Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China

Institute of Zoology

Cam and Jake came with me for a second visit to see Dr Liu this morning. Dr Liu had a number of specimens for me to photograph including gampsocleis gratiosa [guo guo’er]. Ai_ping sent over specimens of cryptotympana atrata [hei za chan] and platypleura kaempferi [hui gu]. Good to see what these creatures look like – particularly the cicadas, which I have not been able to spot in the parks. It is a shame that the colours of the insects do not preserve well in collections, however – the guo guo’er was a dark brown rather than the vibrant green of a living one. Cam helped set up and take the photographs in Dr Liu’s lab. Dr Liu then showed us some of the collection they have housed there. It is a brand new storage system with huge cabinets on rollers with geared handles for easy manoeuvring. Again, she was very generous with her time and took us for a tasty Chinese lunch afterwards – very kind.