Dinosaur Valley

　　Dinosaur Valley is situated in a low-lying area of the General’s Gobi Depression. It runs roughly from north to south, approximately 5 kilometers long. The hills flanking the valley are broken and scattered, and the sandy surface of the valley floor is dotted with isolated mounds, resembling giant steamed buns carelessly scattered about.

　　In the 19th year of the Republic of China (1930), the renowned Chinese geologist Mr. Yuan Fulai joined the Sino-Swedish (Sweden) Scientific Expedition to Xinjiang. After three years of arduous work in the General’s Gobi area, he finally unearthed two well-preserved dinosaur fossils with intact and clearly defined skeletal structures. Later, paleontologists identified them as “Tianshanosaurus chitaiensis.” With his small geological hammer, Dr. Yuan Fulai opened the mysterious world of the Junggar Basin. Since then, geologists have continued to explore the area, examining layer upon layer of ancient rocks and deciphering the boundless mysteries held within this vast desert wilderness.

　　In 1957, a field team from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, during their exploration in the General’s Gobi, discovered dinosaur fossils in the Shishugou area, thereby confirming that the “Tianshanosaurus chitaiensis” originated from the Upper Jurassic Shicheng Formation.

　　In 1987, a Sino-Canadian scientific expedition team excavated a massive dinosaur fossil measuring 30 meters in length in the General’s Gobi area, breaking the previous record of a 22-meter-long, 3.5-meter-high dinosaur fossil discovered in Sichuan Province, making it the largest dinosaur fossil found in Asia at the time. It ranks as the second-largest in the world, only surpassed by a 34-meter dinosaur fossil in the United States.

　　On August 26, 2006, researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences excavated a sauropod herbivorous dinosaur fossil in Dinosaur Valley, Qitai County, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang. According to measurements by experts on-site, the dinosaur was about 35 meters in length. It was identified as a Mamenchisaurus, the same species as another dinosaur excavated over 100 meters away on a hill in 1987, but this new find was 5 meters longer, earning it the title of the “No. 1 Dinosaur of Asia.” Additionally, the dinosaur’s neck measured approximately 15 meters, making it the longest-necked dinosaur discovered in the world to date.

　　Later, experts identified the dinosaur fossils excavated in Dinosaur Valley as belonging to the Sauropod herbivore Bellusaurus sui, and it was named “Monolophosaurus of the General’s Gobi.” In October 1994, when the China Paleozoological Museum was established in Beijing, a sculpture of the “Monolophosaurus of the General’s Gobi” was placed at the museum’s entrance.

　　This type of dinosaur lived during the Jurassic Period, about 160 million years ago. At that time, the General’s Gobi was lush with water and grass, tall ginkgo trees, and served as a paradise for dinosaurs, where they roamed freely. However, significant geological changes in the region eventually led to the gradual extinction of dinosaurs on Earth.