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The Exhibition of Western China Photos by C. G. Mannerheim， jointly sponsored by the CPAFFC， the Finland-China Society (FCS)， the Gansu Provincial People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and Lanzhou University， was held in the Library of Lanzhou University from December 21 to 25， 2007. Like its opening exhibition held in Xinjiang in 2006， the second exhibition in Lanzhou attracted attention of the local people and won acclaim.

The exhibition opened on the morning of December 21， with Shi Zuofeng， vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the Gansu Provincial People’s Congress， Veli Rosenberg， chairman of the FCS， Kauko Laitinen， director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Helsinki， and Jing Tao， vice president of Lanzhou University， among others， at the occasion.

Carl Gustaf Mannerheim had a Chinese name Ma Dahan which means “riding a horse to China”. He was president of Finland from 1944 to 1946. From 1906 to 1908， hetoured Xinjiang， Gansu and other places of China. He entered Xinjiang from Central Asia， through the Hexi Corridor and reached Lanzhou， an important city of western China， and further along the route through Shaanxi， Henan， Shanxi and Hebei， arrived in Beijing. During his journey， Mannerheim made topographic surveys， drew maps and took notes of hydrometeorological data. Wherever he went， he made friends extensively with local officials of all levels， getting to know the local defense， economy and civil administration， etc. He also specially visited leaders of ethnic groups and heads of tribes there， paying attention to the history， customs and habits of ethnic groups in the western region， leaving a great number of diaries， investigation reports and memoirs about his travel in China， a considerable amount of records of society of western China in late Qing Dynasty， and cultural relics of historical， geographical， social and humanistic values. He took about 1，300 photos along his journey through western China which are preserved in the National Museum of Finland. All the 60 pictures on display were carefully chosen out of the 1，300， of which 14 were taken in Gansu Province. The well-preserved photos with captions showed the folk customs and natural sceneries of the western regions 100 years ago from multiple perspectives. The local viewers were extremely attracted by those old photos as they attentively looked at the details of the exhibits and had warm discussions about the changes and the contrast between the past and the present.