chinese Marine Civilization", it has received a warm response from students. Dalian Natural History Museum is a national first-class museum, with nearly 200000 specimens of various kinds, making it the most diverse and numerous natural history museum in China. For international students in their first year of graduate study, many of them were experiencing such a large-scale nature museum in China for the first time. Under the guidance of the volunteer, the students visited more than 10 exhibition halls including Earth, Dinosaurs, Oceans, Forests, Wetlands, and Mesozoic Era. They were amazed by the North Pacific right whale specimen, which is 17.1 meters long and weighs about 66.7 tons. They were also impressed by the collection of exhibits that span across oceans and land, and run through ancient and modern times. While lingering and stopping, the students were deeply immersed in the vastness and profundity of the blue ocean, as well as the unparalleled wisdom and diverse charm of life on Earth in the long process of evolution, and deeply reflected on the relationship between humans and the ocean.
In the Year of the Snake, the museum has set up a snake exhibition hall, where international students listened to volunteers telling traditional cultural stories such as the Chinese Year of the Snake and the twelve zodiac animals, gaining a deeper sense of closeness to Chinese cultural customs. Leaving the museum and arriving at the seaside of Heishijiao, facing the fresh sea breeze and stepping on the rugged reefs, students interacted with seagulls and conversed with the waves, once again experiencing the interdependence and inseparable relationship between humans, the ocean, and nature.
China is a maritime power with a coastline of 18000 kilometers. As a brand course of general education for international students, the "Chinese Marine Civilization" course aims to comprehensively showcase the long history and timeless charm of China's marine civilization to international students from multiple dimensions, including China's marine natural and cultural heritage, intangible cultural heritage, underwater cultural heritage, the Maritime Silk Road, marine material culture, and navigation culture. This visit is an effective expansion of the course content, allowing international students to step into nature from the classroom and further enhance their understanding and emotions towards China's marine civilization through practice. We believe that in the future learning process of the course, students will continue to experience China's maritime civilization, further explore new ideas to promote world maritime culture and sustainable development, and work together to build a better future for a community with a shared future for mankind.
