Singapore, Dec. 10 -- The sound of shale crunching underfoot fills the air as Mr Cui Dongmin climbs a mound at the Beipiao Bird Fossil National Nature Reserve.
Picking up a piece of shale, he casually splits it apart with a rock to reveal the fossilised remains of a plant from millions of years ago.
He stoops down to split open another to reveal the distinct marks of fossilised shellfish. Yet another rock reveals outlines of small fish.
Scattered all around and sandwiched in slabs of rock above as well as underground are untold treasures, millions of years old.
"You can say that this area of Liaoning province in China's north-east region has the most fossils of varied species, and the quality of specimens is also the best," says Mr ...