2025 Jiuhuashan Global Geopark Science Popularization Volunteer Training Camp Kicks Off!

2025 Jiuhuashan Global Geopark Science Popularization Volunteer Training Camp Kicks Off!

On August 19, the 2025 Jiuhuashan   Global Geopark Science Popularization Volunteer Training Camp, hosted by Jiuhuashan   Global Geopark and organized by Dizhuake, officially commenced. After a rigorous selection process, 25 volunteers were chosen from institutions including Anhui Normal University, Fudan University, Beijing Forestry University, Sun Yat-sen University, the University of California, Davis, Yanshan No.1 High School in Jiangxi Province, and the Zengcheng Forest Farm Management Center in Guangzhou. Together with returning outstanding volunteers and an observer from Huanggang Dabieshan Global Geopark, they gathered at Jiuhuashan to begin a five-day field investigation and research journey.

In the morning, Jiuhuashan science expert Mr. Zhang Yinhu delivered a lecture titled Entering Jiuhuashan. Starting from the application process for   Global Geopark status, he transformed the history of geological evolution into vivid and accessible stories. Guiding participants through strata, mineral crystals, and cultural heritage, he outlined the profound cultural accumulation behind Jiuhuashan’s geological wonders.

Following this, Professor Wu Weiping from the Anhui Institute of Geological Survey provided an in-depth analysis of Jiuhuashan’s geological landscapes. “When fluorine combines with calcium in this purple crystal, it forms the most common granite of Jiuhuashan,” he explained, revealing the “chemical romance” hidden within rocks by linking chemical elements with field landscapes. “Jiuhuashan is not just a mountain—it is an open geological textbook, a frozen scroll of history, and a philosophical expression of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.” His remarks deeply resonated with the participants.

After the lectures, the volunteers visited the Jiuhuashan Geological Museum. Inside the exhibition halls, through interactive displays and graphic materials, they systematically traced Jiuhuashan’s geological evolution—from crustal movements to the sculpting of granite peak forests—and further to the millennia-long integration of culture and natural landscapes. Upon seeing the geological model of the “No.1 Mountain South of the Yangtze River,” many exclaimed that “within the folds of the mountains lie love letters written by the Earth to humanity.”

In the afternoon, the volunteers visited the Keqiao Memorial Archway. A six-episode documentary unfolded the legendary life of Ke Qiao, a renowned Ming Dynasty general who fought against Japanese pirates. As a distinguished disciple of Wang Yangming, he not only achieved great military success but also pioneered reforms similar to the “Single Whip Law” thirty years before Zhang Juzheng, astonishing the participants.

“As the saying goes, ‘Before there was a map of Jiuhua, there was Lao Tian Wu,’” in the evening, the volunteers conducted fieldwork in Laotian Village. Amid the Tang and Song architectural legacy of the Wu Clan Ancestral Hall, science mentors narrated the preservation story of this thousand-year-old village and introduced the cultural legend of “100 plum blossom poems.” Not a single poem mentions the word “plum,” yet through lines like “cold blossoms bloom in the snow,” they embody the resilience of plum blossoms and the spirit of the villagers.

From geological time scales to the flow of human history, from science lectures to ancient village visits, the first day concluded with an integration of geology and culture. Mr. Zhang’s “talk-show-style science communication,” Professor Wu’s “mineral magic,” the historical echoes of the Keqiao Archway, and the cultural heritage of Laotian Village together formed a multidimensional portrait of Jiuhuashan. This team—composed of geologists, cultural scholars, and young science volunteers—is using professionalism and passion as their pen to inject new vitality into the science outreach of Jiuhuashan   Global Geopark.