The Science Museum in Lu'an City is a city level science popularization venue in western Anhui Province, serving the residents of Lu'an City and its subordinate counties such as Huoshan, Jinzhai, and Shucheng. The venue is equipped with permanent science popularization exhibition halls, children's science playgrounds, lecture halls, and temporary exhibition halls, with interactive exhibitions covering multiple fields such as basic mathematics, life and health, ecological environment, and emergency safety. Lu'an is backed by the Dabie Mountains, and ecological science popularization is a major focus of the venue, showcasing scientific knowledge related to the flora and fauna, soil and water conservation of the Dabie Mountains.
The safety education section is a key focus of the venue, with earthquake simulation and fire escape experience exhibition items, undertaking a large number of primary and secondary school safety themed research and learning. The venue research and learning service system is well-established, supporting school groups to make appointments for visits, setting up science popularization classrooms, and conducting science and technology small-scale production and robot science popularization courses.
Lu'an has multiple mountainous counties under its jurisdiction, and many rural children have limited opportunities to enter the city. The Science Museum relies on science popularization caravans to deliver science exhibitions and experiments to schools in mountainous areas such as Jinzhai and Huoshan, bridging the last mile of grassroots science popularization. The venue is open to the public for free, and there is a high number of family visits from Japan during weekends and holidays.
City level science museums have limited funding, but Lu'an Science Museum actively connects with the Anhui Provincial Association for Science and Technology, introduces touring exhibitions, and updates exhibition content at low cost. The regional characteristics of Xishan District in Anhui Province determine that the venue should not only do a good job in internal exhibitions, but also provide a large number of science popularization services to the outside world. The Lu'an Science Museum represents the current situation of science museums in ordinary prefecture level cities in central China. It does not pursue super large scale, but is based on the local characteristics of the Dabie Mountains, taking into account both museum visits and science popularization in rural areas, serving the vast number of young people in the city, and driving the improvement of the scientific literacy of the entire western Anhui region.