The explosion of complex life may have occurred four million years earlier than previously thought. © Xiaodong Wang

China: The Origins of Complex Life Pushed Back to Before the Cambrian! (6.4.2026)

Associate Professor Fan Wei, a leader of the group, says, “After years of fieldwork, we finally found several sites with the right conditions where animal fossils are preserved together with abundant algae.”

Unlike most Ediacaran sites, where organisms are preserved as impressions in sandstone, the Jianchuan fossils are preserved as thin carbon-rich films. This is type of preservation is more typical of famous Cambrian sites such as the Burgess Shale in Canada.

This exceptional preservation reveals anatomical details rarely seen in Ediacaran fossils, including feeding structures, digestive systems and organs used for movement.

Associate Professor Ross Anderson, a co-author of the study from the Oxford Universities Museum of Natural History, says, “Our results indicate that the apparent absence of these complex animal groups from other Ediacaran sites may reflect differences in preservation rather than true biological absence.”

“Carbonaceous compressions like those at Jiangchuan are rare in rocks of this age, meaning that similar communities may simply not have been preserved elsewhere.”

Chongqing: China Remembers 140th Anniversary of General Stilwell’s Birth! (10.8.2023)

As a consequence, the presence of Stilwell reminds the world of a more enlightened time in US foreign policy. The ‘Stilwell Museum’ is situated in ‘Chongqing’ – whilst ‘Stilwell Town’ is to be found at the Qinglong section of the Yunnan-Guizhou Highway. Chongqing was formerly part of South-East Sichuan province until 1997 (when it became an ‘Independent Municipality’) – whilst Qinglong county is located in the South-West of Guizhou province. Therefore, the ‘Stilwell Museum’ and ‘Stilwell Town’ are situated around 422 miles apart and should not be confused. Remember, so stubborn and difficult to defeat was the Kwantung Army of Imperial Japan – that the US requested that the Soviet Red Army should intercede and enter North-East China during late 1945 – which it did to great military success! By 1950, the US was rewarding this Soviet sacrifice by broadcasting propaganda lies stating the Red Army had committed endless ‘atrocities’! The Chinese people, of course, have the utmost respect for the USSR and its defeat of Imperial Japan – as once again it was the Soviets that saved the world from fascism!

Yunnan: China Protects Asian Elephants! (13.9.2022)

The Management Bureau of the Reserve said that monitoring data showed that the baby elephants born during the northward journey are growing up and finding independence. In January, another baby elephant was born at the Reserve. Since then, the herd of elephants have moved deep into the forests in Mengyang and are rarely seen.

Chen Fei, Director of the Asian Elephant Research Centre under the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, said that the efforts made by the Chinese government and local residents have served as a vivid example of China’s determination to promote harmony between man and nature, providing a warm-hearted example for global wildlife conservation.

“Helping the herd go home does not signal the end of our efforts. There is still a long way to go to protect Asian elephants and their habitats,” said Chen, adding that Asian elephants have been included in the list of 48 critically endangered species under emergency protection during China’s 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).

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