This photo, taken on December 1, 2011 by China's general consulate in Los Angeles, shows a dinosaur egg fossil with embryo. [Photo: China Science & Technology Network]
A fossil with 22 dinosaur eggs arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport on Tuesday, five years after it was smuggled to the United States, China National Radio reports.
On December 3, 2006, an auction house in Los Angeles sold a fossil of 22 dinosaur eggs at 420,000 US dollars to an American businessman at a public auction. A US media source claimed that the dinosaur eggs may have entered the country from China illegally.
One week later, according to Ji Qiang, deputy director of State Paleontology Fossil Commission, the State Council held a seminar discussing the possibility of retrieving the fossil in response to a proposal from a number of academicians and scholars.
China's related authorities organized a special team tasked with retrieving the dinosaur eggs. Ji Qiang was sent to investigate the original place where the fossil was found, in Guangdong province, and appraise the fossil in the US.
Upon presenting verified evidence, China's claim that the fossil should return to Chinese soil was upheld and for the first time in history the country successfully recovered a fossil which had been smuggled out of the country via the diplomatic approach.
Ji Qiang believes that the success of this case gives China hope for future attempts to regain, through diplomatic channels, fossils or artifacts which have been illegally smuggled out of the country.
Qiu Shaofang, the Chinese consul general in Los Angeles shakes hands with Claude Arnold, an official of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the handover ceremony on December 1, 2011. [Photo: China Science & Technology Network]
