Chinese characters at exhibition. Top symbol means ‘dragon’ and the lower one ‘lucky’.

Chinese Dinosaurs

Scientific resources for parents, students and teachers—interpreting dragon bones and ‘dragon birds’ through the biblical worldview

A spectacular dinosaur exhibition is showing in Brisbane, Australia, from 22 May to 10 October 2004.  Called Chinese Dinosaurs, the exhibition has already been on display in other places, such as Tokyo, Wellington (New Zealand) and Sydney.

The exhibit in Brisbane features 11 complete dinosaur skeletons, most of which have at least 65% genuine fossilised bone.

Many of the dinosaur skeletons are humungous.  Massive Mamenchisaurus is a 23-metre long sauropod with a 9-metre long neck.  It dwarfs everyone who comes to look.

The exhibition also features eggs, claws, teeth, skeletal spines, large plesiosaurs, tiny nothosaurs, turtles and other marine reptiles.

What do these bones mean?

Fossil bones do not speak for themselves.  Instead, evidence is interpreted by people, and people interpret fossils according to their beliefs.

Dinosaur eggs on display.

This massive sauropod, Mamenchisaurus, is too large to fit in the camera’s field of view.

Mamenchisaurus’s head at the end of its 9-metre long neck towers high above.

Chinese Dinosaurs is supported significantly by public funds through the Queensland Museum, the Queensland Government and the Australian Museum.  He who pays the piper calls the tune.  Not surprisingly, all the dinosaur evidence displayed at the Chinese Dinosaurs exhibition is interpreted according to secular humanist beliefs.  See also Skeptics/Australian Museum ‘Feathered Dinosaur’ display: Knockdown argument against creation? about an earlier exhibit.

Secular beliefs are actually strong religious beliefs because they make specific claims about religious issues, such as, the origin of the world, the nature of mankind and the origin of death and suffering.  All of these impact upon perceptions of the nature of God, including whether God exists and His goodness.

A number of those involved in organizing the exhibition are known to be passionate about their secular (atheistic) beliefs and keen to win over the public of Australia to their way of thinking.  Thus the exhibition is complemented with a full program of teaching, including ‘expert’ commentary, public talks, video screenings and dinosaur trails.

There is a strong emphasis on persuading children and young people.  The display is geared for upper primary and high school students and includes specialist talks, workshops and teacher previews.  Schools are encouraged to book well in advance.

In other words, all visitors are thoroughly instructed in the basic philosophy of the secular (materialist) worldview.

In order to counter the effects of such powerful indoctrination, Answers in Genesis is offering this webpage to provide resources for Christian parents, Christian teachers and Christian schools.  It is important that Christians are equipped to interpret the information within the biblical framework.  We trust that you will find this page useful as you use it in your teaching, projects and possible visits to see the Chinese Dinosaurs as the display travels around the world.

Resources for dinosaur projects Dinosaurs are no mystery when we start with the biblical worldview.  In fact, dinosaur evidence makes more sense when interpreted from the biblical perspective than from the secular worldview.  See ‘Dinosaurs and the Bible’ to understand how. Dinosaur trackways and footprints are found all over the world.  ‘In the footsteps of giants’ explains what these trackways mean—something surprising. Why do the Chinese speak about dragons and call dinosaurs ‘scary dragons’?  Is it possible that Chinese people saw living dinosaurs? Did the Australian Aboriginals see dinosaurs? What is the dinosaur tree and why was it given that name?  See ‘Dinosaur tree behind bars’ to find out why. How do they work out the dates for the dinosaur fossils?  See ‘The way it really is’. What does a remarkable find of dinosaur blood in dinosaur bone mean for the Age of Dinosaurs? And the response to a critic. How do dinosaur fossils form?  See how a dead whale explodes fossil theories. Under normal conditions fossils won’t form.  Find out why from ‘The vanishing giant’.  If everything has been evolving into new things slowly over millions of years, then why do we find living fossils?  Seems lots of animals have not evolved at all.  See ‘Spot the difference: Fascinating living fossils’. Chinese Dinosaurs claims it has evidence that dinosaurs evolved into birds.  How scientific is that idea?  See ‘Yet another new “feathered” dinosaur?’ ‘The “Feathered Dinosaur” Find—a brief preliminary report’, ‘New four-winged feathered dinosaur?’ and ‘Chinese feathered dinosaurs, where are the skeptics?’ What does an ostrich egg say about the dinosaur-to-bird idea (and what implications does it have for ‘homology’ as a whole)?  See ‘Ostrich eggs break dino-to-bird theory’. How could dinosaurs evolve into birds?  Find out why it did not happen at ‘Bird evolution?’ ‘Were dinosaurs on Noah’s Ark?’ How would dinosaurs ever fit on the ark?  See ‘How did the animals fit on Noah’s ark?’ Why did the dinosaurs go extinct?  See ‘What happened to the dinosaurs?’