Longping Rice Museum Fully Opens

　　Longping Rice Museum, the world’s first rice-themed museum, was fully opened to the public on September 27. It’s free for visitors. (Photo/Wang Zhiwei, Changsha Evening News)

　　The plow on display is one of the most representative Chinese farming tools. (Photo/Wang Zhiwei, Changsha Evening News)

　　More than 700 exhibits present China’s farming culture in an all-around way. (Photo/Wang Zhiwei, Changsha Evening News)

　　Farming scene (Photo/Wang Zhiwei, Changsha Evening News)

　　More than 200 rice measuring containers of different sizes, shapes, and colors are displayed. (Photo/Wang Zhiwei, Changsha Evening News)

　　A dazzling “rice road” (Photo/Wang Zhiwei, Changsha Evening News)

　　A rice-related cartoon is played at the Rice Technology Exhibition Hall. (Photo/Wang Zhiwei, Changsha Evening News)

　　The Rice Technology Exhibition Hall is equipped with 46 multimedia devices, many of which are used for interactive activities. (Photo/Wang Zhiwei, Changsha Evening News)

　　Longping Rice Museum, the world’s first rice-themed museum, fully opened to the public free of charge on September 27.

　　Located on the east bank of Liuyang River and encircled by East Renmin Road, Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway and Binhe Road, the museum is a core scenic spot along the Liuyang River Scenic Belt. The design of this museum is based on the shape of rice. Its several buildings, similar to rice grains in appearance, are assembled as a blooming rice flower.

　　In an exhibition area of about 6,000 square meters, there are three regular exhibition halls: Rice History; Rice Technology; and, Yuan Longping and Hybrid Rice. More than 700 exhibits are displayed to show China’s farming culture in an all-around way.

　　The museum began a trial operation in May 2016. The Yuan Longping and Hybrid Rice Exhibition Hall was the first of the three halls to be opened. It highlights Yuan and his team’s achievements in hybrid rice research, and showcases Yuan’s contributions to the world as the “father of hybrid rice”. It uses literature and documents, sci-tech archives, and plant specimens, together with high-tech methods like circular-screen theatre, miniature scene, and 360-degree holographic display to tell Yuan’s stories and China’s hybrid rice history.

　　Since its trial operation, the museum has received over 400 groups of leaders and honored guests and more than 100,000 visits coming from all over the country.

　　Tips:

　　Admission: free

　　Opening hours: Wednesday to Sunday (closed on Mondays and Tuesdays)

　　09:00-12:00; 12:00- 17:00, last entry at 16:00

　　Address: No. 668, East Renmin Road, Furong District, Changsha (Inside the Longping Park, Furong District, Changsha; and at the encircled area of East Renmin Road, Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway and Binhe Road)

　　How to visit:

　　Visitors can enter the museum with their valid documents like ID cards, visas, and passports.

　　How to get there:

　　-Take Bus No. 809, 317, 169, or X123, and get off at the East Bank Building Material Market Station [东岸建材市场公交站] on East Renmin Road;

　　-Take Bus No. 168 or 503, and get off at Shuangyang Road and East Renmin Road Intersection Station [双杨路人民东路口].

　　Source: en.changsha.gov.cn