Yeren Spotted in Shennongjia
Posted by: Loren Coleman on November 20th, 2007
Wild men spotted again in Shennongjia
Two giant ape-like creatures were spotted in the afternoon of November 18, 2007, in Shennongjia, an area famous for the legendary “Bigfoot” Wild Man [or Yeren] located in central China’s Hubei Province. Four independently traveling tourists claimed that they were almost face to face with two Wild Men while touring around the Licha River, at the northern foot of Laojun Mountain. If their words prove to be true, the tourists will be the first eyewitnesses of “Bigfoot” in southeast Shennongjia Nature Reserve in recent years.
According to a Changjiang Times report on November 20, Zhang Jinxing, a scientist conducting investigations in the Shennongjia Nature Reserve, reported the thrilling event to relevant local authorities in the afternoon of November 19. When Zhang had finished his investigation that morning, he came across four independently traveling tourists, two men and two women, in a Land-Rover. These tourists told him that they had seen two Wild Men [Yeren] around the Licha River in the morning of November 18. They were near a sharp curve on the mountain road when three of the four, two men and one woman, spotted two giant, dark figures standing behind a tangled mass of shrubbery some 50 meters away from their car. It seemed that the two creatures didn’t see the car at first, but they soon fled into the dense forest. Later that day, the tourists reported the event to the Lichahe Forest Maintenance Station and came back to the spot with two forest rangers. At this time, they only found a few footprints, branches they believed were broken by the wild men and wild fruits scattered on the ground.
Since the Lichahe Forest Maintenance Station is situated in a remote area in the Shennongjia Nature Reserve, local authorities didn’t receive the report in a timely fashion. Currently, the proper authorities are busy contacting the four eyewitnesses and an investigation team has been sent out along the Licha River to conduct a thorough investigation. Local authorities have promised to announce investigation results as soon as possible.
(China.org.cn by Chen Xia, November 20, 2007)
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Great story, Loren!
Interesting if it is true.
Even more interesting is that the Chinese authorities seem to be interested in this and actually spending time and money looking for the Yeren.
Unfortuneatly I can´t read Chinese but I tried to get some information from the Chinese texts about it.
The “kanji” for Yeren seems to mean “to show shoulders” as far as I can understand it.
Interesting but confusing. Does anyone know if it is the Chinese characters for wildman or there is a more exciting meaning?
Interesting report. I hope they find something. Shennongjia’s subtropical climate sounds perfect for a primate.
Not sure what they mean by “independently traveling tourists”, when they’re all in the same landrover. Did they all just run into each other somewhere and say “hey, let’s all rent a landrover together”? I guess the driver could have picked up 3 separate hitchhikers.
Also, 50 meters doesn’t sound quite face-to-face.
“Also, 50 meters doesn’t sound quite face-to-face.”
50 meters = 164 feet.
For easy reference for Americans, a look down half a football field is 50 yards or 150 feet away.
I would mention what that might be for a soccer (or the rest of the world’s football) field, but such fields can be from 100 to 130 yards long.
Very interesting. Sounds like the place they were seen, is a good place to be setting up some trail cams. Sounds like they like wild fruit. So put a real healthy amount of it in the area. I mean a healthy amount. And direct the cams on that huge pile of fruit. If they are lucky. They might get some real good photos. And if they have even better luck. The photos won’t be a mangy momma bear and her cubs. Great story though. We may be getting closer to a chance for some real good evidence. If the Chinese Government is interested and investigating these sightings.
I was also surprised by the Chinese authorities willingness to investigate this report. Pleasantly surprised. That’s what we need more of with Bigfoot.
this is a very informative new article about the yeren or chinese sasquatch. its been awhile since i heard anything about this creature. thanks bill green
Loren: You know, in such a situation people might get a very looong and surprised face:) Or it might just be a difference in language. Sometimes the cultural and detailed meaning of expressions can get lost through translations.
Bucko: I think it is a cultural difference. In west we tend to put science above everything but China (and many other countries) is much more “open minded” and people believe in what we would call superstitious things. As well as there is a bit of prestige in discovering new creatures and the Asian countries aren’t late to try to win that race.
If the Chinese authorities eventually find and prove the existence of a Yeti like creature it will rise the credibility of other Yeti creatures reported from all over the world. Many western scientists and authorities would perhaps change to a more positive attitude towards the possible existence of bigfoot, Wildmen, Almas Et Cetera. In the end of the day, even this short article is helpful for all bigfooters out there. How often do we read an article about western authorities taking interest in sightings and reports?
I could make some guesses about ‘independently traveling tourists’, but I’ll refrain, except to say that it could be an artifact of translation. Very interesting, Loren. Thanks for passing this along.
I’m not surprised that the Chinese government would be interested. The giant panda has proved to be a great good will embassador between China and many countries, including the U.S… why not an even more incredible animal?
Pentastar- I believe you got it right. Most people aren’t very open minded to things like Bigfoot in the west. Lots of people probably don’t report Bigfoot encounters because of the fear of being ridiculed. Who can blame them? We might be able to get somewhere if western authorities took a real interest in Bigfoot reports. I won’t hold my breath!
I would be interested to hear Mystery_Mans thoughts on this article. I understand Japan isn’t China, but I’m pretty sure he could help us understand the cultural differences.
DARHOP- thats a good idea about the trail cams. And an even better idea to leave them Mangy Bears alone!
That’s nice that he apologized but it’s hard to blame the guy and other investigators for being defensive as they are continually bellittled, misquoted and generally scorned. I say, Good job David!
Bucko: I used to live in Japan as well. Spent many years there. Had my fare share of China too. One thing is for sure, they are far more open minded than westerners are. They used to run shows on the Japanese TV rather often about “strange things” and the Japanese have funded quite a few expeditions to find the Yeti and other creatures.
Great News!!!
Pentastar:
I agree with you about the Chinese reputation around the world rising if they find evidence of a yeti-like creature.
It would certainly take the world’s mind off of the enormous recalls of all those toys, food, and equipment that’s been found to be faulty lately. They need all the good publicity they can get.
What happened, though, to the results of the last expedition to that area in the ’90’s? Did they not collect some Wildman hair samples that were “unknown?”
Shennongja is famous for Golden Monkeys as well the Yeren.
Pentastar-Ya know, I was kinda thinking you might have lived around that area. Me? I’ve never traveled outside of the United States. I know next to nothing (closer to nothing) about Chinese or Japanese culture. I welcome anybody with more information about this Yeren.
I’ve spent most of my time interested in Bigfoot and haven’t thought much about the Yeti or Yeren. This article caught my eye and got me interested. I got a lotta catching up to do.
Cryptidsrus asked a good question about a 90’s expedition. I hope someone has an answer.
Clearly escaped circus bears, with mange, that were trained to walk on just two legs amazingly.
Back after a brief hiatus, and what do I find? Squirrels and spider monkeys being confused with “the wild man of Borneo”. Cut to another wild man.
Pentastar is correct — the Chinese characters in the image (“kanji” as the Japanese refer to them) are those for “shoulder” and “to show”; however, I don’t think those characters are read “yeren” in Chinese.
My Chinese is crap, and I know more Cantonese than Mandarin. That being said, “ren” in Mandarin is “person” and the character the same as that used in Japanese, which is read as “jin” (as well as “hito” “nin” etc., etc.). My guess as to the “ye” character in Mandarin is that it corresponds to the Japanese “ya” or “field” which is also read as “no”. That character is used with other characters in Japanese to mean “wild” (yasei no). The Japanese “ya” character does have a Chinese reading as “ye”.
Actually, I just double-checked, and my hunch was right.
There is another term for a yeren “Ren Xiong”. This is written as “man bear” using characters that would be read in Japanese as “nin/hito” and “kuma”.
As for showme’s question about “independent travellers”, I believe it refers to people travelling on their own without tour guides or escorts. Free China prefers to ensure that travellers are free and so provide them with guides and escorts. Those who sacrifice that freedom are “independent” I suppose, meaning that the government of the Free Peoples’ Republic of China isn’t responsible for anything that may happen to said travellers. Oh dear, my vitriol’s eaten a hole in the keyboard.
Just my two cents.
Actually, the characters to which I was referring can be seen in the image. The block of writing on the right-hand side of the image, second row from the top. There they are.
the chinese government has actively gathered information about their wildman for decades. read still living? by myra shackley for more reports of the chinese wildman. the book was published in 81 and she reported that the chinese had already at that point set up scientist in this remote area to observe the yerren. great to read that the eco disaster that is china has not effected the hubei province so bad that the yerren have completely disappeared. just because the chinese are a sheltered culture now we have to remember that they had gunpowder before we had toilet paper. lol. the chinese are diligent to say the least and have had stories of the yerren or yeti and other crypto hominids for a long time. if you havent you really shoud check out this book though. stooge.
Elsanto-
Here we go. I hope I can write Chinese characters here.
野人 pinyin and in Japanese it is just as you wrote, Yasei but I am not sure of the suffix and no time to check…Is it jin rather than nin?
So for everyone looking for the Yeren it might be usefull to use these characters or Pinyin as alternatives to Yeren.
Pentastar:
Yes, those are the characters for “yeren”. Written that way, they have no meaning in Japanese. I pulled out my dictionary and found that “wildman” in Japanese is “yabanjin” (野蛮人), which, interestingly enough, is also the term commonly used for “vandal”. I also wonder whether the term “野郎”, “yarou” in roman letters, might not have some relationship. The “rou” character is “man” or “husband”, though the original Chinese reading is “lang”. Of course, those who speak Japanese know that “yarou” is “yobbo” or “bastard.”
A further two cents.
Elsanto:
True, it is not a Japanese word, how ever, the meaning is very obvious for a Japanese.
Normally I use Japanese characters to communicate with people when I am in China and it works just fine.
‘Independantly tavelling’ tourists would be just describing folks who are not part of an organised tour or package deal.
I suspect this was noted so as not to have the accusations of a ‘set up’. If they were part of an organised package tour then perhaps some might imagine them to have been the butt of a prank.
Being ‘independant travellers’ would obviously rule out that likelyhood.
I am currently living in China, in the next province over from Hubei where Shennongjia is situated, and have been researching the yeren for the last couple of months. Although some people seem surprised by the way the Chinese are dealing with the report, it is nothing new, as several teams have spent a great deal of time collecting stories and ‘evidence’ over the years. The largest attempt took place in 1976 when more than a hundred people were involved over a period of years in a mass investigation, including the foremost expert on the yeren, Dr. Zhou Guoxing of Beijing University. They were able to find many interesting accounts along with footprints and the like, but of course nothing concrete.
I myself am hoping to visit the area in the next few months, and this new sighting has given me renewed hope that there might be something out there!
I live in Japan now and have been for over 11 years, so I do find all the talk on characters and Asian culture interesting. Bucko asked for my opinion on this matter and it seems that elsanto and Pentastar have beaten me to it. Those are pretty good assessments of the Chinese characters. Although Japanese “kanji” are originally from Chinese characters, there are sometimes different readings between the two and the Japanese kanji system underwent a simplification some years back, resulting in some characters being slightly altered.
I also agree completely with elsanto’s two cents on the meaning of “independently traveling tourists”. I am not sure about China, but in Japan a surprising number of people travel on tour packages with groups of other tourists. It is definitely the most prevalent way to travel here, and unless someone says otherwise, it is safe to think that if someone says they are traveling here it is likely that it is with a tour group. So I am thinking that if it is the same in China, then someone traveling on their own without a tour group could be an interesting enough detail to warrant mention in the article.
Elsanto, actually “yarou” does not mean bastard in the strict sense of the word. It actually means someone who lives out in the rural countryside. That is the literal meaning. In Japanese slang, however, it has come to take on a negative connotation and is used as an insult, but “Yarou” means “bastard” only in it’s colloquial usage.
Any other question on Japan, Japanese culture, or Japanese writing are welcomed. I will answer to the best of my ability, although it must be mentioned these differ from those in China in many respects.
Oh, and by the way, anyone looking up the word “yarou” in the dictionary might find it listed as meaning “rascal”. I should clarify that this meaning in rather contemporary and colloquial. The original meaning is, like I said, more akin to something like “country bumpkin”. Go figure on how that came to mean what it does today.
Pantastar- An answer to your question concerning the character “人”. It means both “nin” AND “jin”, as well as “hito” and these two words have the same meaning of “person”. The only difference lies in how they are used within the language. “Hito” by itself is used to say “person”, where as “nin” and “jin” are used as suffixes. For example “外国人” is read as “gaikoku-jin” or literally a person from outside, a foreigner. “Jin” is a suffix here. “Nin” is also a suffix but is mostly used with numbers of people. So “三人” or “san nin” means “three people”. It is a suffix to denote how many people one is talking about. So “nin”, “jin”, and “hito” all mean person and all are written as “人”, but differ according to usage. In the case of the characters you mentioned, the suffix would be read as “jin”.
Hope this is useful!
mystery_man:
Beautiful, concise explanation of readings for the “nin” character. And yes, it was irresponsible of me not to note that “yarou” did not always mean “bastard” or “yobbo” or “dude.”
I do know, however, that its derogatory usage dates back as far as the early Edo Period because of my in-depth study of Kabuki. When the shogunate outlawed performances given by females, the kabuki producers began to employ young, male actors. Not long after, one can find reference to “yarou kabuki” — translated in some texts as “fellows’ kabuki” with notes that the term included a negative connotation implying homosexuality — also interesting given that homosexuality was an accepted practice (though the Shogunate was opposed to samurai having homosexual relationships with actors, and closed all the theatres in Kyoto and Osaka after two samurai drew swords in a theatre over the affections of an actor).
Given that this usage of the word was in relatively common use at that time, the negative connotation must have pre-dated the Edo Period, which gives one to wonder exactly what those country bumpkins were doing in the fields — I suppose they were quite the wildmen.
Which prompts another question — in the old Japanese classics, which are written in pure characters are derived from Chinese classics (and are the bane of the vast majority of high school students in Japan) the characters for “ya” and “jin” together (“yeren” in Chinese) may well have occurred at some point. I’ll run this by some of my colleagues who are Japanese teachers on Monday (they’re used to having me ask such strange questions)…
up to six, now.
elsanto- Wonderful information on Kabuki, thank you. Unfortunately Kabuki is one aspect of Japanese culture I have not really studied in any great depth, although I do have a passing interest in it and a general knowledge of this art form. Thank you for taking the time to post on it. At the risk of getting off topic, I won’t bother you with any questions on it, although I’m sure you could enlighten me on some of the finer points!
As far as “yarou” goes, its meaning as “country bumpkin” is a rather interesting bit of language trivia and some Japanese themselves may not even be aware of that origin for the word. I know my Japanese wife had never heard about it before. I just have a love of the Japanese language and happen to have picked up a good deal of useless little factoids about words and Chinese characters. One thing is for sure is that the word “yarou” has been a derogatory term for quite some time and in modern times it certainly is not a nice thing to call someone. If anyone hears “このやろう！” or “kono yarou!” when in Japan, it is not the welcome mat!
I am entirely aware of the headaches the “pure” characters cause. It is one of the reasons they were revamped in modern times and comparing some, such as the current “学” (Which for those who don’t know is a part of “学生” or “gakusei”, university student) with the original pure character, you can see how simplified some have become. Chinese seems to be another story, though. 🙂 Not much help to you on the literary nuances of “jin” and “ya” in the classics. Most of the part time translating work I do happens to be for scientific papers and journals, so I’d be interested myself in what your colleagues come up with!
Unfortunately, since the text in the pictured article is entirely in Chinese (which I don’t speak at all), I am not much help in giving a completely accurate translation.
My two yen.
Sorry, I meant “大学生”, or “Daigakusei” for University student. “gakusei” means student and “Daigakusei” has the charcter “大”, or “dai” which means “Big”. So university student literally reads as “Big student.” Sorry to get off on a tangent here with characters.
I’m curious as to more details on the terrain and habitat of the area mentioned in the sighting report. If anyone has information, it is much appreciated. All I see in the article is that it is “densely forested”, but that’s about it.
Pentastar-elsanto-Mystery_man: You all amaze me! I read what you’re saying…but, it’s all Chinese to me! Get it? All Chinese? 🙂
Thank you all for your posts. I was beginning wonder where you was Mystery_Man. You’re right there’s a lotta sharp people that post here.
Do you guys think we’ll hear much more about this storey? I wonder how open the Chinese government will be. So far so good, huh?
Happy Thanksgiving all!
Mystery_man..
I know the Japanese language (5 years in Tokyo and now a Japanese wife).
I was just unsure wich suffix to use in a word that does not really exist in the Japanese language.
I also read the article in Chinese and it didn’t give me much more than it gave you.
Chinese is O.K when in China and trying to get around but I have a hard time to understand details when I read their newspapers et cetera.
Bucko…
Thanks a lot.
How ever, Japanese is not even on my top three (skillwise that is) of the languages I can speak:)
Pentastar- I see. I would say that in that word, the best guess would be “jin”. Even with words that don’t really exist or even made up words, the same basic rules generally apply. In that case, “jin” would be the most fitting suffix. I am really amazed and pleased at how many others on this site have experience living in Japan. It is a place dear to my heart.
Bucko- Sorry it took some time to get in on the conversation. I’ve been pretty busy lately and have not had as much time as I would like to get on here and post. You’ll probably find stretches where I won’t be around, followed by stints of heavy commenting when I am able. I do try to get on here as much as I can, though. I love this site! 🙂 I am happy that you are interested in all of this posting by elsanto, Pentastar, and myself on Asian cultures and language! Thanks for the kind words.
About the story, I hope we here more about this sighting, but I just get the bad feeling that it may just kind of fade away and be swept under the rug as so many of these hairy hominid sightings tend to be. I hope I’m wrong, I’d love to hear about any follow ups on this.
Don’t know if anyone will read this post at this late stage… but here’s an update…
I asked one of my knowledgable colleagues about the Japanese “yajin” (野人) — which would be the Japanese reading for the characters for “yeren” — and did so without any mention of the context. She said that those characters, while little used, would be used to refer to “people from long ago..” adding in English, “like Australopithecus.” Couldn’t get much beyond that.
Also, a few people mentioned that there is more open-mindedness towards cryptids in the East — that may be the case with the Chinese and the yeren, but in other cultures (thinking of Tibetans and Nepalese here, with respect to the dremo or yehteh or yeti) what we in the West consider cryptids may not be cryptids at all. As far as Japan, I’m in the rural backwater… I can’t say I’ve found that kind of open-mindedness here — at least not with respect to Japan’s own cryptid, the tsuchi-no-ko (which means “child of the earth”). When I’ve mentioned the tsuchi-no-ko (in one instance, I did this to contextualize a talk I was giving to elementary and junior high students about wildlife in Canada, which included sasquatch), people laugh and say that most people who believe in the tsuchi-no-ko are ignorant, deluded, or have little education. In one of my favourite manga, the school bully, who ends up becoming a nice guy, has an obssession with the tsuchi-no-ko (while another geeky kid is a UFO nut). I believe mystery_man and Pentastar mentioned having had quite a different experience here… I wonder if tsuchi-no-ko was something that they might have raised with Japanese friends and colleagues…
Some sense but no cents.
Bucko: Thanks for the kudos (do we ever use that word in the singular?); it’s nothing special… just part of the day-to-day when you live in Japan… Thanks also for the chuckle.
elsanto- I’m still checking this thread, mainly because I was waiting to see what you found out. Thanks for the info! Yes, I’ve talked here about the tsuchinoko before and I have heard mixed reactions about it in Japan, but not all negative. there are actually more cryptids than that here, including Japan’s own wildman. (called the Hibagon). I’ve had more scoffs at the idea of the Honshu wolf still surviving, and unbelievably skepticism that a type wolf ever lived in Japan (it did). I won’t go into these things here at the risk of getting off topic, but maybe on a later thread. It does show that reactions in at least this Asian country vary wildly, just as they do in the States.
In my opinion Japan is for the most part pretty open minded about these sorts of cryptids and undeniably there have been a lot of great research expeditions carried out by Japanese teams. The general public seems to have a genuine curiosity in these phenomena, as is evident from the decent amount of cryptozoology themed shows, toys, and magazines here, but I don’t know how seriously it is all taken or whether anyone really entertains the idea of these creatures being out there. I do know that a lot of folklore is taken seriously, so this could have an effect on people’s willingness to consider cryptids.
I don’t have any idea about China, as I’ve never even been there in all this time in Asia, but from the sounds of this article at least the authorities involved here took heed of the sightings and made an effort to check them out.
As for the yeren, it’s always been interesting how the Chinese authorities have taken the yeren seriously… reminiscent of the same open-mindedness that the Russians/Soviets had towards Almasty.
I’m actually going to have to go back and read up on the Yeren, as it is one cryptid I am not up to date on. Good to see this article here on it.
The Hibagon is pretty obscure and a lot of Japanese you ask probably will not have heard of it. It was sighted mostly in Hiroshima. You can probably find references to it online. It is quite different than the Yeren, and reported as more apelike than other hairy hominids. Another interesting Asian hominid to be sure.
Hey, I’m glad I checked this thread. It’s great to see you guys still posting. I’m checking out the things you write about. I can’t really contribute to the conversation. Since you guys have first hand knowledge, anything I’d add you’d probably already know.
Anyway, keep posting things you find out. This is a very interesting subject. One thing I’m finding is that almost all cultures have some form of “wildman”. I don’t quite know what to make of that. Any thoughts?
I’m glad I could give you guys a laugh, or at least a smile. This world needs humor sometimes.
bucko- I’m pleased that you learned something and are checking these things out. By the way, don’t hesitate to chime in with your own ideas or take on things even if you don’t think you can add anything. Sometimes it is good to hear the views or impressions of someone who doesn’t have first hand knowledge, and I think you can still make contributions. I for one am interested in what those such as yourself have to say about all of it.
Something you mention that is really right on target is that indeed many cultures throughout the world have their own “wildmen” and folklore concerning them. Even cultures that live in areas that don’t have any naturally occurring primates of any kind have wildman stories going back years and years. I’m not sure what to make of it. Maybe it’s some sort of subconscious archetype that us humans have buried deep in our psyche? Maybe these wildmen are more widespread and far ranging than we give them credit for? I’ve heard a lot of hypotheses about just this thing, and I think it’s open to debate.
What do you think about it?