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Beijing - China

A 4-hour drive from Beijing, the Liaoning Geological and Fossils Park sends tourists into the world of the very first dinosaurs on the planet. The visitor can experience this museum, the first environmentally friendly museum of China, but also experience the life of a paleontologist for a few hours.

Barely built a year ago in Yixian, the Liaoning Geological and Fossils Park is near Jinzhou and a 4-hour drive northeast of Beijing. The museum contains one of the greatest collections of fossils and dinosaurs in China. This collection is wide ranging and international but nonetheless incredibly representative of the region. Yixian is a site that has seen some of the first flights of feathered dinosaurs some 128 million years ago, a fraction of millions of years after the archaeopteryx in Germany. Although this was not its primary function, the idea to build China's first environmentally friendly museum soon came about.

An environmentally friendly museum

Wind turbines and solar panels provide the energy needed to cover a good portion of the museum's energy needs such as hot water, light, as well as household appliances. The construction materials used have been chosen on the basis of their environmental impact and reliability over time. A 20,000 liter aquarium can shelter and breed Chinese endangered species which were present at the time of the dinosaurs (horseshoe crabs, fish, turtles, and so on.). Non-toxic paints and recycled wood were used in the construction and decoration of the museum. Moreover, the growing interest of Chinese for the environment has facilitated the realization of this project.

The Visitor-paleontologists

Chinese tourism can be proud to add to its list stellar sites and activities in research and science-related tourism. Today, China has one of the most original and rare of attractions to offer visitors. Whether a scientist or a student, or just curious tourists in search of originality, it is now possible for the first time in the middle kingdom to conduct digs for dinosaurs and other fossils. After a short half-day training on-site, you will look carefully, using tools and your bare hands, for fossils directly in a quarry right next to the museum. This is to help the teams of researchers to accumulate and expand the museum's collections.

By Damien Leloup and Véronique Tournier.

Breeding endangered species

A 5 meters wide reservoir of 20,000 liters was built to breed endangered species. The idea of an environmentally friendly museum taking shape, Damien Leloup wished to add somewhere he could blend the past with the present in a even more interactive way than presenting dinosaurs of the era.

Some witnesses of the past are still alive today and unfortunately are dying out for the most part. So, every year, once the breeding program has proved itself, the museum will release newborns into the wild with the help of students from the region and Beijing.

Many turtles are in danger today, as well as the horseshoe crab (brackish water), a real witness of history which has changed little since the Jurassic. Different species of fish and aquatic snails and shrimp are also on the agenda.