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The Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Tsang Tak-sing, today (June 22), on behalf of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, received from the Vice-Governor of Yunnan Province, Mr Liu Ping, a set of dinosaur fossils of the Jurassic period donated by the government of Yunnan Province.
The government of Yunnan Province has decided earlier to donate a dinosaur fossil skeleton of Lufengosaurus to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. The donation ceremony was held at 10.30am today at the World Dinosaur Valley -- National Dinosaur Geological Park, Chuxiong Zhou, Yunnan.
Mr Tsang thanked the government of Yunnan Province for its generosity. He said, "Dinosaur fossils are national treasures and the donation is of great significance as it is the first time for China to give excavated dinosaur fossils to a place outside the Mainland of China.
"It marks the beginning of closer collaboration and exchanges in culture between Hong Kong and Yunnan," Mr Tsang said.
The dinosaur fossil skeleton of Lufengosaurus measures 7.7 metres in length and 2.2m in height. It was a plant-eating dinosaur that lived during the Jurassic period some 200 million years ago. It has both scientific and historical significance in that it is the first complete dinosaur skeleton excavated, mounted and named in China.
The dinosaur fossils will be put in the Hong Kong Science Museum for permanent exhibition. The museum has made preparations to receive the gift. Upon its arrival in October, the fossils will be displayed in the museum's foyer for free public viewing until March next year. It will then be relocated to the Life Hall on the ground floor.
Lufeng Dinosaur Museum gave great support to the Hong Kong Science Museum by lending its collection of dinosaur fossils and Chengjiang Biota for display at the "Soaring Dinosaurs -- Chinese Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life" exhibition held last May.
At the opening ceremony of the exhibition, the Home Affairs Bureau discussed the possibility of getting dinosaur fossils for permanent display at the Hong Kong Science Museum with Professor Dong Zhiming, an expert on dinosaur fossils in China. He subsequently took the matter up with the government of Chuxiong Zhou, Yunnan Province. The donation was finally approved by the relevant Mainland authority in April this year.
Ends/Sunday, June 22, 2008
Issued at HKT 13:51
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