Star Trek lives long and prospers in Beijing

Star Trek: The Exhibition shows costumes and props from the productions.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Hundreds of fans of the classic US TV series Star Trek gathered at The Place, a shopping area in Beijing's CBD, on Saturday to give the Vulcan salute and welcome the spaceship Enterprise-D.

"Live long and prosper" is not only Spock's motto, but a birthday wish in advance for the longest-lived sci-fi TV series in the world.

Star Trek: The Exhibition made its Chinese mainland debut last weekend amid cheers to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the maiden intergalactic voyage of the Enterprise. The display is touring the world.

The original series of Star Trek premiered in September 1966. The franchise has included six subsequent series plus more than 10 adapted films.

The first Star Trek comic books were introduced to the Chinese mainland in the 1980s.

The exhibition displays 40 costumes and 160 props used in the productions from 1966 to 2009, according to curator Greg Suzuki.

Star Trek: The Exhibition began in 2009 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida and started its world tour in 2011 after traveling around the United States. In Vancouver, the exhibition set a record by receiving 8,000 visitors on a single day.

Beijing is its 13th stop, and the exhibition in the capital continues until Feb 22. After that, it will move to Shanghai and Shenzhen, Guangdong province, where it will run until early 2017.

"Usually, the exhibition is located in a science museum," Suzuki says. "It is the first time we are introducing it into a shopping area, which is cool. Maybe more fans will come."

"Unlike many other sci-fi series or films, Star Trek deals with real science, including astronomy, biology and physics," Suzuki says.

"Even NASA takes inspiration from Star Trek. It's not pure entertainment but represents a philosophy."