Herbarium History

The PE herbarium originated in the 1928 when the Department of Botany of the Fan Memorial Institute of Biology, Peiping was created by zoologist Ping Che and botanist Xiansu Hu with supported by Fan Jingsheng and the Chinese Culture and Education Foundation. Ping Che was the first director.

Dr.Shene Liu just returning from French in 1936 made a major contribution to the establishment of the Institute of Botany of the National Academy of Peiping. At first he collected relevant research data and books,went around collecting specimens and established botanical garden. Due to the Japanese invasion of China, the Institute of Botany of the National Academy of Peiping with specimens, equipments and most of the staff was moved to Wugong in Shaanxi province. In 1938 Liu Shene helped it move to Kunming in Yunnan province and established in Kunming Institute of Botany. He was the director of Kunming Institute of Botany.

In 1945 the Institute of Botany of the National Academy of Peiping return to Peking(Beijing) with a large number of specimens from Wugong and Kunming after Japan's defeat.In 1950, the Department of Botany of the Fan Memorial Institute of Biology, Peiping and the Institute of Botany of the National Academy of Peiping merged to create the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences. There were only 200,000 specimens at that time. Chongshu Qian was the first Curator of herbarium. In 1959 he and Huanyong Chen begun to organize national plant taxonomists to write 'Flora Repubulicae Popularis Sinicae' which were total 80 volumes and completely published in 2000.