Introduction
The beginnings of the China UFO Research Association are closely tied to the reformation period of China during the late 1970s. Prior to the reform period, which began in 1979, experts believe there was no public discourse around ufology in the country.
During the first wave of China’s reforms, interest in UAPs began to emerge, and a UAP-focused research organization was launched. Just five years later, ufology had become mainstream – and was also enmeshed with the Chinese practise of qigong.
Although initially beneficial in legitimizing China UFO Research Association, government policies dictated that ufologists would need to distance themselves from qigong if they were to survive the dismantling of socialism that was beginning to occur across China.
The Association broke ties with the qigong movement, and the ufologist discourse which had previously revolved around complex and high level theories concerning the speed of light, law of attraction and interdimensional travel, pivoted to cataloging encounters of bright lights and flying saucers.
The beginnings of Chinese ufology
The fascination with UAPs in China is believed to have originated around the same time as social and cultural reforms that were taking place across the country. According to Malcolm Thompson, a Canadian university professor who specializes in Chinese history:
“There was no public ufology in China before the reform period, and Chinese ufology and the reform period began at almost exactly the same time.”¹
At the root of the reforms was an ideology called the “Four Modernizations” – goals that were established by Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese revolutionary leader who succeeded Mao. The goals focused on industry, agriculture, the military, and science and technology – which were disseminated into the everyday lives of the Chinese public, and adopted as a means of rejuvenating the economy. The fact that one of the goals centered on science and technology meant the discourse around UAPs had some legitimacy, and room to grow.
With the relaxation of the previously very strict controls over which religions could be practiced in the country, the interest in quasi-supernatural and invisible forces began to emerge, and UAPs and qigong were both promoted as scientific fields of inquiry.²
Qigong and UAPs
During the 1980s, the Chinese practice of qigong thrived. It was also closely tied to UAPs, developing in the direction of mysticism as practitioners pursued supernormal abilities – known as “teyi gongneng”. One writer and qigong master Ke Yunlu published a handful of popular books speculating that Jesus could have been the offspring of aliens, and that he could communicate with them through his extraordinary powers – acquired through his qigong practice.
The Chinese government had initially supported qigong research as a secular and scientific way to increase health, but now it was heading into a more mystical direction. One qigong master, Li Hongzhi, founded a quasi-religious movement called Falun Gong. Li regularly discussed UAPs, other worlds, hidden dimensions of reality, and connected these topics with the potential powers that could be gained through practicing qigong. In some of his lectures, he periodically referred to flying saucers and UFOs.³
The China UFO Research Association
On 20 September 1979 the China UFO Enthusiasts' Liaison Office was established at Wuhan University. By May 1980, it had grown considerably, with branch organizations in several major cities. It rebranded as the China UFO Research Association, and the following February began publishing the Journal of UFO Research. The journal not only introduced the Chinese public to UAP sightings in western countries but also reported on alleged sightings of UAPs in China.
By the mid 1980s, the association had more than 40 branch organizations around the country, and thousands of members. Concurrently, the All-China Qigong Science Research Association (QSRA) was established in 1981, and with the blessing of national leaders, established as a national-level umbrella organization for all qigong practice and research.⁵
The QRSA soon became the hub for paranormal research; everything from extrasensory perception to telekinesis and ghosts. “The extraordinary powers that qigong practice was supposed to engender…were not exactly coextensive with the domain of the paranormal, but in seeking to develop and theorize these powers, continuous reference was made to these fields of study,” notes Malcolm Thompson in his ‘Made in China’ journal.⁶
The China UFO Research Association formally affiliated with the QRSA in January 1988, as a “second level study society”, meaning it acquired legal standing as an organization.
The media
Under this climate, the media began to publish pieces on the topic of UAPs. People’s Daily, the most influential and authoritative newspaper in China, published an article on 13 November 1978, titled “UFO: a great riddle puzzling the world”. This was, significantly, placed under a recurring column called “Discussions on International Sciences.” Dozens of books on UAPs were also published in China, most of which were translations of English publications.
Various science magazines emerged, including Nature Magazine, a highly respected title that was published by the Shanghai Science and Technology Publication Company. The magazine published numerous articles on the science behind qigong, as well as extremely high frequency (EHF) communications, which were often associated with UAPs and extraterrestrial capabilities.
Li Shun Qi, a member of the China UFO Research Organization, was on the magazine’s editorial board, and was behind the publication of articles that discussed qigong and UAPs, including one in 1981 titled “The UFO Phenomenon As I See It” by UAP expert and author Paul Dong.
In his book “China’s Major Mysteries, Paranormal Phenomena and the Unexplained in the People's Republic,” Dong notes that the magazine “continually published source materials and research reports on exceptional human functions”. The magazine’s stance on UAPs drew criticism, with Wen Wei Daily accusing the publication of being an irresponsible publication of unscientific information.⁷ Wen Wei Daily specifically referred to an article about the abilities of qi gong practitioners, including a 13-year-old boy named Tong Yu who was able to read and perceive color using his ear. The article titled ‘Believe Your Own Eyes’ was written by Zhou Wen-Bin, a reporter for the Guang Ming Daily, was initially critical of Tong Yu - and qi gong’s - skills, but after giving the boy several tests concluded that he was able to read with his ears.
In response to the criticism, Nature Magazine published an editorial footnote in February 1980, which essentially told its critics:⁸
“To clarify the matter and protect the wrong media reports, our magazine again publishes this factual report by comrade Zhou Wen-Bin. Nature Magazine firmly believes that the human body has the potential for exceptional functions…In the April 1980 issue this magazine printed on its cover photos of fourteen psychic children from all over the country. We believe in Tong Yu and EHF is a fact.”
A paper published by Baylor University sociologists Graeme Lang and Lu Yungfeng, who specialize in Asian societies and religions, highlighted that the rising number of books and magazines on the topic “probably contributed” to a rise in UAP sightings during the 1980s and 1990s.
The Beijing UFO Society
Following the popularity of the China UFO Research Association, numerous localized societies began popping up across the country, including the Beijing UFO Society.
The society was founded in 1984, with a pledge to base its findings on “practical science and philosophy of dialectical and historical materialism”⁹, as well as vowing to “contribute to the science development by integrating the science and technology workers’ resources in Beijing”.
The organization became an official corporation in 1994, and is run by its parent company the Beijing Science and Technology Association – a platform that acts to promote science, technology and innovation to society, as well as establishing a network for scientists. The Association is the authorized representative body of the science community in Beijing.¹⁰
The Beijing UFO Society operates according to the requirements of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), as well as the policies of the civil administration association management. CAST is the name of the umbrella organization of Chinese scientists and engineers, which was formed in 1958. It has hundreds of branches at both local and international levels, and its main goal is to act as a go-between for the Chinese Communist Party and the science and technology community.
The Beijing Society currently has almost 300 members. They include civilians, Communist Party workers, professionals from universities, research academies, to name a few.
"As material and cultural life improves in China, more people are able to use cameras to photograph and film the strange things they see," the Secretary General of the organization Zhou Xiaoqiang said¹¹. "Also, media broadcasts are making the UFO a more popular concept in China, and the Internet makes it easier to file reports."
The society claims to have obtained a large number of photos and firsthand information about UAPs through its field research.
''The level of interest and acceptance is definitely rising,'' said Sun Shili, a retired Foreign Ministry official who is president of the Beijing U.F.O. Research Society¹². ''Because of the frequent sightings recently in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities that have had many witnesses, even the media -- which are very serious and careful -- have been paying attention.''
Shanghai Research Center
The Shanghai Research Center was another organization that capitalized on the popularity of UAPs in China.
In 1971, Lou Zhongrong – who was serving in China’s National Air Force – was watching an outdoor movie near the military base in Laohekou City, in Hubei Province, when something caught his attention. It was a spiral-shaped shiny object moving across the sky.
“It moved from south to north for about one minute then suddenly disappeared,” he described¹³. “I know planes. The flight profile of the shiny object was definitely not a plane. And it was not an illusion because many of my comrades-in-arms saw it too."
Witnesses in other nearby provinces also reportedly saw the same strange object. Lou could not get to the bottom of what the object was, and so started an obsession with UAPs. He became one of Shanghai’s first amateur researchers in the field of UAPs.
When Lou retired from the military he took a job at the Shanghai Aircraft Design and Research Institute, and began focusing more intently on his UAP research in his spare time. His access to abundant aeronautical information was crucial in his foray into UAP research.
Lou began socializing with like-minded individuals and in 1979, a professor from Shanghai Jiao Tong University organized regular seminars for the growing group of amateur researchers to discuss their findings. The group became a precursor to the Shanghai UFO Research Center.
One of Lou’s colleagues, Wu Jialu, also joined on Lou’s recommendation, and became director of the organization in 1982. Wu had experiences of his own: witnessing a strange object moving in a ‘V’ formation in 1999 and is determined humanity has something to learn from UAPs:
“We discussed the issue of whether the Earth rotates around the Sun or vice versa for 1,600 years. We human beings have to walk on the endless road of scientific discovery. So there must be aliens. We human beings have to walk on the endless road of scientific discovery. So there must be aliens.
There are ten billion planets in the universe. I don’t think Earth is the only planet with life – creatures live in cold, oxygen-free conditions at the bottom of the sea.”
Wu and Lou then founded the more structured Research Center, where Wu serves as director and Lou as deputy director.
Members of the Shanghai organization keep on alert for any reports of UAP sightings in China, and try to analyze each phenomenon either individually, or during seminars. Members of the group will exchange ideas both by email or in face to face discussions, in the hope of finding the most reasonable explanation of a sighting.
According to Lou, more than 90% of reported UAP incidents over recent years can be explained as optical phenomena, such as light reflecting off a plane, or an aberration in a photograph. The organization has been approached numerous times by people who ask for help with understanding a reported UAP sighting, and remains a respected society within the UAP community. "I can understand people's passion about finding other creatures in the universe, but it is not the goal of our research,” Wu said.¹⁴
The organization focused on four “big incidents” on record in 1987, 1990, 1991 and 1999. In 1987, several Shanghai residents claimed to see a spinning “oval plate and a comet with a tail like an umbrella”¹⁵ pass over the city for about 40 minutes.
In 1990, thousands of people in Shanghai reported seeing a UAP with a white head and orange edge, brighter than stars, flying at around 2,000 meters (6500ft), and shaped like a “U”, “fish” or “shuttle”.¹⁶ The following year, thousands again claimed to witness a light that was “as bright as a comet”. In addition, a conversation between the control tower officials at Hongqiao International Airport and the crew of Flight 3665 revealed that the aircraft crew had witnessed the UAP, which reportedly changed direction, height and speed several times, and split into two parts before merging together again and disappearing.¹⁷
In 1999, witnesses reported “a strange thing in the sky moving in a ‘v’ motion”.¹⁸ Wu, the Shanghai Research Center president, witnessed the incident in 1999 which he said lasted for about 10 minutes.
Despite China’s growing interest in UAPs, and Shanghai’s “big incidents”, the research center still struggles for resources due to UAPs still not being part of the mainstream culture in China. This lack of money means members have to devote some of their salaries to the center. The society’s aging membership – most are over 50 – means the organization’s future is shaky. Wu explained many young people are interested in UAPs when the society is delivering lectures at universities, but few choose to get involved in his organization.
Going underground
EHF once had the support of Premier Zhao Ziyang, who used to be first secretary of Guangdong Province, and met Tong Yu, the boy with psychic powers. After he became premier, it is believed¹⁹ that he could not openly support EHF due to it being a politically sensitive subject internationally.
Fractures began to appear between the China UFO Research Association and its qigong counterpart, which eventually came to a head at the association’s fourth national congress in Beijing in May 1992. Many members were frustrated with the seeming infiltration of qigong and its pseudoscience. The association reiterated its dedication to researching materialist points of view, and scientific methods.
In September 1997, the association lost its status as a second level study society under the QRSA, and disbanded, driving many branch organizations underground.
Conclusion
The increasing interest in and availability of science and technology writings in China in the 1980s and 1990s led to a search for new ideas and explanations for natural phenomena and rapid technology developments. As Lang and Yunfeng noted in their Baylor paper:
