Protecting fossil sites in China
China has always valued its heritage, yet measures to protect its fossil heritage have only been in place since the early 1960s. I asked Professor Zhu Min, current Director of the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoan-thropology, for his views on Chinese laws pertaining to fossil protection. He replied (by email on 9 April 2002):
First, I would like to point out that all Chinese vertebrate fossils for sale in the international fossil markets are illegal according to the Chinese law. The so-called 'cultural exchange documents' to export Chinese vertebrate fossils are also illegal. There is no legal ground to export Chinese vertebrate fossils, in other words, all the Chinese vertebrate fossils for sale are the smuggled fossils, and Chinese government has the rights to ask for the return of the fossils, as we did with Archaeoraptor.
The Chinese Cultural Relics Protection Law was issued on Nov. 19, 1982. Before this law, the government issued various regulations to protect Chinese cultural relics including vertebrate fossils. In 1961, the Chinese government issued Cultural Relics Protection Provisional Regulations (or Rules).
Today, Chinese officials deal strictly with any fossil smugglers who are caught red-handed. For example, in August 1995 three Chinese men were caught trying to sell dinosaur eggs. Zhuang Weimin, 60, bought sixteen dinosaur eggs in Henan province and, together with his accomplices, arranged their sale in Shanghai for 450 000 yuan (US$54 216). The three were arrested as the eggs were being handed over. Zhuang was found guilty of violating laws protecting Chinese cultural relics and jailed for five-and-a-half years. The other two were each jailed for five years (Xinmin Evening News, 23 June 1995). The case mentioned at the start of this chapter, that of Zhang Biliang, Liu Dezhi and Zhang Chunling, who were caught with 156 dinosaur eggs they bought from local collectors in Henan Province, also resulted in severe jail sentences. Zhang Biliang and Liu Dezhi each received six years, Zhang Chunling four years. Despite such heavy penalties for people caught trading in fossils, the trade in illegal Chinese fossils is openly conducted around the world. Almost every rock and fossil shop I know of in Australia and elsewhere sells Chinese dinosaur eggs and many international dealers openly advertise them in their online catalogues, along with Chinese dinosaurs and fossil birds. As I have already explained, those selling the fossils are breaking no law, although unless these fossils were accompanied by export papers confirming that they were legally exported from China as cultural exchange items, they are sure to have been smuggled out of the country. Most fossil dealers purchase the Chinese fossil eggs directly from the dealers who sell them at trade shows like the Tucson show.
The world's museums are well aware of the illegitimate trade in Chinese vertebrate fossils, and some of those which have been offered rare and scientifically important Chinese fossils have deliberately shied away from them. The commonest Chinese items on the international black market are dinosaur eggs from Henan and Hubei Provinces, and fossil fishes, birds, dinosaurs and marine reptiles from Liaoning Province. In an effort to protect dinosaur egg beds in Hubei, provincial officials have set up a 15 sq. km protection zone around the eggs. A similar area exists to protect fossilised eggs in Guangdong Province and all construction projects in the area must be approved by the Cultural Relics Protection Project.
In Liaoning, the fossil beds have been designated as a 'Fossil Birds Preservation Zone' ('the Zone'), a 46 sq. km region south of the town of Beipiao. The Chinese equivalent of over a million US dollars has been pumped into the region for fossil protection measures. This includes the building of a new fossil museum in Beipiao, ten kilometres south of the township.
'Here they are building a tourist region so we've built a museum on the fossil site and maybe a few people will visit,' said Professor Ji Qiang. Not all Beijing scientists, however, are happy about such rare fossils being stored in small provincial museums.
'For the moment I think the situation is very, very, very bad,' said Dr Zhonghe Zhou. 'I mean those so-called museums, I wouldn't call them museums I would call them a warehouse. They don't have curators. I don't think they can be very well curated. No preparation, no study. But the curation concerns us most.'
A town official, Zhao Yibing, has been named administrator of the Zone. He employs five full-time guards who provide round-the-clock protection against thieves. However, this scheme depends on the honesty of the guards, their ability to police a large area and the availability of the necessary funds.
Alan and the crew drove out to see the fossil site at Beipiao, where Alan interviewed Zhao on his strategies for combating fossil thieves.
The building up there is the guard's house. There are people on guard 24 hours a day protecting the fossils. Also the scientists visit the local people and educate them in the importance of fossils and why they need to protect them.
Since Liaoning introduced its legislation for the control of fossils we have enforced the laws diligently whilst also carrying out a lot of public education. As a result the illegal trade in fossils has been eradicated.
In Liaoning the fossil protection agency is also responsible for hiring diggers and regulating how much material can be sold (the less important specimens, such as fish or plants).
'It's definitely very bad to have the Protection Agency collecting fossils,' said Dr Xu Xing. 'It's like in China you have those government officials opening a company of the
Court to have a company of their own. Can you judge a case involving your own company or business?'
'Last year there were too many fossils circulating in the market,' said one official at the Fossil Protection Agency, 'because there was too much digging. This year we employed three more people to strengthen fossil protection. Now there aren't many [fossils] out there. It's hard to find any good ones in the market.'
In effect, any Liaoning specimen in private hands anywhere outside China was illegally obtained. Bearing this fact in mind, here are some of the recent controversial cases involving Liaoning fossils sold on the international market.
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