Editing Yeren (section)

==Scientific interest==
===Mao era===
Reported sightings of apemen increased during the 20th century, prompting small scientific investigations in the 1950s and 60s. The first such expeditions focused more on the [[yeti]], a similar apeman cryptid from [[Tibet]], funded by the Soviet Yeti Research Commission. The [[Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology]] (IVPP) headquartered in [[Beijing]] followed suit and included the yeti as part of its survey of [[Mount Everest]] in 1959. Prominent [[Paleoanthropology|paleoanthropologist]] [[Pei Wenzhong]] communicated to Soviet colleagues a small collection of similar apeman reports across China. In 1962, another prominent paleoanthropologist, Wu Rukang, led an investigation of reports from the [[Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture]] in the [[Yunnan]] Province, but dismissed them as a misidentified [[gibbon]].{{sfn|Schmalzer|2008|pp=83–84}} Separately, Professor Mao Guangnian linked the yeti with the yeren. His interest in the topic began when he heard his colleague Wang Zelin's story of an apeman shot dead in 1940 while in the field on behalf of the [[Yellow River]] Water Control Committee.{{sfn|Schmalzer|2008|p=210}}

During the [[History of the People's Republic of China (1949–1976)|Mao era]] (1949–1976) under chairman [[Mao Zedong]], fervent government campaigns aimed to squash superstitious beliefs and to quell debates surrounding mysterious apemen. They believed stories of yeren, ghosts, and spirits would impair productivity, such as by scaring farmers from tending to their fields, and circulating such stories were sometimes punishable offenses. Scientific interest quickly dwindled and Guangnian became one of the only scientists researching the yeren. He used primarily recent scientific reports and ancient literature as opposed to contemporary eye witness accounts. Other scientists, such as Pei, ascribed apemen testimonies to scientific illiteracy and strong superstitious beliefs among villagers in these remote areas, though they remained supportive of further study. Guangnian, nonetheless, argued that, by studying yeren, he could replace superstitions with scientific fact. He speculated yeren are the source of Chinese ghost and spirit folklore, much like how [[manatee]]s allegedly inspired some [[mermaid]] stories.{{sfn|Schmalzer|2008|pp=214–217}} Soviet historian [[Boris Porshnev]] suggested these apemen are a relict population of [[Neanderthal]]s, but Guangnian believed the yeren were far too primitive, more likely a descendant of the giant Chinese ape ''[[Gigantopithecus]]''.{{sfn|Schmalzer|2008|p=219}}

===Post-Mao "yeren fever"===
[[File:Location of Shennongjia within Hubei (China).png|thumb|Location of [[Shennongjia]] in the [[Hubei]] Province]]
In 1974, historian Li Jian, the vice secretary of the Prefectural Propaganda Department of Shennongjia recorded testimonies from locals regarding the yeren, the oldest occurring in 1945. This earned Li the nickname "The Minister of Yeren". His work attracted the attention of Liu Minzhuang, a professor at [[East China Normal University]], as well as several IVPP scientists, in 1976. As the Mao Era ended on the downswing of the tumultuous [[Cultural Revolution]], the taboo against superstitions diminished, and popular Western works regarding the yeti and the similar North American [[Bigfoot]] were translated into Chinese. Coupled with Li and Liu's work and increasing commercialization with newly wrought publishing freedoms, interest in apemen surged as "yeren fever" took hold. In subsequent years, Liu would become the most prominent worker on the yeren, earning the nickname "The Professor of Yeren".{{sfn|Schmalzer|2008|pp=211–212}}

In 1977, Zhou Guoxing along with military personnel, zoologists, biologists, and photographers launched a yeren expedition in Shennongjia on behalf of the [[Chinese Academy of Sciences]] (though the group size was probably counterproductive, generating too much noise).{{sfn|Smith|2021|p=5}} Subsequent expeditions comprising scientists, technicians, government officials, and local villagers collected alleged footprints, hair samples, and sightings of the yeren, published in scientific journals, pop science magazines, and newspapers. Yeren hunts effected an unprecedented involvement of untrained laypeople, and was by-and-large fueled by [[citizen science]].{{sfn|Schmalzer|2008|p=213}} In 1981, the China Wildman Research Society formed with the help of the famous Chinese paleoanthropologist [[Jia Lanpo]], and offered a cash reward for a yeren body, [[Renminbi|¥]]5,000 dead and ¥10,000 alive (at the time, [[United States dollar|$]]1,750 and $3,500).{{sfn|Smith|2021|p=5}}

Much like Guangnian, the majority of scientists worked to prove these apemen were undiscovered early offshoots of humanity rather than supernatural entities, while a minority maintained they were misidentified ordinary animals. The most popular candidates include a descendant of ''Gigantopithecus'' or an undiscovered Chinese variant of the African ''[[Paranthropus robustus]]'' (at the time considered to be gigantic like ''Gigantopithecus'').{{sfn|Schmalzer|2008|pp=220–221}} Another notable hypothesis, though not the most popular among scientists, was that the yeren are a backwards and unevolved race of modern humans, often supported by [[scientific racism|racist]] comparisons with local ethnic minorities. In 1984, local Li Mingzhi, when detailing his yeren sighting, remarked that at first he, "thought it was a local [[Wa people|Wa]] woman climbing the mountains to collect pig food."{{sfn|Schmalzer|2008|pp=222–223}} The yeren being a far removed human relative would have confirmed several popular Chinese theories of the time, which depended strongly on [[Marxism]]. Most notably is [[Friedrich Engels]]' concept of "labor created humanity", because, despite being [[Bipedalism|bipedal]] with hands free to labor, the yeren did not organize into a laborious society and remained evolutionarily stagnant. It would also support the [[Out of Asia theory|Out of Asia]] theory (that modern humans evolved in Asia) which was being overturned by the now-popular [[Out of Africa hypothesis]]. Consequently, hypothetical yeren society was often characterized using [[Marxist feminism]], a [[polygyny|polygynous]] and [[matriarchy|matriarchal]] one.{{sfn|Schmalzer|2008|pp=221–222}} Yeren were also sometimes ascribed feelings of love and familial bonding; for example, in 1976, a pregnant yeren was rumored to be searching for her "husband" in Shennongjia.{{sfn|Schmalzer|2008|p=235}}

By the 1980s, whole books about the yeren were being published, and a substantial collection of such literature has since amassed.{{sfn|Schmalzer|2008|p=213}} Some yeren hunters — generally men — dedicated their lives to the chase, leaving their families behind.{{sfn|Schmalzer|2008|p=229}} In 1981, Li received funding by the Chinese Anthropological Society to found the Chinese Yeren Investigative Research Association. Four of their exhibitions that decade garnered audiences upwards of 400,000.{{sfn|Schmalzer|2008|p=214}}

===Conclusion===
[[File:Ursus thibetanus 01.JPG|thumb|Some yeren sightings may be misidentified [[Asian black bear]]s.<ref name=Zhou2012/>]]
As all expeditions had failed to turn up convincing evidence, scientific interest plummeted by the late 1980s.{{sfn|Schmalzer|2008|p=230}} Alleged bodies, hairs, and footprints actually came from various known animals, including humans, [[Himalayan brown bear]]s, [[Tibetan blue bear]]s, [[Asian black bear]]s, [[macaque]]s, [[goral]], and [[serow]]. Purported "monkey boy" skulls, supposed evidence of yeren/human hybrids, actually belonged to fully human children who suffered [[spinocerebellar ataxia]].<ref name=Zhou2012/> Since they usually are reported to have occurred at a distance, eyewitnesses may have misidentified bears, [[gibbon]]s, and [[monkey]]s. Additionally, many eyewitness accounts were likely completely fabricated or embellished.{{sfn|Smith|2021|pp=8–9}}

Following the [[1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre]], the government began constricting private organizations and discouraged the ideas and observations of lay peoples (including on scientific matters). Concurring with this trend, in 1994, Li's Yeren Association was subsumed by the [[China Association for Science and Technology]] (though it is largely funded by members instead of governments), and was renamed the Strange and Rare Animals Exploration and Investigation Committee.{{sfn|Schmalzer|2008|pp=230–231}} Further study is still not ubiquitously reproved in Chinese academic circles, though mainstream academia does not consider the yeren to be real. One of the only academics left attempting to prove the creature's existence is American anthropologist [[Jeffrey Meldrum]].{{sfn|Smith|2021|p=8}}