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Geographical Index > United States > China (International) > Article # 220
Media Article # 220
Tuesday, August 2, 1988 Legendary 'Wildman,' cousin of bigfoot, existsUPI Wire Service
BEIJING -- Scientists say an analysis of hair reportedly belonging to China's version of the abominable snowman has proven the existence of the legendary "Wildman" that roams southwestern forests, a news report said Tuesday.
The distribution of trace elements in the Wildman hairs is different from that of modern man, Black bears, oraneutans and other animals, Shanghai's Wen Hui Bao newspaper said.
"This objectively proves the existence of the Wildman, a rare and advanced primate that is similar to man," it said.
A team of 100 Chinese researchers headed for the mountain forests of central Hubei Province in June in an effort to solve the 9,000-year-old mystery of the half-man, half-ape whom numerous peasants in the area claimed to have seen.
Peasant witnesses speak of a man-beast at least 7 feet tall with reddish hair and long, swinging arms. A number have claimed they heard the "Wildman" emit a laugh that sounded almost human.
Nicknamed "Fei Fei" by Chinese scientists, the creature is cousin to North America's bigfoot and the legendary abominable snowman of the Himalayas.
Atomic and chemical analyses showed the levels of calcium, iron and copper to be higher in the hair of the "Wildman" compared to nine other mammals, including man, black bears, golden monkeys and orangutans the report said.
The tests were conducted by the animal biology department at Shanghai's Huadong Normal University and at the Shanghai branch of the Chinese Academy of Science. They were done under the supervision of Liu Minzhuang, a biology professor at the university and head of the China Wildman Research Center, which was set up in the early 1980s.
In 1985, the association held an exhibition in the southern city of Guangzhou featuring plaster footprints, hair samples and droppings alleged to be from the "Wildman".
A year earlier, the Shennongjia Mountain forest was declared a nature preserve for the man-beast because of persistent sightings in the area. The "Wildman" has also been reported seen in the provinces of Sichuan; Shaanxi and Henan, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in the far south and in the Himalayan region of Tibet.
Records of sightings date back as far as 3,000 years in China. During the 1950s and 1960s, Chinese scientists searched for the abominable snowman in the Himalayas and for the "Wildman" in the primitive forests of the Xishuangbanna region of southern Yunnan Province.
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