Chengjiang
They contain an exquisite degree of detail, cover a diverse range of fauna, and are significant in attempts to understand the evolution of life on Earth.The fossils were first discovered by Henri Mansuy and Jaques Deprat who described them in 1912, the year after Charles Walcott's initial publications on the Burgess Shale.It was not until 1984 that the true significance of the palaeontology of the region was realised by Hou Xian-guang, a professor at Yunnan University, Kunming, where he is director of the Research Center for Chengjiang Biota.They have been exploited in part through efforts that began at about the same time that Hou Xian-guang discovered the deposits that bear these exceptional fossils, with phosphate mining bringing in some 2/3 of the city's revenue in 2003.Chengjiang faces a dilemma between calls for preservation of the treasure trove of early Cambrian fossils, the economic reliance it has on the phosphate industry, and the difficulty of finding a balance between exploitation and restoration of the land while this is still possible.
Maotianshan ShalesCounty-level cityProvinceYunnanPrefecture-level cityTime zoneChina StandardPostal codeArea codeUNESCO World Heritage SiteChengjiang FossilSessionsimplified Chinesetraditional ChinesepinyinYunnan ProvinceFuxian LakeList of Chengjiang Biota species by phylumCambrian explosionBurgess ShaleUNESCOWorld Heritage SiteCharles WalcottHou Xian-guangYunnan UniversityChinese Academy of Sciencesphosphatelagerstätteprecipitationrelative humiditysunshine hourspossible sunshineChina Meteorological AdministrationAldridge, Richard J.Sterelny, KimDawkins, RichardWorld Heritage Sites in ChinaArchaeological Ruins of Liangzhu CityClassical Gardens of SuzhouFujian tulouLushanHuangshanYellow SeaBohai SeaMount SanqingMount TaiWuyi MountainsTempleCemetery of ConfuciusKong Family MansionHongcunWest LakeKulangsuSouth CentralWudang MountainsHistoric Centre of MacauShennongjiaKaiping Diaolou and VillagesLongmen GrottoesDengfengShaolin MonasteryGaocheng ObservatoryZuojiang Huashan Rock ArtWulingyuanSouthwesternDazu Rock CarvingsFanjingshanHonghe Hani Rice TerracesHuanglongJiuzhaigouLijiangMount EmeiLeshan Giant BuddhaMount QingchengDujiangyanPotala PalaceJokhangNorbulingkaSichuan Giant Panda SanctuariesThree Parallel RiversMount WutaiChengde Mountain ResortPutuo Zongcheng TempleXumi Fushou TemplePuning TempleForbidden CityZhoukoudianAncient City of PingyaoSummer PalaceTemple of HeavenXanaduYungang GrottoesBeijing Central AxisNortheastKoguryo sitesMukden PalaceNorthwesternMausoleum of the First Qin EmperorMogao CavesXinjiang TianshanQinghai Hoh XilGreat WallChina DanxiaImperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing DynastiesSouth China KarstGrand CanalTusi SitesBadain Jaran DesertCounty-level divisionsKunmingcapitalPrefecture-level citiesPanlong DistrictWuhua DistrictGuandu DistrictXishan DistrictChenggong DistrictDongchuan DistrictJinning DistrictAnningFumin CountyYiliang CountySongming CountyShilin CountyLuquan CountyXundian County