With the opening of China’s gates in the late Qing Dynasty,western scholars, missionaries,businessmen,and explorers,under the banner of “science without borders”, regarded China as a huge “open-air museum” and came to China for various scientific explorations.For example, Raphael Pumpelly (1837~1923),Ferdinand von Richthofen (1833~1905),Lajos Lóczy (1849~1920),Vladimir Obruchev (1863~1956),Bailey Willis (1857~1949),Roy Chapman Andrews (1884~1960) and Seven Hedin (1865~1952) respectively organized many large-scale geological surveys in China,and achieved many important results.These explorations not only enriched western scholars’understanding of China’s geology,but also inspired geological research of Chinese counterparts.After the Republic of China,explorations of Westerners in China aroused Chinese scholars’nationalistic backlash,and even encounter their sovereignty demands.In particular,the Sino—Swedish Scientific Expedition to the North-Western Provinces of China organized by Seven Hedin became one of the landmark events.With the efforts of academic community,the government gradually imposed clear legal restrictions on foreigners’explorations in China,and Chinese scholars also spontaneously began to carry out independent geological investigations.