World’s Strangest

flying dragon lizardXianglong (meaning “flying lizard” in Chinese) is a genus of Cretaceous lizard discovered in the Liaoning Province of China. It is known from LPM 000666, a single complete skeleton with skin impressions. The specimen comes from the Barremian-age Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation, near Yizhou. The most notable feature about Xianlong is its bizarre [...]

With NASA recently pulling out of the race to return to the Moon it looks like China could be set to take first place. It is believed China could succ…

In China, death doesn’t necessarily stop one from getting married. In the Chinese tradition of ghost marriage, one or both of the parties are dead. There are many practical reasons to marry a dead spouse. For example, when an unmarried woman has no children to take care of her in old age, she can be “married” [...]

Rickshaw cyclist Chen Chuanliu can’t afford daycare so he has to think of a way to prevent his 2-year-old son from wandering off on his own when he has a fare. His solution? Chain him up on a pole! The rickshaw cyclist, from the Chinese capital Beijing, decided to put tot Lao Lu under lock and key [...]

I remember reading in Roman History class back in college that during the reign of Emperor Trajan (r. 98-117 AD), the Roman Empire sent an emissary to China. This information was found not in Roman records, but Chinese. Now there’s some archaeological evidence to support the historical claim of direct Roman-Chinese contact. The remains of [...]

Mei Lan the panda is on her way to Chengdu, China. She was born at Zoo Atlanta in 2006 under an agreement that all pandas in American zoos belong to China. Today she is being shipped to Washington DC, where she will join Tai Shan, the panda born at the National Zoo. The two will [...]

If there’s one food that most people in China simply haven’t developed a taste for, that would be chocolate. Given that China represents over a billion potential customers, that simply won’t do, according to the chocolate industry (if there’s such a thing). So, what do they do to promote chocolate? Behold the World Chocolate Wonderland, the [...]

#126 – Week of January 28, 2010 Very Tight Pass on a Mountain Road – [awesome video]China’s Instant Cities – [great article]Boeing 777 in X-Ray Photography, pic – [fascinating]Super-detailed Weather & Nature Models – [using everyday objects]Temples of Knowledge: Spectacular Historical Libraries – This artist makes “fake” photographs of the WWI ships, example – P-Eco Concept [...]

Old-school computer gamers will likely have heard of Richard Garriott, AKA “Lord British,” the designer of the classic and long-running Ultima series of single- and multi-player fantasy role-playing games. I have to admit to being sort of obsessed with Ultima VII back in the ninth grade, drawn in by its huge, quirky world — fantasy/medieval [...]

January is National Hot Tea Month, and to celebrate, we at Neatorama invite you to brew a cup of your favorite variety and curl up for some good old fashioned facts about one of the most popular beverages in the world — second to only water. Before we begin though, let’s make one thing clear; [...]