CHINA Report Science and Technology No.79

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

(3) Most of the cases reported were not only similar in form and characteristics to reports from abroad of UFO's, but there also seems to be a rather extraordinary correlation in the times of events. Between 1971 and 1973, the United States and the United Kingdom experienced large numbers of eye witness accounts, and in China the number of reports showed a small surge as well. On 18 September 1976 in Tehran, Iran, an airforce Phantom fighter aircraft and a UFO had a combat encounter that raised a furor, while during this same time, the number of reports increased in China. During the summer and autumn of 1977, there was a case of UFO's in various places in Europe, and the number of reports in China were also fairly numerous. For example, Yuan Chenxin [5913 2182 2450] of the Institute of Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences sighted a disc shaped unidentified flying object in the forest area of Shennongjia in Hubei Province. Fang Qing [2455 7230] and others from the Shanxi Teachers College observed an orange-red saucer shaped unidentified flying object at Taiyuan. On 21 October 1978, an incident took place in Australia in which a UFO caused the disappearance of an airplane, and two days later in China a correspondingly huge unidentified flying object of similar characteristics was observed. In early 1979 in New Zealand, storms broke out everywhere and there were corresponding reports inside China. On 17 August, a Japanese pilot photographed a UFO, and 2200 hours on 21 August, Beijing student Wang Jianmin [3769 1696 3046] observed in the skies over Beijing a blue disc shaped unidentified flying object flying in a complex path, now fast now slow, and able to stop suddenly. On the morning of 10 November, Fan Da [5400 6671], a cadre at Danzhu Commune, Pingnan County, Guangxi Province observed from the fourth floor of a building a silvery oval shaped unidentified flying object that constantly spurted forth some substance as it flew. The next day an incident occured in Spain in which a UFO forced the landing of a passenger jet aircraft.

(4) By comparison with some events reported abroad, the substance of reports currently being received in China is rather pedestrian. For example, there have been no instances in which unidentified flying objects have caused power outages or blotted out communications. There have been no photographs or movies taken, or material evidence left behind. There have been no cases of peril to humans or to social order. There certainly have been no cases of "flying saucer men." Inasmuch as most flying objects have not outstandingly exceeded the flying ability of manmade flying objects, it is not impossible that some of them have been manmade objects manufactured for special purposes.

Owing to the limitations of certain conditions, and because quite a few reports have contained no precise dates or were recorded unscientifically, their value has to be discounted. Among the people there are possibly numerous incidents of unidentified aerial phenomena awaiting our investigation and analysis. We hope that more aficionados will join in this work, and when they have sightings that they will get in touch by sending a letter to Cha Leping, Department of Space Physics, Wuhan University, Wuhan.

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