A city in the southern province of Guangdong
was officially titled "Hometown of the Dinosaur in China" on Sunday
afternoon at an international paleontological event.
Heyuan City was honored by China Geological Survey's Stratum and
Paleontology Center as 40 paleontologists from China, the US,
France, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Canada and Belgium attended
the first Heyuan International Dinosaur Seminar.
According to Professor Zhao Zikui from the Institute of
Vertebrate Paleontology and Palaeoanthropology, dinosaur egg
fossils unearthed in China account for one third of the total found
in the world.
Professor Louis Jacobs from the US said after a trip to Shixia
Dinosaur Egg Fossils Site on Saturday that the geology of Heyuan is
special in helping to preserve fossilized eggs, and plays a unique
role in helping understand Asian dinosaurs.
Heyuan has earned a place in the Guinness Book of World
Records after finds of 10,008 dinosaur egg fossils. Eight
fossilized dinosaur skeletons and 168 dinosaur footprints have also
been discovered in the area, attracting the attention of experts
both at home and abroad.
The fossils unearthed in Heyuan all come from the late
Cretaceous period, 65 million years ago. Of them, seven are of a
member of the oviraptor family named Heyuannia huangi, described by
Lu Junchang from the Chinese Academy
of Sciences in 2003 and since appraised as a first class state
cultural relic.
It is reported that the city signed a one billion yuan (US$121
million) contract with the Guangsheng Company last year to develop
the dinosaur site park within five years.
It will aim to reflect the excavation and research achievements
there, making it a base for educating and popularizing science as
well as an amusement park.
Last year, Heyuan's government designated the Shixia Dinosaur
Egg Fossils Site and the surrounding 2.26-square-kilometer area as
the site of the park. Of it, one square kilometer will form the
core protection area, to protect the original site of the fossils.
Auxiliary facilities will be built on the remaining space.
It is expected that, upon its completion, the park will be able
to accommodate two million people, with an annual income of 200
million yuan (US$24 million).
(China.org.cn by Wang Qian, April 11, 2005)