Editing Yeren (section)

===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}}