Written by: Xiang Dingjie
Posted on: November 09, 2018 | 
| 中文
Meteorite ornaments placed in the popular science museum of Guizhou Shishi Culture
Every weekend at the Antiques Mall of Zuozang Sanku, Guiyang City, Guizhou Province of Southwest China, there are always crowds of people wandering around nearly a hundred stalls, selling ceramics, stone sculptures, jewels, jade, antiques, Chinese paintings and calligraphers.
The Aerolite Science Museum at the Mall is a quiet world. Ms. Yang Kexin, director of the museum is sitting there in peace, sometimes playing with her Guqina (a seven-stringed plucked traditional Chinese instrument) or reading books on astronomy when there is no customer. “It is just my hobby,” the delicate and pretty Yang smiled and said. “I never expected that there will be so many netizens who will have an interest in the museum. Perhaps, since I was born in the 1990s, I’m quite young among the lovers of Aerolite. Since I'm a girl, people find it surprising as well."
In 2012, Yang worked at a mining equipment sales company and had to go to Hami City of Eastern Xinjiang for quite a long time. “Many people there love to play with stones and have affection for it,” she said. By accident, she came across Aerolite stones and was deeply attracted to them.
So she teamed up with friends for a discovery tour of falling stones, and when she had the time, she visited the Gobi desert. She equipped herself with a sufficient supply of food and water, tents, GPS devices and inter-phones.
“The Aerolites get burnt and explode while falling from the sky. Passing through the atmosphere, they form a scattered zone on the earth. Finding Aerolites depends on experience, insights and arduous travelling on foot.” When spotting a stone, the team would take photos, position the coordinates, and gather all the data later on, to judge the location of the scattered zone. The whole journey was not always as easy and smooth as expected; Yang and her partners suffered through drought, extreme heat, sandstorm, and even a wild beast’s attack. One of her common destinations is Lop Nur, known as the sand sea of death, a far away spot in the Centre of Taklimakan Desert, five-hundred kilometers away from any town. A round trip would mean at least one thousand kilometers of travelling.
“My first stone is black and quite small.” Despite of various hardships and danger, Yang fell for the experience.
With a strong curiosity, Yang Kexin has walked through the desert human-free zone for over a hundred times in five years, having covered a total distance of around 80,000 kilometers, and found over 600 falling stones in 400 odd kilograms.
At the Spring Festival of 2017, Yang came back to Guiyang city with 300 more stones she had collected from Xinjiang and on the suggestion of her friends, she began the first Aerolite Culture and Science Museum in Southwest China, with a display of different varieties of falling stones, and fine aerolite ornaments.
Yang set up a demonstration sand table of the aerolites scattered zone in Lop Nur with several raw materials taken from Xinjiang specially, to present an authentic and vivid scene of discovery and its geographic environment.
“I want to attract more and more people, to make them understand the falling stones, and at the same time, make my own contribution to the research on aerolites,” Yang said. After the operation, the museum has gradually gained the attention of astronomy fans, as well as students of science.
At present, Yang's museum has been accredited as the aerolites sample examination base for MA students of geochemistry of China Science Academy and the venue for Aerolites Professional Committee of Stones Admiration Association of Guizhou Province.
Yang said that although aerolites have attracted more and more attention from people, the related scientific knowledge has been lagging behind. “There is quite a long history of admiring falling stones, in China. Despite its plain appearance, the aerolites have profound and mysterious inner connotations.” Yang hoped that her museum could serve as a bridge, to shorten the distance between the universe and astronomy lovers and common people.
Translated by Wu Jinying
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