Meteorite collectors pay big bucks for space rocks

Tong Xianping pointing to a chunk of meteorite at his showroom in Urumqi, in China's far-western Xinjiang region. - AFP

One small cheque to businessmen, one giant leap for a meteorite. 

After journeying millions of kilometres, rocks formed from the primordial soup of the solar system have landed on the walls of a Chinese showroom. For some of China's wealthy, the terrestrial trappings of fast cars, designer bags and deluxe apartments are worthless compared to bounty from outer space.