IHB Associate Prof. CAO Hong donates a notebook written by the late IHB Prof. WU Xianwen to the archives of IHB on September 9.  (Credit: IHB) 

Associate Prof. CAO Hong from Institute of Hydrobiology (IHB) of Chinese Academy of Sciences donated a notebook written by the late IHB Prof. WU Xianwen, or Wu Hsien Wen, the pioneer of fish taxonomy, morphology, physiology and hydrobiology in China, to the archives of IHB on September 9.   

Cao introduced the backstory of the notebook, “It was the summer of 1999. I happened to find the notebook in the files piled up at the corner of the stairs in the old museum of the institute. The papers had already turned yellow but the handwriting remained neat and clear.”    

“You can see random fish illustrations on it,” Cao added. He didn’t know to whom this notebook belonged.    

Later, he learned that this notebook was used by Prof. Wu when he was pursuing his PhD at the French National Museum of Natural History.    

“It’s been nearly 100 years!” Cao said.    

IHB’s acting director YIN Zhan and deputy director XIE Shouqi conferred the donation certificate to Cao at the donation ceremony.  

 
The cover of the notebook written by the late IHB Prof. WU Xianwen. (Credit: IHB) 

 
Prof. Wu's handwriting (Credit: IHB)