Editing Yeren (section)

===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}}