Understanding the land on which we stand

You can spend a billion years in a day at Guizhou Geological Museum. But actually, a few hours are more than enough to experience eons of Earth's history.

It also offers a venue to do so in a region with a reputation for being among the most geologically flamboyant on our planet. Guizhou is synonymous with the karst spires that stab the skies like spears above complexes of caves that coil beneath the bases of the limestone mountains.

Prized displays include the largest sea lily fossil found in China; a 26-meter strata wall, revealing contiguous bands of rock as they accumulated over 900 million years; the complete skeleton of a nearly 10-meter-long Guanling Ichthyosaur and its feces, packed with crushed bivalves; and samples of some of the earliest animal embryos, which date back more than 600 million years.

It also has fossils of the province's namesake beast, Guizhousaurus, which is sometimes (mis) translated into English as the "Guizhou dragon".

The Mysterious Guizhou hall reveals paleontological treasures, while the Colorful Guizhou section examines the province's landscapes. Rich Guizhou exhibits the area's wealth of minerals, and Endeavoring Guizhou examines the effort that has gone into surveying and mapping the region, as well as its resource and land management.

Visitors can also walk through a tunnel with projections of ancient sea creatures swimming overhead and experience evolution at a 5D theater.

The 8,800-square-meter exhibition area portrays ancient Earth using modern technology, ranging from microscopes to the metaverse. It helps us understand the land on which we stand, how it has shaped life, and how geology is so much more than just old rocks buried in dirt.

The Guizhou Geological Museum is a world unto itself, dedicated to answering the riddles posed by the planet we all share, positioned in one of its most curious and cryptic locations.