Rise of the Dragon: Readings from Nature on the Chinese Fossil Record

Over the past decade, fossil finds from China have stunned the world, grabbing headlines and changing perceptions with a wealth of new discoveries. Many of these finds were first announced to English speakers in the journal “Nature”. “Rise of the Dragon” gathers together 16 of these original reports, some augmented with commentaries originally published in “Nature”‘s “News and Views” section. Perhaps the best known of these new Chinese fossils are the famous feathered dinosaurs from Liaoning Province, whch may help end one of the intense debates in paleontology – whether birds evolved from dinosaurs. But other finds have been just as spectacular, such as the minutely preserved (to the cellular level) animal embryos of the 670 million-year-old Duoshantuo phosphorites, or the world’s oldest known fish, from the Chengjiang formation in southwestern Yunnan Province. “Rise of the Dragon” makes decriptions and detailed discussions of these important finds available in one convenient volume for paleontologists and serious fossil fans.