SUBJECT: CHINESE EXPLORE UFOs                                FILE: UFO2787





                   MUFONET-BBS GROUP  -  MUTUAL UFO NETWORK 
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                              UFOLOGY NEWS - WIRE
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        :=START=   XMT: 06:54 Mon May 11  EXP: 07:00 Tue May 12      :
        :                                                            :
        :CHINESE SCIENTISTS MEET TO EXPLORE UNIDENTIFIED FLYING      :
        :OBJECTS                                                     :
        :                                                            :
        :BEIJING (MAY 11) UPI - Chinese scientists are huddling this :
        :week to explore the latest mysteries of unidentified flying :
        :objects, from reports of sightings and abductions to claims :
        :that Chinese mystics are in contact with life on other      :
        :planets.                                                    :
        :                                                            :
        :The nearly 200 researchers from around the country are      :
        :meeting in Beijing at a conference sponsored by the China   :
        :UFO Research Society, the national organization that        :
        :coordinates studies in China of ''fei die,'' which in       :
        :Chinese means ''flying saucer.''                            :
        :                                                            :
        :The society, known by its English acronym CURO, is engaged  :
        :in research that spans the gamut from cold science to the   :
        :weird and wacky, including efforts to speak to outer space  :
        :without all the high-tech gadgetry employed by Western      :
        :researchers.                                                :
        :                                                            :
        :''One of our important missions is to establish a way for   :
        :people on Earth to communicate with other planets without   :
        :resorting to modern communications methods,'' said Wang     :
        :Changting, the research society's affable director.         :
        :                                                            :
        :Nearly 5,000 UFO-type sightings have been reported in China :
        :since the late 1970s, with all but around 200 later         :
        :discounted as natural or man- made objects such as weather  :
        :phenonema and aircraft.                                     :
        :                                                            :
        :The unsolved cases include sightings of floating            :
        :basketballs, orange-lit washbasins and flying straw hats.   :
        :Around 40 of those are the ''close encounters'' variety,    :
        :with reports of contact or kidnappings by vaguely           :
        :described extraterrestrials.                                :
        :                                                            :
        :In one case, a teacher in eastern Tianjin reported seeing a :
        :shimmering ball overhead as he bicycled around a park at    :
        :night. He lost consciousness and awoke the next morning at  :
        :the park gate to find the time on his watch an hour behind  :
        :the actual time.                                            :
        :                                                            :
        :A month later, he suddenly recalled having been abducted    :
        :onto a strange craft by two short beings in unidentifiable  :
        :space suits.                                                :
        :                                                            :
        :Along with those reports, and research into related topics  :
        :like atmospheric phenomena, some of the 3,500 CURO members  :
        :nationwide are studying claims by Chinese mystics that they :
        :can locate UFOs or communicate with aliens.                 :
        :                                                            :
        :Some claim to use ''qigong,'' a practice that marshals the  :
        :Chinese concept of life energy, to make contact. Although   :
        :qigong is an accepted exercise discipline, adherents also   :
        :make fantastic claims of supernatural powers or faith       :
        :healing ability.                                            :
        :                                                            :
        :''Sometimes we cannot mix Western reality and Oriental      :
        :belief,'' shrugged Wang.  ''Of course there are some        :
        :illogical things involved, but the line between science and :
        :mysticism cannot be separated only as illogic.''            :
        :                                                            :
        :Among other areas of research are theoretical and practical :
        :studies of space flight, the possibility of life on other   :
        :planets and the potential impact of UFOs on the Earth's     :
        :environment.                                                :
        :                                                            :
        :UFO research is taken seriously in China. Several years ago,:
        :a UFO sighting over an open air film show in rural south    :
        :China sparked a stampede by panicked villagers that left two:
        :people dead and 300 injured.                                :
        :                                                            :
        :The Chinese military, which sometimes scrambles air force   :
        :jets to try to catch a glimpse of UFOs, conducts its own UFO:
        :studies and maintains contact with CURO researchers, Wang   :
        :said.                                                       :
        :                                                            :
        :But not even scientists are immune to the more outlandish   :
        :aspects of UFOs, he added, noting a report by a CURO        :
        :researcher who claimed he had been ''invited'' aboard a     :
        :space craft and taken to a planet thousands of light years  :
        :away.                                                       :
        :                                                            :
        :''This man was a scientist, so we don't believe that what he:
        :told us is altogether nonsense,'' Wang said. ''But we can't :
        :explain it.''                                               :
        :                                                            :
        :=END=                                                       :
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