China News Agency, Dali, May 22 (Reporter Han Shuainan) The 22nd is the International Biodiversity Day.

The Cangshan Natural Image Museum, initiated and founded by Xi Zhinong, a wildlife photographer and founder of the non-governmental environmental protection organization "Wild China", was officially completed on the same day in Cangshan, Dali, Yunnan.

  The museum is open to the public free of charge in the form of exhibitions, providing intuitive, vivid and detailed natural video materials for scientific research, nature conservation and nature education.

  Xi Zhinong was born in Dali, Yunnan. For nearly 40 years, he has continued to arouse public attention to wildlife and the natural environment by recording vivid images of wildlife.

He is the first Chinese photographer to win an award in the Wildlife Photography Annual Competition, and is currently the only Chinese photographer selected for the International Union of Conservation Photographers (ILCP).

  Xi Zhinong introduced that in addition to permanent exhibitions and basic collections of photographic works, the Cangshan Natural Image Museum will also hold periodic activities, such as inviting nature documentaries, holding documentary screenings, and inviting nature conservation agencies to hold nature image carnivals.

"Cangshan Natural Image Museum will become a permanent base for public education and training of relevant professionals. I hope this is the first step for Dali to become a natural image center in China, and it will become a part of protecting China's biodiversity," said Xi Zhinong.

  Zeng Xiaolian, a famous Chinese painter of plant science and a professor-level painter at the Kunming Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said at the inauguration ceremony that a variety of native plants in China have spread to all countries in the world and have had a huge impact on world civilization.

He said that the works of Chinese animals and plants shot by Chinese photographers in the Cangshan Natural Image Museum are comparable to the best works in the world.

  The founder of the famous boutique hotel "Xilin Garden", American Brian Linden and Xi Zhinong have been friends for more than 10 years.

"More than ten years ago, friends from the United States were attracted by Xi Zhinong's wild animal photos, and hoped to meet him through me. I became friends with Xi Zhinong under such an opportunity." Linden said.

  Linden believes that the completion of the Cangshan Natural Image Museum will not only convey the concept of protecting nature to more people, but also add color to Dali tourism.

"China's nature and traditional culture, like the soul of China, have always attracted me and the world," Linden said.

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