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CHUN-HIN SHUM 1

Oriental Ufology: Analysis of the Unidentified Flying


Objects and the Encounters with Aliens in Ancient
China
Abstract

The Online Columbia Encyclopedia (2018, no page given) suggested UFOs,


known as ‘flying saucers’ or “flying discs”, typically fly across the sky and emit
light. After a short or long duration, the UFOs vanish. The military term of
viewing an unexplained flying object is called ‘Unexplained Aerial
Phenomenon’ (UAP). The colour of the object appears to be silver and grey.
Also, the UFO is said to be silent. It is usually described as a noiseless,
vertical cylinder-shaped object in ‘clouds’ during the day time, or red and
various colours at night.

The UFO phenomenon occurred numerous times in ancient China. The observation
of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) is documented in Chinese literary sources . The
documents are well preserved and written. Most reports of flying spheres were
written by Chinese imperial historians or important officials, who are well-known for
their credibility and are unidentified after close scrutiny of all the evidence by the
people who are capable of examining the object in that era, not to mention
the tremendous time and efforts which the officials has spent investigating the
incident and verifying the testimonies of the witnesses.

The terminology adopted in the classical Chinese literature is accurate and rational.
Most reports gave detailed descriptions about the UFOs’ colour, size, shape and
direction while some may not, not to mention the social conditions, the adoption of
sophisticated technology and the description of incidents at that time, characteristic
of the 21st century UFOs’ reports. The various reports were made in various
dynasties of China. Although the identities of witnesses are unknown, there were
tremendous numbers of the reports. If these objects were not UFOs, no convincing
explanations can be given to justify the sighting of massive UFO sightings and
massive “hallucination” in various provinces in China.

According to a report which was conducted by the France National Centre for
Space Studies (UFO Study & Information Group) and which analyse the cases from
2007 to 2016, a tremendous number of UFOs incidents can be explained by modern
science. However, the remaining cannot be explained as they are out of range of
science. (ibid.)

A classification adapted from the sixfold classification of UFOs sighting by Dr. J.


Allen Hynek, including the combination of the nocturnal lights and Daylight Discs,
and excluding the Radar –Visual. In other words, the sightings will be mentioned in
the aspects of ‘Remote Viewings’, the close encounter of the first, second, third and
fourth kinds.
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A. Remote Viewing
The term of ‘Romote viewing’ refers to the daytime and night time viewings of a
flying objects in a far distance as one whole category although ancient astronomers
may divide the distant encounters in two separate sub-categories. Each sub-
category will be entitled in the chronological order.

Fiery Globes

 One detailed report of fiery globes occurred during the Qing dynasty of China.
The Chief Executive of Sichuan province reported in his journal ‘Hui li zhi -
xiang vi zhi’ (The historical record of unexplained phenomenon of Huì lǐ
province, 會理州志. 祥異志 ) in 1851B.C. as follows:

On the 10th January, 1851, ‘in the southern part of the Sichuan province, not
far away from the east costal area during the night time,an unexplained aerial
object flew from east to west following some unusual humming sounds. The
object appeared in red, pointed at the top of the craft whilst the bottom was
smooth and round.’ (p.145)

 In the journal, (The historical record of unexplained phenomenon in Xīng ān


province 興安懸志. 祥異志), on 6th October, 1849 B.C. during the Qing
dynasty in the western side of Jingxi province, states:

‘In a red sea, five various sphere objects sparkled and fell from the sky one
by one. The view was extraordinary. After a while, the five objects rose and
vanished.’

Since the rising action was anti-gravity, the phenomenon was clearly against the
Newton gravitation theory. The 1851 incident illustrated that the object flew
horizontally whilst the 1849 incident indicated the vertically flying.

(In the the historical record in Huì tóng province, 會同縣志 外紀), on 13th March,
1869 B.C. during the Qing Dynasty, in the western side of Hunan province, it was
stated as follows:

‘After a sound of humming during the night, a 10-meter-long object appeared


in the sky as if the sky was broken in half. The enormous object plummeted. It
appeared to be red as it was in fire and sparkled. All a sudden, it vanished,
the red object became black. The sky became dark again.

However, some people reckon although the incident is similar to a nature


phenomenon called ‘Zodiacal light’. It was possible that it was a granitic object
switched from red to black colour. According to online Astronomy Encyclopaedia,
(2018, no page given) the ‘Zodiacal light’ is a natural phenomenon and it occurs
after night or before sunset. It is dim yellow or red colour, and mute. (ibid.)
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 The historical record of zhōu dynasty (史記. 周本紀) gives one example of an
emperor called ‘Mu Wong’ waging a war with another emperor called ‘soeng
zau’. Two years later ‘Mu Wong’ won. While he was crossing the Yellow River
called, ‘Huang He’, it happened as follows,

‘ A red object lingered above the camp of ‘Mu Wong’. After a while, it flew
away. It looked like a bird with noise.’ (p.132)

Some people suggested that the people in antiquity might believe the incident was an
omen of the successful accomplishment of Mu Wong.

Flying sphere

 On 4thAugust, 1561 B.C. , “In the north-eastern part of Zhenhai County,


Zhejiang province. a yellow-white object in the shape of a measuring vessel
fell at night from the North-western direction. Its upper part is shaped like a
cone whereas the lower half is shaped like another cone with a pointed end at
the bottom. It was emitting purple-yellow light beam. …. it fell on the ground.
No noise was heard in the whole incident. (The historical record of
unexplained phenomenon in Zhèn Hǎi province, 鎭海懸志. 祥異志)
 In 354 B.C. Mu wei 武威, According to a historical book of Jìn dynasty, (晉書
張秨傳), a historian zhāng zuò wrote, “A light in the shaped of an umbrella
appeared in the sky. The upper part is shaped like a cone whereas the lower
part is flat. Then, there was a terrifying sound like thunder.

B. Close encounter of the first kind.

Hynek (1972, p.98-99) gave an example of the ‘Close encounter of the first
kind’. That is to say, the UFO interacts with the observer in a near distance
(less than 500 feets). What is more, the UFOs left no physical evidence. (ibid.)

An example occurred on the 27 of November, 1071 B.C, a well-known Chinese poet


called ‘Sū Shì (蘇軾) was travelling to Háng zhōu (杭州) when he wrote a poem
describing his journey to jīn mountain 金山 and the scenery at night. The poem
expressed not only his nostalgia of his home town, but also the strange
phenomenon.
 According to his poem (Travelling in jīn mountain temple, 遊金山寺):

The new moon vanished during the evening . A dazzling fire torch ascended from the
middle river of Cháng Jiāng(長江) and rose up. The light was emited to the jīn mountain
temple (金山寺) and birds fluttered away. It was neither a ghost nor a human being.
What could it be?
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According to the criticism of Chinese literature by Liú jì (劉績 霏雪錄.), the term ‘fire
torch’ 火炬 refers to smoky celestial fire. It was disappointing that no further details
such as sounds or witnesses was given. Some people said the object which Sū Shì
saw might be a UFO.

 Another incident occurred on 18th May, 1672 B.C, the farmers in Zhejiang(逝
江) (The historical record of unexplained phenomenon in Jiā xīng province,嘉
興府志. 祥異志) saw the following phenomenon:

A bird as big as a boat came from the East in the (Hǎi Yán province 海鹽懸). Its wings
was like wheels. It was accompanied with the sounds of winds and rains in the sky.

It appeared that the wings on both sides could be the engines and the bird
could be a UFO.

C. Close encounter of the second kind.

Hynek (1972, p.98-99) defined the close encounter of the second kind as the
physical trace left by the UFO or humanoid. For instance, the marks left by a
descending UFO.

 A ‘thunderstorm’ was described in the The historical record of unexplained


phenomenon in Shàng hǎi province(上海懸志. 祥異說) as follows:

In June, 1713 B.C. the “thunder and lightings” burned down a piece land as big
as a house. Lots of people saw it.

The physical trace was three deep holes with equal distance (1.5 metre) to each
other, forming a equilateral triangle, in an area of 10 square metres. The diameter of
each hole was 13 cm and the depth was 26 cm. The incident may not be caused by
the nature. Perhaps it was a UFO incident. In term of the shape and size, the
physical trace may suggest the triangle was an steel stand of an electronical
machine.

 Some ‘enormous creatures’ were described in The historical record of


unexplained phenomenon in Sōng jiāng province (松江府志. 祥異志) on 7th
August, 1781 B.C as follows:

A place called Sōng jiāng 松冮 was devastated by a storm. The day before
the storm, something strange happened. An enormous creature appeared. It
was as large as a house. It was round. It had neither a head nor hands. It flew
from the ground to the sea, leaving some puddles in the ground.
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D. Close encounter of the third kind.

Hynek (1972, 158) stated the close encounter of the third kind as the interaction with
a UFO. The UFO encounters are often described as humanoid.

 According to Encyclopedia of Gàn zhōu Province (贛州府志. 雜志),


a drought was occurred in Jiangxi In 1751. “Some farmers was irrigating
during the evening while two other famers were preparing the tools. They saw
a fiery globe appearing in a forest far away. The globe flew straight ahead to a
river, with a width of 2 -3m. Two farmers were shocked. Out of curiosity, they
squatted down and watched. Afterwards the globe approached. They saw a
giant with red hair with blue skins. The giant raised its head and looked
around. What was more, the giant was as bright as twinkling stars. While he
was about to shut his mouth, some sound of the bamboo flute was heard.
What was more, He was grapping a jar glowing in light-green on the giant’s
face.”

 The astronomical record of Suí Dynasty (隋書. 五行志) states that in


February, 559 B.C. “7-feet-tall celestial being appeared in a Luo fu Mountain
temple. He was glowing in crystal white with his clothes.”

E. Close encounter of the fourth kind.

Jacques Vallee argued in his journal, ‘Physical Analysis in Ten cases of Unexplained
Aerial Objects with Material Samples’ that the close encounter of the fourth kind is a
hallucination associated with a UFO or alien encounter.

 According to (Official record of Sōng zī county 松滋縣志) ,


in the 19th Century, “on 15th June, 1880, Mr. Tin went hiking in a forest and witnessed a
strange gorgeous object in the sky one morning. Out of curiosity, he touched it. All of
asudden, he felt that he rose and flew in the sky. He heard the wind whistling. What was
more, his body could not move freely and he became confused about the direction. Then
he flew a thousand miles and dropped down to a mountain.”

 There was an official record of Shàng yú county (上虞縣志) as follows:


At the beginning of the 16th century, “A nearly 80-years-old woman disappeared.
Eventually, she was discovered at the top of the mountain. Obviously, she did not
travel by her own. During the process, she lost her consciousness and memory. Her
son picked her up. It was surprising that the woman got no memory of his son.
After a few months, she became normal again.

Conclusion

This essay adopted the examples extracted from the UFO reports of ancient China.
These reports are based on literary sources such as the historian book, the records
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of unexplained phenomenon and poems. Most of the reports gave considerable


details. Although some of the reports were in lack of details so it was difficult to
testify, the report was testified by credible witnesses. In order to proclaim that the
majority of the above examples are not a hoax, this essay has eliminated the
considerable elements of mythology.

Also, this essay has adopted a classification similar to Hynek’s scale to distinguish
each case in different categories. A wide range of scales, ranging from distant
encounter to close encounter, allows scholars to study UFOs appropriately in the
light of the above classification.

In the reliable ancient Chinese reports, ‘UFOs’ are often described as ‘fiery globes’,
‘dark clouds’, ‘flying sphere’, ‘birds’ and ‘fire torch’. The UFOs sightings rapidly
increased since the 11th century B.C in China. Aerial lights rarely occurred in both
nature catastrophe and conflagration including tsunami, earthquakes, wars, fire
disaster and storm.

Today’s scholars may have difficulties in examining the reports in dubious legitimacy.
However, the records written by historians allow modern UFO researchers to
compare the incidents at present and in the past. Although the origin of UFOs
remains unknown and they are nothing in the 21st century, it is hoped that ufology
could alleviate the ignorance of people regarding to this subject. To a large extent, it
may be an undeniable fact that UFOs and ETs really exist.

CHUN-HIN SHUM
Hong Kong Exopolitics Research Centre

Bibliography:

Encyclopedia Britannica, Unidentified flying object, History, Sightings, & Facts,.


(2018). [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/unidentified-flying-
object [Accessed 22 Aug. 2018].

GEIPAN: Stats. (2018). [online] Available at: http://www.cnes-geipan.fr/?id=196


[Accessed 22 Aug. 2018].

H y n e k , J . A The UFO Experience: A Scientific Enquiry, Ballantine Books,


1972

Robinson, L.J, Tirion. Moore W & P. (Eds.), Odiacal light. (2002). Astronomy
encyclopedia. [Online]. London: Philip's. Available from:
<http://ezproxy01.rhul.ac.uk/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/ent
ry/philipsastronomy/zodiacal_light/0?institutionId=8498> [Accessed 22 August 2018].
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Figure 1, BBC, n.d.

Further Readings:
王江樹, 石曉敏, 中國古代外星人, 美國 U. S. 國際出版公司

Vallee, J.F, Physical Analyses in Ten Cases of Unexplained Aerial Objects with
Material Samples, available
at:<https://web.archive.org/web/20100706200144/http://www.scientificexplora
tion.org/journal/jse_12_3_vallee_2.pdf>

Murray, B.C, The UFO Experience. A Scientific Inquiry by J. Allen Hynek, available at:<
https://www-jstor-
org.ezproxy01.rhul.ac.uk/stable/pdf/1734749.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3Ac7005b1518cd9c21
c040065962f5f713>

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