The nation's great changes as seen through a telescope

BEIJING - Founded in 1934, the Purple Mountain Observatory - China's first modern observatory, which evolved from the former Institute of Astronomy - changed its name to the PMO of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1950.

Its earliest astronomical instruments, still well preserved on the picturesque peak of the Purple Mountain in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, are now mainly used to promote science and attract many visitors every year.

Despite being named after the Purple Mountain, its observation stations are distributed widely - from eastern China's Shandong province to Qinghai in the northwest, and from northeastern China's Heilongjiang to Yunnan province in the southwest - and even as far as Antarctica.