About a 20-minute drive from the downtown area of Zhucheng, Shandong province on China's eastern coast, a spherical-dome building catches the eye amid a large expanse of farmland.

Inside the building, thousands of dinosaurs' fantastic remains are showcased and may make the visitor think of scenes in the movie Jurassic World..

The building, located in Zangjiazhuang Village of Zhucheng, is named Chinese Tyrannosaur Museum because it stands on the site where the largest tyrannosaur in Asia was discovered in 1964.

"The Zangjiazhuang Village site is perhaps the only one in China and maybe the world - where thousands of fossils of both carnivorous and plant-eating dinosaurs were unearthed," says Wang Kebai, director of the city's research center for dinosaur.

The local government built the museum, embracing the quarry as a major part, to allow visitors to view the fossils.

Beside the quarry are assembled the skeletons of tyrannosaurs "fighting against" duck-billed hadrosaurs.

Visitors can also see a specimen of Yutyrannus Huali, a dinosaur species that lived during the early Cretaceous period. The specimen preserves direct evidence of feathers.

Samples are on show at the museum to educate visitors on the process of how fossils were dug out from the earth.

Zhucheng boasts a 20,000-square meter area that has been discovered densely packed with dinosaur fossils, mostly dating from the late Cretaceous period (65 million years ago), at a time just before dinosaurs are believed to have become extinct, says Wan

Dozens of dinosaur species including duck-billed hadrosaur, tyrannosaur, horned dinosaur and ankylosaurus were discovered in the city.

About 2.5 kilometers south of Zangjiazhuang Village is a national-level dinosaur geo-park. The geo-park accommodates 40 complete dinosaur skeletons.

The stars here are Zhucheng Tyrannosaur and duck-billed hadrosaur.

The Zhucheng Tyrannosaur stands at 4.6 meters tall and stretches 11.6 meters long, making it the largest tyrannosaur in the world.

The largest duck-billed hadrosaur at the geo-park is 11 meters tall and 22 meters long. "Hadrosaurs are plant-eaters with a gentle temper. But they lived in groups which make them strong enough to survive in the fierce dinosaur world," says Wang.

Visitors can also see intact egg fossils of hadrosaurs at the geo-park. Although they were giants when grown-up, hadrosaurs' egg fossils are round in shape and actually look cute.

Visitors are permitted to touch a 1.56-meter tall thigh bone fossil of a hadrosaur. Touching it supposedly brings good fortune.

The geo-park has a Quarry Exhibit Hall which allows visitors a comfortable place to view the "Wall of Bones". Stretching 500 meters long and about 30 meters deep, the "wall" has nearly 10,000 dinosaur fossils embedded in the wall face.

During summer and winter vacations, activities are arranged for children to experience the excavation work.

Wang says the Zhucheng government plans to develop a world-class tourism project around the sites of dinosaur fossils within 10 years.

The project is set to include bases for scientific research, sightseeing, adventure, education and entertainment.

zhaoruixue@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 08/01/2015 page17)