Visitors admire photos and documents related to Zhang Jian, a modern Chinese industrial magnate and scholar, at an exhibition at Zhejiang Museum of Natural History in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province on Aug 6. [Photo/ntfabu.com]

An exhibition themed around Zhang Jian, a modern Chinese industrial magnate and scholar, started its national tour at the Zhejiang Museum of Natural History in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province on Aug 6.

The Forerunner of Chinese Early Modernization – Zhang Jian is hosted by the Jiangsu provincial department of culture and tourism, and is part of the province's program to promote outstanding traditional culture and cultivate core socialist values.

On display are more than 180 sets of cultural relics, which are divided across four sections focusing on Zhang's life, achievements, entrepreneurship and patriotism.

Most of the exhibits are from the collection of Nantong Museum, which was founded by Zhang in 1905. It is the first public museum founded by a Chinese.

"The visiting card to the museum is the earliest recorded ticket in China," said Du Jiale, curator of Nantong Museum.

According to Du, the museum encountered many management problems in its early stage of operations due to the lack of tickets.

In 1912, Zhang introduced a "visiting card system". White iron cards were issued to schools and organizations, while yellow iron cards were issued to companies and government departments.

The cards, which bore the names of the institutions on the back, were meant to control the number of visitors.

Another highlight of the exhibition is a contract between Zhang and Hendrik de Rijke, a hydraulic engineer from the Netherlands. This is the first time the contract is being shown to the public.

In the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Nantong's bank along the Yangtze River often collapsed due to the erosion of tides, which destroyed hectares of rice fields and made thousands of people homeless.

Hendrik accompanied his father Johannis de Rijke to help with flood control and prevention efforts in Nantong following an invite from Zhang in 1908. Hendrik signed the contract in 1916 to be in charge of the dam construction in the city.

The Dutchman introduced many advanced hydraulic technologies to Nantong and made significant contributions to the city's industrial development.