Language
Español
Italiano
authorName23242: Sichen Xue
Date: 18/01/2021
Email: info@chinatourstar.com
Do you like it?
1
0086 13801211578
tours@chinatourstar.com
Chinese Name: 澄江动物化石群 Pronunciation: Chéngjiāng Dòngwù Huàshí Qún
Admission Ticket Fare: 20 yuan
Suggested Visiting Hours: 1-2 Hours
Occupied Area: About 5.12 square kilometers
Address: Maotian Mountain, Chengjiang County, Yuxi City, Yunnan Province, China
Opening Hours: 9:00-17:00 (Note: Chengjiang fossil site is in the Chengjiang Fossil Site Museum, which is closed on Mondays.)
The Chengjiang Fossil Site, five kilometers away in the east of Chengjiang, is located in Maotian Mountain, Yuxi City, Yunnan Province. The discovery of this fossil site has shocked the international scientific community. It is reputed as “one of the most astonishing scientific discoveries in the 20th century”, and Chinese people regard it as a national treasure.
The Chengjiang Fossil Site is a golden key to reveal the mystery of the Cambrian “big explosion of life”. On July 1st, 2012, the 36th Session of the World Heritage Committee announces that the Chengjiang Fossil Site in China is added into the World Heritage List.
The Chengjiang Fossil Site provides an important scientific basis for the study of the anatomical structure, functional morphology, living habits, systematic evolution, ecological environment, burial conditions, and conservation methods of the Cambrian animals. Chengjiang Fossil Site Museum was opened to the public on August 10th, 2020. The museum is free of charge.
On July 1st, 1984, Hou Xianguang, a researcher at Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, discovered the fossil of “Naraoia” in Maotian Mountain, revealing the early Cambrian world 530 million years ago.
Then, paleontologists from Nanjing, Xi’an, and other places successively collected fossils on large scales. More than 30,000 pieces of Chengjiang animal fossils had been collected in 17 years, and plenty of remarkable achievements had been made. Besides, more than 50 paleontologists from ten countries collected about 50,000 pieces of fossils in the area.
On April 23rd, 1991, the discovery of the fossil site appeared in the headline of the New York Times, saying “it is one of the most amazing scientific discoveries in the 20th century”.
In May 1997, the site was designated as a provincial nature reserve by Yunnan Provincial People’s Government.
In November 1998, it was designated as the provincial patriotism education base.
In January 2001, Science, an authoritative American academic journal, comprehensively introduced the current situation of paleontological research in China. The article wrote that the fossils discovered in Chengjiang had made the appearance of vertebrates 60 million years earlier. These fossils are conducive for paleontologists to confirm the Cambrian life explosion about 530 million years ago.
In March 2001, it was approved as a national geological park.
It is the place where Hou Xianguang discovered the Chengjiang fauna fossil. In the exhibition hall, there are several kinds of Cambrian fossils excavated here and enlarged restoration models of Cambrian organisms. In the core area of the exhibition hall, visitors can see the profile of the excavation by Hou. The science popularization of the exhibits is mainly through display boards with words and pictures.
The whole buried zone of fossils is serpentine with a length of 20 km, a width of 4.5 km, and a burial depth of more than 50 meters. The protection area is 18 square kilometers, including the core protection area of 1.2 square kilometers. Up to now, more than 30 fossil sites have been found.
Scientific research shows there are 40 categories and more than 100 species of paleontological fossils, covering all categories of modern organisms. Moreover, a large number of new species of extinct animals have been found, which have gone beyond the existing system of animal classification.
It includes not only sponges, coelenterates, brachiopods, annelids, and arthropods, but also some rare animal fossils with various forms which are still hard to be classified into any known fauna fossils.
Enter from the gate of Chengjiang Fossil Site → Location of the First Discovered Chengjiang Fauna Fossil → Fossil Site of the Chengjiang Fauna → Exit
Chinese: 请带我去澄江动物化石群。English: Please take me to the Chengjiang Fossil Site.
If you go to the Chengjiang Fossil Site from the city center of Yuxi (Shan Shui Hotel), it takes about 70 minutes (about 250 yuan).
If you go to the Chengjiang Fossil Site from Hilton Yuxi Fuxian Lake, it takes about 25 minutes (about 40 yuan).
If you go to the Chengjiang Fossil Site from Yuxi Railway Station, it takes about 70 minutes (about 250 yuan).
If you go to the Chengjiang Fossil Site from Kunming Changshui International Airport, it takes about 80 minutes (about 300 yuan).
0086 13801211578 
tours@chinatourstar.com 
Room 814, Building B, No.15 jia1hao, Jianguo Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing,100024 China. 
Inquirey Now
QUICK ENQUIRY