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January 15, 1916, Yuan Shikai ordered to protect the newly discovered "stone dragon" in Yichang, and the Historica should keep records of it. The so-called "stone iron" was mistaken by English tourists, taking stalactite to be fossils of dinosaur. It happened to be the time Yuan was intended to throne himself as Emperor, thus the local people used it as an auspicious sign of a new emperor for Yuan to please him. At that time, despite the geology just launched in China, the Chinese experts were knowledgeable enough to know that was not a fossil. Regarding the early stage of historical geology in China, you may refer to our research finding: Yang Tsui-hua, "Historical Geology in Republican China, 1912-1937".
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