A 237-gram cinnabar crystal known as the King of Cinnabar is among the specimens regarded as national treasures at the Geological Museum of China (中国地质博物馆). Others include the fossil of the Giant Shandong Dinosaur (Shantungosaurus), fossils of primitive birds from western Liaoning, and teeth of Yuanmou Man from Yunnan, which pushed back the date for the appearance of humans in China. The museum also holds stoneware, stone pearls, bone needles and bone ornaments from the Upper Cave Man site at Zhoukoudian in Beijing, and more than 60 minerals first discovered in China.
Altogether the collection holds more than 100,000 geological specimens. The permanent displays fill five halls covering 2,500 square metres: geological resources, Earth history, stratigraphy and paleontology, minerals and rocks, and diamonds. The paleontology hall includes sections on the Zhendan biota and on insect, fish and egg fossils.
Located in Beijing's Xisi area, the museum opened in 1959 and is China's earliest geological science museum.
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