On July 1, 2026, the exhibition Heavenly Questions: Cosmology in Chinese Civilization officially opened to the public at Anhui Museum and will run until October 20.

Drawing on Anhui’s abundant ancient astronomical relics and its distinctive strengths in deep-space exploration and scientific innovation, the exhibition is a collaborative effort involving 48 cultural institutions and research bodies nationwide, including the Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center of the China National Space Administration, the University of Science and Technology of China, and the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory. Nearly a year was spent on curation and refinement to bring the full show to fruition. It stands as Anhui’s largest exhibition bridging ancient and modern astronomical themes to date, as well as the country’s first original major cultural relic exhibition dedicated to the core theme of cosmology.

Inspired by the philosophical inquiries raised in Qu Yuan’s Heavenly Questions, the display features nearly 300 cultural relics and exhibits. Highlight artifacts include the celestial globe crafted by Qi Yanhuai from the collection of the National Museum of China, Sino-Western astronomical instruments housed at the Palace Museum, and frog-shaped gold foil from the Jinsha Site Museum. These heritage pieces are showcased alongside replicas of the Yutu lunar rover, a model of China’s space station, and genuine lunar soil samples, creating a compelling dialogue spanning past and present with countless fascinating highlights.

China’s astronomical tradition boasts both rigorous scientific precision and profound civilizational depth, from astronomical observation at Xishuipo and calendar-making at Lingjiatan, to Zhang Heng’s astronomical instruments for celestial measurement and the Twenty-Four Solar Terms that guided ancient farming schedules. Today, landmark projects such as Tiangong space station, Chang’e lunar missions, Zhurong Mars rover, and the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) answer the timeless cosmic questions posed by our ancestors from an entirely new cosmic perspective.

Source: Anhuinews.com