The "Coral Secrets: An Undersea Kingdom Adventure" exhibition has opened at Guizhou Provincial Museum, where it will run until Oct 15.

The "Coral Secrets: An Undersea Kingdom Adventure" exhibition opens at Guizhou Provincial Museum. [Photo/colorful Guizhou network]

Featuring 312 precious natural specimens on loan from the China (Hainan) Museum of the South China Sea, the exhibition is not only an inter-provincial loan exhibition. It also marks the first time that top-tier ecological research findings on South China Sea ecology have been brought to Guizhou, transforming scientific-grade materials into a public ecological education experience.

For young children, the ocean often feels abstract. The exhibition addresses this through the child-friendly perspective, turning hardcore ecological knowledge into engaging stories.

In the first section, visitors don't see dead skeletons but rather the process of tiny coral polyps building layer upon layer, like children stacking blocks, to create an undersea city. They come to understand how an ecosystem covering just 0.1 percent of the seafloor can sustain a quarter of all marine life.

Visitors explore marine specimens in a blue underwater-themed gallery at Guizhou Provincial Museum. [Photo/colorful Guizhou network]

The second section reveals the vast "social network" of coral reefs. Visitors can spot the four famous shells – the nautilus, red helmet shell‌, horned helmet shell, and triton shell – as well as rare species such as the regal thorny oyster and the golden-spotted cowrie . Also on display is a wide variety of fish, pufferfish, sea turtles, and sea dragons, further illustrating the thriving life of the "undersea city".

The exhibition culminates in a confronting look at coral bleaching and ocean acidification. The urgency of "living beings dying before our eyes" brings the vast climate crisis down to a tangible, personal scale.

The three sections build progressively, guiding visitors on a journey from "wonder" to "awareness" through a tender but powerful narrative.

This exhibition not only enriches Guizhou's cultural offerings with an "ocean-meets-mountain" dialogue, but also delivers a powerful message: protecting the ocean is not just a concern for coastal cities but a shared responsibility for all.

The museum, in turn, is repositioned as not merely a repository of artifacts, but a public space where visitors can reflect on the future of humanity.

Diverse coral specimens are displayed in the museum. [Photo/colorful Guizhou network]