Liaoning is a northeastern province of the People's Republic of China.
Paleontology[]
Liaoning contains one of the foremost paleontological sites in the world since the discovery of Sinosauropteryx, a small feathered meat-eating dinosaur, from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation. Since the 1990s, dozens of groundbreaking finds have been discovered there, including the earliest flower, placental mammal, and marsupial, as well as several birds and feathered dinosaurs, including one that was found in a sleeping position. These have added further evidence that birds and dinosaurs may be directly related.
Culture[]
Liaoning's culture is the southern part of the culture of Northeast China. See Manchuria#Culture for a detailed description.
In paleontology, Liaoning is well known for its extraordinary fossils from the Lower Cretaceous period; e.g., the early 'placental' mammal known as Eomaia. The first widely acknowledged feathered dinosaur, Sinosauropteryx prima, was discovered in Liaoning and unveiled at a scientific meeting in 1996. Other notable discoveries have been an intact embryo of a pterosaur, Repenomamus robustus—a cat-sized mammal who ate dinosaurs, and Sinornithosaurus millenii, nicknamed "Dave the Fuzzy Raptor".
Tourism[]
