Touch the Deep Ocean: A Fascinating Multimedia Exhibition
Beijing Phoenix Center is now hosting a special exhibition that takes you on a journey through the evolution of ancient life from the depths of the ocean onto land.
It is one of the best exhibitions we have ever been to, and we highly recommend you spend a couple hours checking it out before it closes on October 8.
Touch the Deep Ocean begins with a display of rather creepy deep-sea specimens that teaches you about strange life forms collected during decades of research.
It then takes you on a journey through hundreds of millions of years of evolution, with life-like replicas of ancient species from the shallow sea to the abyss.
You’ll see everything from small ancestors to prehistoric sea monsters.
The exhibition is full of impressive interactive sculptures, artwork, and projections. Each room is meticulously designed – no expense was spared on the impressive layouts.
One room titled ‘The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp’ has a life-size recreation of the giant Dunkleosteus from the Devonian Period that stretches over four meters staged in a dissection surgery.
To enter the room, you must use the motion sensor footswitch, just like real surgical centers have to reduce contamination on surfaces.
The incredibly detailed replica even has a mirror below its mouth to help you look inside to see its realistic inner cavity.
The rooms are full of fun little easter eggs, such as the miniature recreation of the office at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) that curated the exhibition.
There are also a number of activities for kids, making it a perfect family-friendly way to spend an afternoon. Children can draw their own deep-sea fish that get scanned and added to a screen showing the artworks swimming through the ocean.
An adorable carousel of aquatic creatures is good fun even for adults – it’s definitely unlike any other merry-go-round you’ve ever been on.
The highlight of the exhibition is the VR experience at the end. A large room has been fashioned for a 30-minute sensory explosion.
You ride on the back of giant sea creatures, explore Captain Nemo’s cabin, and take a voyage through the depths in a modern version of the Nautilus from Jules Verne’s novel, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea – it’s clear that many hours and an extreme amount of manpower were put into designing the graphics and informative script.
Despite the voice over being only available in Mandarin, the VR experience speaks for itself, and you don’t need to understand the dialogue to enjoy the journey.
Discounted tickets can be purchased at https://m.dahepiao.com/jingqu/bjfhzx.
Until Oct 8, Tues-Sun: 10am-7pm *last admission at 6pm
Adult Ticket: RMB88, Adult Ticket + VR Experience: RMB158
Family Ticket (1 Adult & 2 Children): RMB178
Family Ticket + VR Experience (1 Adult & 1 Child): RMB268
Beijing Phoenix Center, No.3 Chaoyang Gongyuan Nanlu, Chaoyang
[All images are courtesy of the IVPP]
