SUBJECT: CHINA UFOLOGISTS HOLD CONFERENCE IN BEIJING         FILE: UFO1480




From: leping+@pitt.edu (Leping N Zha)
Date: 15 May 92 14:17:44 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.alien.visitors
Subject: China Ufologists hold conference in Beijing (Re: 3rd world UFOs?)

~Subject: Chinese scientists explore UFO mysteries
Keywords: international, space, science, ufo, human interest

	BEIJING (UPI) -- Chinese scientists are huddling this week to explore
the latest mysteries of unidentified flying objects, from reports of
sightings and abductions to claims that Chinese mystics are in contact
with life on other planets.
	The nearly 200 researchers from around the country are meeting in
Beijing at a conference sponsored by the China UFO Research Society, the
national organization that coordinates studies in China of ``fei die,''
which in Chinese means ``flying saucer.''
	The society, known by its English acronym CURO, is engaged in
research that spans the gamut from cold science to the weird and wacky,
including efforts to speak to outer space without all the high-tech
gadgetry employed by Western researchers.
	``One of our important missions is to establish a way for people on
Earth to communicate with other planets without resorting to modern
communications methods,'' said Wang Changting, the research society's
affable director.
	Nearly 5,000 UFO-type sightings have been reported in China since the
late 1970s, with all but around 200 later discounted as natural or man-
made objects such as weather phenonema and aircraft.
	The unsolved cases include sightings of floating basketballs, orange-
lit washbasins and flying straw hats. Around 40 of those are the ``close
encounters'' variety, with reports of contact or kidnappings by vaguely
described extraterrestrials.
	In one case, a teacher in eastern Tianjin reported seeing a
shimmering ball overhead as he bicycled around a park at night. He lost
consciousness and awoke the next morning at the park gate to find the
time on his watch an hour behind the actual time.
	A month later, he suddenly recalled having been abducted onto a
strange craft by two short beings in unidentifiable space suits.
	Along with those reports, and research into related topics like
atmospheric phenomena, some of the 3,500 CURO members nationwide are
studying claims by Chinese mystics that they can locate UFOs or
communicate with aliens.
	Some claim to use ``qigong,'' a practice that marshals the Chinese
concept of life energy, to make contact. Although qigong is an accepted
exercise discipline, adherents also make fantastic claims of
supernatural powers or faith healing ability.
	``Sometimes we cannot mix Western reality and Oriental belief,''
shrugged Wang. ``Of course there are some illogical things involved, but
the line between science and mysticism cannot be separated only as
illogic.''
	Among other areas of research are theoretical and practical studies
of space flight, the possibility of life on other planets and the
potential impact of UFOs on the Earth's environment.
	UFO research is taken seriously in China. Several years ago, a UFO
sighting over an open air film show in rural south China sparked a
stampede by panicked villagers that left two people dead and 300
injured.
	The Chinese military, which sometimes scrambles air force jets to try
to catch a glimpse of UFOs, conducts its own UFO studies and maintains
contact with CURO researchers, Wang said.
	But not even scientists are immune to the more outlandish aspects of
UFOs, he added, noting a report by a CURO researcher who claimed he had
been ``invited'' aboard a space craft and taken to a planet thousands of
light years away.
	``This man was a scientist, so we don't believe that what he told us
is altogether nonsense,'' Wang said. ``But we can't explain it.''


              
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