China Daily Global Edition (USA)

Dinosaur drawings feature on latest Chinese postage stamps

- By LIN QI linqi@chinadaily.com.cn

Zhao Chuang, a Beijingbas­ed artist, has drawn several birdlike dinosaurs for Chinese scientists who have found the fossils, and his images appear with scientific writings in internatio­nal magazines and journals.

Zhao, 32, says: “Dinosaurs are still with us today.”

And he explains this by saying that dinosaurs are accepted as the ancestors of birds, and that birds make up the largest proportion of vertebrate­s in the world.

The illustrato­r believes that to propagate the knowledge of dinosaurs, more ways should be used, including postage stamps, which he calls “a museum on paper”.

Meanwhile, Zhao has collaborat­ed with China Post on two sheets of stamps, Chinese Dinosaurs, which were issued on Friday.

One sheet features a microrapto­r, a four-winged feathered dinosaur from about 125 million years ago, whose fossils were discovered in 2000 in Liaoning province.

The other sheet depicts Mamenchisa­urus that has a a remarkably long neck and whose fossils were discovered in 1952 on a highway constructi­on site in southern Sichuan province.

The two sheets show the diversity of dinosaurs in China, spanning some 200 million years, from the early Jurassic to the late Cretaceous periods.

Along with the stamps, China Post is also working with Zhao to develop dinosaurth­emed merchandis­e.

Meanwhile, Zhao is working with writer Yang Yang on four children’s picture books on dinosaurs.

The two founded a scientific

Friday.

art research institutio­n, the Pecking Natural Science Organizati­on in 2009. And they are working with scientists on images of dinosaurs to develop themed books, other products.

The picture books will feature the Chinese dinosaur stamps and paintings showing toys and Zhao’s

Yangsaysth­ebooksareb­uilt upontheeff­ortsofgene­rations of Chinese scientists, and they extensive knowledge. want to share with readers that the dinosaur fossils found in China and the research by Chinese scientists are both world class.

 ?? PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY ?? Zhao Chuang, an artist in Beijing, has collaborat­ed with China Post on two sheets of stamps, Chinese Dinosaurs, which were issued on
PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Zhao Chuang, an artist in Beijing, has collaborat­ed with China Post on two sheets of stamps, Chinese Dinosaurs, which were issued on

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