Xu Xing is a well-known name in paleontology. A 2012 article published in the British science magazine Nature stated： “As he revolutionizes ideas about dinosaur evolution， Xu Xing is helping to make China into a paleontological powerhouse. Xu has named 60 species so far—more than any other vertebrate paleontologist alive today.”
Xu ended up devoted to paleontology by accident. Born in Ili in northwestern China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in 1969， Xu dreamed of becoming a physicist when he was young. At the age of 18， he eolled in Peking University. With only a few options back then， he was assigned to the department of paleontology. After graduation， he joined the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences （CAS）. While in school， Xu attempted to transfer to the economics department and learned computer sciences himself for a while. Not until the third year of his postgraduate program did Xu begin to experience close contact with dinosaur fossils， which sowed seeds of interest in paleontology that gradually bloomed in his heart.
Xu likens his relationship with paleontology to a couple who“married first and fell in love later.”“After I really dove into paleontological research， I realized how interesting it is to examine fossils and write papers，” he explains. For more than two decades now， his work has focused on the research of dinosaurs dating back tens of millions of years.
Searching No-Man’s Land
Xu prefers working outdoors over spending all day in the office or laboratory. Fortunately， researching dinosaurs requires both lab work and fieldwork—Not only do paleontologists observe fossils under a microscope， analyze data with a computer and write papers in the office， but they also collect fossils in the wild.
Since the late 1990s， Xu and his crew have conducted field surveys almost every year， leaving footprints in provinces and autonomous regions including Xinjiang， Liaoning， Jilin， Heilongjiang， Inner Mongolia， Hebei， Shandong， Yunnan and Hunan. The places they visit are usually located in deserted areas. A field survey can last as long as 70 days， and even the shortest takes a few weeks. The size of a survey team ranges from a dozen up to more than 30 members. The area of an excavation site varies from dozens of square meters to tens of square kilometers. During expeditions， Xu and his crew often live in tents for months. Sometimes their camp is set up hundreds of kilometers from the nearest water source， and the crew must transport supplies every week. Xu remembers once trekking through the wilderness for more than 20 days， after which his socks could “stand” on their own due to being soaked in sweat and dirt for so long.
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