The Chengjiang biota is an assemblage of fossils first discovered in 1984 at Maotianshan, near Chengjiang, Yunnan Province, China, and dated to ca. 520 Ma, within the Cambrian Period of geologic time. Exceptional preservation of soft-bodied marine organisms provides a rare, detailed view of Cambrian life, yielding insights into early animal evolution and the Cambrian explosion. The Chengjiang biota provides an early Cambrian counterpart to the exceptionally preserved biota of the middle Cambrian Burgess Shale, Canada.

 Burgess Shale Biota

 Cambrian Explosion