Synoptic map heritage of the National Research Institute of Meteorology of <i>Academia Sinica</i> in the 1930s

Abstract The Beiji Pavilion Observatory, also referred to as the National Research Institute of Meteorology, Academia Sinica , is a meteorological observatory in China. Research indicates that as early as the 1930s, the surface synoptic maps drawn up by the National Research Institute of Meteorology of Academia Sinica in the identification of fronts and air masses reflect the polar front theory, including some synoptic analysis principles, had been introduced to China. It offers a different perspective to traditional ‘Western’ theory. China assimilated many ideologies from the West and internalised them within Chinese meteorology.