China's first private fossil museum, the "Wenya Museum" opened on January 8 morning in the city of Jinzhou in the northeast province of Liaoning.

The three-story museum exhibits several hundred samples of reptile, bird, amphibian, insect and plant fossils owned by Mr. DuWenya, a private collector.

The most precious among those samples are a bird fossil which archeologists believe to be older than the archaeopteryx, and a nine meter high fossil dating back some 120 million years.

Most of the samples originated from Jurassic Period, about 140 million years ago. Some of them come from the United Kingdom and the Republic of Korea.

Du has invested his lifetime savings and a bank loan in the Museum, totaling ten million yuan(1.2 million US dollars "I have never thought about the economic returns," he said.

The Chinese government encourages private museums which are notprofit-oriented, said Ma Zishu, deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

Ma also believes that the establishment of Wenya Museum will help promote scientific knowledge among China's youth.