[Visited Chengjiang Fossil Site on Apr. 5, 2018]

THE LOGISTICS

Chengjiang Fossil Site was somewhat an easy day trip from Kunming. The metro connectivity from the airport took an hour to Kunming South Passenger Coach Station. There were hourly buses for 18 RMB to Chengjiang County taking another hour via an expressway. And the ease of visiting this WHS stopped upon arriving at bus station. After almost three years from the last review, the situation of going to and of the site itself had not change - still no public transport except hiring a car, taxi or Didi (Chinese Uber for those with no Mandarin knowledge).

There’s Chengjiang Fossil Land Exhibition Hall in front of the bus station but that’s not the main reason to visit. Scrolling at the Didi app, there’s Chengjiang Fossil Site Museum which seemed somewhere near or at the inscribed area - a logical choice to see. The drive would have cost 35 RMB and took about 30 minutes but the driver missed the right turn so we ended up cruising along the banks of Fuxing lake, a nice diversion that I did not mind paying twice the amount.

To my surprise Chengjiang Fossil Site Museum, about 2 km uphill from the resorts construction boom of the Fuxian Lake Scenic Area, was still under construction and likely NOT inside the inscribed area. There’s no return transport from there either.  Luckily, the driver was still around and knowing I was a captive market with limited Mandarin skills and no other mode of transport, he asked for a steep 200 RMB price to the dig site. We drove through Maotianshan for 45 minutes and met many dirt-carrying trucks along the way, enough to conclude that phosphate mining is still active outside of the WHS area.

THE SITE

The site to get into the core zone is Chengjiang Fossil Specimen Exhibition (Chinese Academy of Sciences Nanjing Geology and Biology Institute). It had not been manned for ages but it’s still open with free entry. There were other visitors during my visit with around 10 or so families with kids. Major draw for the kids was trying to find some fossil remains on small rocks scattered by the roadside.

Only the “Location of the 1st Chengjiang Fossil Discovered” building was open. It’s a showcase area of the cliffside where first fossils were discovered. Behind a railing but within an arm-reach were visible shale strata and if you look closely see some fossils. Down the glass floor were upturned rocks with trilobite remains, giving an indication of the Cambrian Explosion biota. A diorama on the Cambrian fauna at the opposite wall with information boards mostly in Chinese and some English provided more explanation.  

The second building, the trilobite shaped Chinese Academy of Sciences Building, was closed and had not been used for ages. There’s also a stairway to climb up the hill and see more of the surrounding landscape. It seemed to be no more active paleontological digs on the site. One might have wondered that if not for the UNESCO listing, this place might have suffered same fate as its surrounding landscape - a quarry or a mining site.

THE EXPERIENCE

The area where you might get a sense of the OUV to some degree was small and can be covered in less than an hour. The best thing about it was it’s so unlike most China WHS where they had made a theme park-like experience. As most of the finds where already moved somewhere else, it’s difficult to see any value add on the site visit aside from ticking a WHS site - or unless you carry an axe and start looking for fossils! Apart from the few easily distinguishable trilobite remains, I was not able to see the variety of well-preserved soft bodied specimens that made the area a universal interest.  

This was one of those travels where the journey was more memorable than the destination. It has one of the highest cost to pay-off ratio in my WHS travel so far too. All in all, I paid over 400 RMB for local logistics including another 150 RMB for the car ride back to the bus station with the same driver whom I asked to wait for 30 mins.

If you're planning a visit to the core zone, go directly to Chengjiang Fossil Specimen Exhibition (Chinese Academy of Sciences Nanjing Geology and Biology Institute) [in photo] and NOT to the museum. I did wonder why they built the museum far away from dig site. It might be due to WHS regulation or maybe they just wanted it closer to the tourist resorts.