Chinshakiangosaurus is one of the few basal sauropods with preserved skull bones and therefore important for the understanding of the early evolution of this group.

[2] The remains consists of the dentary (the tooth bearing bone of the mandible) including teeth as well as several parts of the postcranium.

This feature is typical for sauropods – in Prosauropods, on the contrary, the dentary was straight, forming a V-shaped, tapered snout.

Paul Upchurch and colleagues (2007) suppose that this differences can give hints about feeding habits: The prosauropods with their tapered snouts possibly where selective feeders, who ate only certain plant parts, whereas sauropods with their broad snouts where bulk feeders, adapted to consume large amounts of foliage.

Another derived, sauropod like feature was a bony plate that lined the tooth row laterally and became thicker towards the tip of the snout.

They come from the Fengjiahe Formation, which is made up of mudstones, siltstones and sandstones that were deposited fluviolacustrine (inside rivers and lakes).

[1] The holotype specimen (IVPP V14474) consists of a left dentary, one cervical and several dorsal and caudal vertebrae, both scapulae, some pelvic bones and the hind limbs.

[6] In 2007, Upchurch and colleagues published a comprehensive description of the dentary and the teeth and declared Chinshakiangosaurus as a valid taxon.