Historical perspective of Sino-American palaeobotanical communications

1. SHEN Kuo (沈括, 1031--1095) and John Strong Newberry (1822—1892)

As early as in 1086 SHEN Kuo, a great Chinese ancient scientist from the Song Dynasty, recorded the occurrence of fossil plants of so-called bamboo shoots in his voluminous works, Dream Pool Essays (Meng Xi Bi Tan—《梦溪笔谈》). The fossil plants which Shen Kuo considered to be bamboo shoots are actually assigned to the Neoclamites fossils. This fossil record is believed to be over 400 years earlier than that of Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519). According to the ecological requirements and environment of bamboo shoots, SHEN Kuo inferred that the climate in the fossil locality was warm and humid during the geological past providing an example of the geological principle that the present might be a key to the past. SHEN Kuo’s clever idea is about 700 years earlier than that of James Hutton (1726–1797) and Charles Lyell (1797–1875). However, such a brilliant Chinese civilization did not produce a scientific tradition for modern palaeobotany.

It is amazing that the pioneer work on the fossil plants from China using the modern geological and biological approaches just began with American palaeobotanist, John S. Newberry’s study in 1865 around, which is referred to the following article:

Newberry J. S. 1867(1865). Description of fossils from the Chinese coal-bearing rocks. In: Pumpelly R. (ed.) Geological researches in China, Mongolia and Japan during the years 1862—1865. Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Washington, 12 (202): 119-123, pl.9

John S. Newberry was among the first batch of 50 original members of the NAS in 1863. He was the first palaeobotanist member within the NAS although Charles Léo Lesquereux （1806--1889）was considered to be the father of American palaeobotany. Next year, Charles L. Lesquereux was elected to the NAS.

2. Amadeus William Grabau (1870--1946) and Ralph Works Chaney (1890--1971) with close connections with Chinese palaeobotany during the first half of the 20th century

In 1920 Professor Amadeus W. Grabau, a geologist and palaeontologist of the Columbia University came to work the Peking University in China, which was indeed seminal for the rise of Chinese geology and palaeontology (including palaeoboany). Amadeus W. Grabau worked in China all the rest of his life till he passed away in Beijing in 1946. Professor Grabau trained up many Chinese students and he once encouraged his Chinese student SZE Hsing–Chien (SI Xing–Jian, 1901—1964) to study palaeobotany. In 1928—1931 SZE H.C. studied palaeobotany in Berlin with Wather Gothan (1879–1954). SZE H.C. is considered to be one of the founders of Chinese palaeoobotany.

Ralph W. Chaney made a total of 7 visits to Asia. He made field trips to China for 5 times. In 1925, R. W. Chaney joined the 3^rd Central Asiatic Expedition together with Roy Chapman Andrews. Ralph W. Chaney visited the Fushun Eocene coal mine in northeastern China and collected so-called “Sequoia” specimen that were very abundant there and later assigned to be Metasequoia.

In 1937, Ralph W. Chaney went on a field trip to a very famous fossil locality, Shanwang locality in Linqu County, Shandong Province, China. R. W. Chaney co-authored an English palaeoboanical monograph with Chinese plant taxonomist Hu Hsen–Hsu (Hu Xian–Su, 1894–1968), a Harvard graduate, entitled “A Miocene Flora from Shantung, China” (fist part in 1938 and second part in 1940).

Hu H.H. and his Chinese colleagues made the great discovery of the living fossil Metasequoia in the mid-1940s. Some Metasequoia seeds were sent to European and American institutions very soon though China was at war then. In 1947 the living fossil Metasequoia seedlings were planted before the main gate of Yale Peabody Museum and in other places in the US (such as in the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, NYC). Obviously, the seeds of Metasequoia came from China.

In the winter of 1947 to the spring of 1948, Chinese palaeobotanist SZE H.C. visited the USNM in Washington D. C. and relevant institutions of the USGS. He met Roland Wilbur Brown (1893--1961) and other American colleagues. This is the first time for Chinese palaeootanists to initiate academic visit the United States.

Meanwhile in the early spring of 1948, Ralph W. Chaney made a specific field trip to the habitat of the living fossil Metasequoia which is located in Lichuan county, western Hubei Province, China.

3. Cold War and the re-opening of China’s door to the US

In 1949 the People’s Republic of China was established and it was largely because of cold war that the country was closed to the western world from then on. The face-to-face communication of Sino-American palaeobotanical communication was stopped at least for 28 years (from 1949 to 1977). In 1978 P. R. China began to employ reform policies and China’s door was re-open to the outside world. In 1979 the diplomatic relations between P. R. China and the United States of America were officially established.

In May and June of 1978 the 10-person delegate from the Botanical Society of America realized a historical visit to the People’s Republic of China. Dr. James William Schopf, a palaeobotanist of the University of California at Los Angeles visited several palalaeobotanical and palynologial institutions in China. Dr. Schopf’s detailed and useful report on his visit to China, entitled “On Palaeobotany, Palynology and Related Studies in China, 1978” appeared in IOP Newsletter (No.7, pp.10—22, October 1978).

In May 1979 the 10-person delegate from the Botanical Society of China visited the United States of America. Two senior palaeobotanists, i.e. Jen Hsü Jen (XU Ren, 1910--1992) from Beijing and Hsing–Hsueh Lee (LI Xing–Xue, 1917--2010) from Nanjing participated in the delegate and visited some palaeobotanical labs and museums (including the Yale Peabody Museum) from the eastern coast to western coast within the USA. Hsü J. and Lee X.X. were also invited to attend the 9^th International Congress of Carboniferous Stratigraphy and Geology (ICCSG, Urbana, Illinois).

It was interesting that another 10-person delegate from China also attended the 9^th ICCSG in 1979. The delegate consisted of some palaleobotanists, such as TIAN Bao-lin (1929—2008) and ZHU Wei-qing from Beijing, ZHAO Xiu-hu from Nanjing. They visited the USNM and other institutions after the conference was over.

4. Sino-American communication and cooperation influencing the future of world palaeobotany

The past over 3 decades have seen the increasing palaeobotanical communication between China and the US in various aspects and the progressive history of Chinese palaeobotany. It seems obvious that the Chinese and American sides have got to know each other and maximized mutual benefits through lots of out-going and in-coming visits and other communications. 

In 1982 Hao-min LI from X.X. Lee’s lab worked with Leo Hickey in the Yale Peabody Museum in New Haven and Bing-cheng FENG from J. Hsü’s lab studied with Aureal Theophilus Cross (1916---) at Michigan State University in East Lansing.

In 1985 Aureal T. Cross visited J. Hsü’s lab in Beijing, Charles B. Beck, David L. Dilcher and other American palaeobotanists visited China in 1986. Thomas N. Taylor’s text book, entitled “Paleobotay: An Introduction to Fossil Plant Biology” was translated into Chinese, which appeared in Beijing in 1992.

In 1996 some Chinese palaeobotanists and young students were invited to attend the 5^th IOPC in Santa Barbara, USA. In 2000 some American palaeobotanists and young students were invited to attend the 6^th IOPC in Qinhuangdao, China.

Today, China is quite different from what it was like when Dr. Henry Kissinger (1923--) visited China in the early 1970s. Although Chinese economy is continuously booming, Chinese palaeobotany is confronted with some challenges. For example, the distribution pattern of palaeobotanical institutions in China was greatly influenced by cold war. The National Museum of Natural History of China (NMNHC) has not been established yet. The paucity of the curated fossil plant specimens in Chinese museums is usually in very slovenly state. Chinese palaeobotany is still characteristic of very weak competitiveness in international collaborative projects for Chinese side.

Sino-American palaeobotanical communication and collaboration is very important to the rapid rise of Chinese palaeobotany in the round, which is believed to have profound influence on the future of world palaeobotany.

Qigao Sun

May 11, 2012

P.S. 本文为一个学术报告的提纲和摘要。

本期编目

古植物学的故事161期

Historical perspective of Sino-American palaeobotanical communications

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References

古植物学的故事(75)：

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