On the afternoon of September 1, 2011, Director Meng Qingjin congregated with all the management members and relevant personnel at the ‘Animals – Friends of Human Beings’ Hall renewal site to brainstorm on how to curate high-quality exhibitions.

The Hall is undergoing renewal because the exhibition was displayed for many years and some designs were damaged. The updated exhibition, according to Mr. Meng, shall be based on the relationship between animals and human beings and give full play to the themes of evolution and biodiversity. When the design and content were determined after several rounds of discussion and survey and the construction firm was employed, a lot of work has been done corroboratively by the departments of scientific research, collections and exhibitions and now the construction is drawing to an end.

All present at the meeting made a thorough inspection of the project and came up with an all-round summary about the exhibition renewal. And several points were suggested at the meeting. Firstly, more invertebrate, amphibian, reptilian and ichthyic specimens shall be exhibited, old specimens shall be replaced and new poultry specimens shall be acquired. Secondly, some explanatory notes shall be changed, more explanatory plates shall be added and certain designs shall be re-created. And thirdly, the display forms need re-consideration, e.g., some open show boxes shall be contained for safety reasons.

To summarize the meeting, Mr. Meng asked all to be more responsible for their tasks, standardize the work flows, enhance control and inspection of each construction stage and upgrade the exhibition quality.