Central China's Shennongjia Nature Reserve named national 5A-Class Scenic Spot (via Lindsay Selby)

WUHAN, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Central China's Shennongjia Nature Reserve, the rumored hometown of a Bigfoot-like ape-man, was named one of the nation's 5A-Class Scenic Spots by the country's National Tourism Administration on Monday, local authorities said Tuesday.

Located in the northwestern mountains of Hubei Province, the Shennongjia Forestry District, which administers the nature reserve, was established in 1970.

As the only well-preserved sub-tropical forest ecosystem in the world's mid-latitudes, Shennongjia boasts rich natural forest resources with more than 5,000 species of animals and plants.

Being dubbed a national 5A-Class Scenic Spot means Shennongjia Nature Reserve has become a comprehensive tourist area with charming scenery and high-quality service, said Liao Mingyao, an official with the Shennongjia Forestry District.

The Shennongjia area has long been rumored to be the home of the "Yeren," literally "Wild man." The creature is also referred to as "Bigfoot," like the legendary North American ape-man. In the past 100 years, more than 400 people have claimed to have seen the creature, but no hard evidence of the creature's existence has been found.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/travel/2012-01/10/c_131352760.htm

Home of China's "Bigfoot" plans to shoot Avatar-like 3D film on the elusive beast

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-01-04 17:31

Central China's Shennongjia Forest District, the rumored hometown of a Bigfoot-like ape-man, plans to shoot an Avatar-like 3D movie about the district's elusive beast, said a spokesman for the district government's information office Thursday.

The movie, tentatively named "Primary Zone," will cost more than 100 million yuan (about 15 million U.S. dollars) to produce, the spokesman said, adding that a Beijing-based entertainment company will be responsible for film's financing.

Located deep in remote mountains in Hubei Province, the Shennongjia area has long been rumored to be the home of the "Yeren," literally "Wild man."

It is also referred to as "Bigfoot," like the legendary North American ape-man.

Since last century, more than 400 people have claimed to have seen the creature, which is said to walk upright, be over 2 meters tall and have a hairy gray, red and black body. But no hard evidence of the creature's existence has been found.

A group of scientists have said they are considering launching a high-profile search for the mysterious creature. The last organized search for the beast was conducted about 30 years ago.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2011-01/04/content_11793947.htm

Meet Big Foot's Chinese cousin

by Erik Nilsson

BEIJING, Oct. 31 (Xinhuanet) -- China has its fair share of mythical creatures which roam the countryside leaving tantalizing glimpses and a footprint or two. Erik Nilsson hunts down a couple of sightings.

Meet China's monster mesh - the cast of creatures, known as cryptids, whose existences haven't been verified but which some believe roam the country's wild places. China is host to plenty of myths about the not-so-distant relatives of the world's most celebrated cryptozoological creatures.

Most foreigners know of Big Foot's cousin, the Yeti, also known as the abominable snowman, which reportedly roam Himalayan Tibet. But fewer have heard of the yeren, or wild man, said to prowl the primeval forests of Hubei province's Shennongjia.

Zhang Jiahong, a sheep rancher in Muyu town who claims to have seen two of the ape-men in 2005, told China Daily earlier this month they had "hairy faces, eyes like black holes, prominent noses and disheveled hair, with faces that resembled both a man's and a monkey's".

More than 400 locals have reported yeren encounters, the Wild Man Research Association says.

Explorer Zhang Jinxing says he has found traces of the creature, including hair, footprints and scat on at least 19 occasions.

He began living as a hermit in the 3,200-square-kilometer mountain range in 1994 in hopes of seeing the beast for himself and hasn't given up hope.

Local trappers made world headlines when they caught a critter they said was a yeren this April. But biologists in Beijing determined the bizarre beast to be an excessively mangy civet, the Telegraph reported.

While no evidence has surfaced to verify the yeren's existence, another former cryptid from the same woodland, the Shennongjia polar bear, was proven to exist in 1922, UNESCO says.

Despite the animal's coloration, the "polar bear" moniker is a misnomer, as the creature's closest relative is the Asiatic black bear, as a 2006 study of its genetics published by the US National Center for Biotechnology Information confirmed.

Biologists from around the globe have been flocking to Shennongjia to study the "whitenized" genetic clines of the bears and a slew of other endemic species, including white snakes, monkeys, muntjacs or baking deer and serows, a goat-like creature.

But while the Shennongjia polar bear has been transferred from the cryptids list to that of scientifically recognized taxonomy, the Maltese Tiger has had no such luck. Alleged sightings of the giant "blue tiger" are occasionally reported in Fujian province, but no solid evidence confirms the big cat's existence.

China also has its answers to the Loch Ness Monster. For centuries, massive water-dwelling beasts were believed to lurk beneath the surface of Xinjiang autonomous region's Kanasi Lake, occasionally wriggling onto the shores to snack on cattle.

These monsters made world headlines in 2007, when a tourist's eight-minute video of 15 mysterious creatures swimming in the lake was broadcast on national television. The animals' exposed parts appear larger than the lake's largest tour boat, People's Daily reported.

There have also been water monster sightings on the other side of the country in Jilin province's Tianchi Lake. The cryptid captured world attention when TV reporter Zhuo Yongsheng filmed six strange creatures swimming in the lake for 20 minutes in 2007.

Be they real or not, the animals that are the stuff of Chinese local legends are gaining global appeal among those who believe the line between the mythical and the mysterious is finer than most think.

(Source: China Daily)

China to Search for Elusive 'Bigfoot'

North America has its 'Bigfoot' and China has its 'Wild Man.'

A group of Chinese scientists are on the hunt for the Yeren, the Chinese equivalent of our Bigfoot. Scientists and international researchers refer to the Yeren as "Wild Man" and are on a renewed quest to find him.

Thirty years ago, China's Academy of Science sent three teams of researchers looking for the mysterious creature. Those teams turned up surprising results: hair, excrement, footprints, and a possible 'Wild Man' sleeping nest. Alas, those findings weren't conclusive so they are at it again.

This time around the members of the Hubei Wild Man Research Association are hoping to collect donations to help catch the legendary creature. They need $1.5 million to kick off the project.

This research is not without its merits. Over the years people have reported 400 sightings of a reddish hair ape-like man that looks a lot like an Orangutan but stands nearly 7ft tall. Nicholas Redfern, one of the world's leading cryptozoologists, thinks this newest expedition in China is worthwhile because of the fossil record.

"A lot of monster stories can be traced back to myth and folk lore. What people don't know is that in this instance we actually have the fossil record of a large ape-like creature that lived in that area over 300,000 years ago," Redfern told FoxNews.com.

In fact, primatologists have jaw bones, teeth and other bones from a creature found in that area known as Gigantopithecus that would've measured nearly 9ft tall (but probably hunched like an ape).

Redfern has been involved in countless research expeditions and they've all had one thing in common: lack of funds.

"It'd be great if we could have a team that could go out there for a year," he told FoxNews.com. "The chances of going into the forest for one week and stumbling across something are very slim. It's like the people who go to Loch Ness for a day or two hoping to see the monster; it just doesn't happen."

So even if the Hubei Wild Man Research Association raises enough money for a prolonged expedition, is it possible this creature still roams the forests of Asia?

"Conventional science and zoology tells us that Gigantopithecus has long been extinct, but very often science gets it wrong. The final word isn't always the final word," Redfern said.

By Clayton Morris

FoxNews.com

Scientific Search for Chinese Bigfoot Relaunched

October 10, 2010 8:54 a.m. EST

Lawrence Mijares - AHN News Contributor

Beijing, Beijing, China (AHN) - Though over 400 people claim to have sighted an elusive ape-like creature covered all over with red, gray or black hair, lurking in the mountainous region of Shennongjia Nature Reserve, Heibei China, it has never been found despite three expeditions launched since the 1980s. However, a new, inspired expedition is calling on for volunteers worldwide to join.

"Unlike expeditions three decades ago, the better technological support will help us get closer to solving the mystery," said Wang Wang Shancai, a 75-year-old expert with the Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, who is also the vice president of the Hubei Wild Man Research Association -- organizer of the expedition.

Wang continued to elaborate that, "We are now working together with the China Three Gorges University to develop long-time energy-supply devices to support cameras that will be installed in the ape man's possible habitat."

Unlike past high-profile expeditions, the new search would also be more localized with teams focusing their search in certain caves located in the Shennongjia mountains believed to be the habitat of the ape-like creature who may not be living alone.

Past expeditions have only brought back hairs supposedly from the creature, which when analyzed were neither of human or any known animal species. If found, this “missing link” would help scientists learn how primates evolved from ape to human.

The worldwide recruitment call for the expedition invites all male and female 25 to 40 year olds who have basic knowledge of biology, know how to handle a camera, loves the outdoors and must be devoted as hard work would be involved.

Unfortunately, no specific timetable has yet been set for the expedition as the association is still negotiating for funding which will cost at least 10 million yuan ($1.5 million), according to Wang.

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7020168792?Scientific%20Search%20for%20Chinese%20Bigfoot%20Relaunched
(Via CFZ Australia)

Chinese Sasquatch suspected (Via Lindsay Selby)

English.news.cn 2010-07-19 09:03:21

BEIJING, July 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Bears or Bigfoot? That's what villagers in Shennongjia, Hubei Province are wonder-ing ever since one man named Ding Fei, 33, found mysterious thick curly hairs with transparent roots on July 9 at a location called Swallow Hole on a local mountain. After Ding reported his discovery to the neighborhood committee, some professional researchers found additional hairs and a 30-centimeter-long footprint at the same place on July 11.

According to their research, the hair isn't human or livestock, but the possibility of bears could not be ruled out.

(Source: Global Times) http://life.globaltimes.cn/odd/2010-07/553049.html