Yuting: The Translucent Actor---Bigfoot and Yeren

YUTING, MAY, 30 2009

The Translucent Actor---Bigfoot and Yeren

Being like a translucent actor playing on the stage, Yeren/ Bigfoot plays a mysterious role in the world because it includes both transparent aspect and opaque aspect. Its transparentness is that much phenomenon shows the possibility of its existence, while the opaqueness is that expects still have no strange evidence of its existence. However, in case that Yeren is existing in the world, how could they survive or make a living outside in the forest, where the summer is so hot while winter is so cold? What are the conditions making Yeren be able to live in forest, where they may live along with other dangerous animals as a human-like creature? What are the conditions making Yeren be able to live in the world without being known and discovered by human beings for such a long time? Observing all the places appeared this kind of creatures, we could find that these places have permanent common conditions- natural aspect and social aspect- that make mysterious Yeren present thus situation today. The social condition is that Yeren always lives in the dense forest, where human beings seldom enter, while the natural condition is that the natural environment Yeren lives in is so good that both the climate and plants have advantages for them to get enough food and move about.
Darwinism had showed that human was evolved from ape thousands years ago. However, at that time, there’re also apes, which hadn’t enough evolution and were left with keeping characteristics of original apes. Because of the effect of the change of their living environment at that time, parts of apes had to bring up stronger ability to get over the difficulties to make a living. Hence, those apes had ability to make instrument at first, and then gradually tried to do some brainwork and to use strategy to meet difficulties and beat enemy. With more and more use of brain, apes had a higher intelligent brain and the ability to walk by standing. The specialties, which apes got in the process of evolution, made them high-ranking animals, which had many characteristics similar with the fundamental characteristics of human beings. (Darwin)
However, after pars of apes evolved to human beings with the gradually increasing intelligence and ability to make conditions for themselves to make a living, what about the other parts of apes? Whether these kinds of apes exist in the world nowadays? Living in better environment so that they needn’t make a living so hard, the other parts of apes needn’t develop their ability to learn to make instrument and to walk by standing to make their living as those apes being in a poor situation. As a consequence, they didn’t have so enough evolution that they still kept some specialties of ape. What’s their situation now? There’s a word that the not enough evolved apes are still living in the world nowadays, and they’re called Bigfoot, Yeti, Yeren, etc.
Yeren’s so strange a creature that we seem never to see it in the zoo. “Generally described by witnesses as being between 2-3 meters tall, over 230 kg and having a footprint in the region of 30 to 40 cm long…” (Zan Jifang. 44) It’s the so-called Yeren’s/ Bigfoot’s figure according to some witnesses’ words. It’s a creature which is like human beings but seems too tall and heavy, also like a bear or an ape but still has many characteristics of human beings. Many witnesses misunderstood bears to the so-called Yeren or Bigfoot. For instance, “A team of paleoanthropologists from Beijing, local researchers and reporters have discovered 40-cm-long footprints, brown hair and chewed corn cobs in Shennongjia last October.” However, the creature is believed to be a bear by Yuan Zhenxin, “a well-known paleoanthropologist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences”. (Xinhua News) New sighting of human-like creatures occurred in China’s Shennongjia in 2003. Those human-like creatures are called Yeren in China; in addition, they also have other different names all over the world depending on different regions’ custom. “It's referred to as Bigfoot in the United States, Mapinguari in the Amazon, Sasquatch in Australia and Yeti (Abominable Snowman) in Asia.” (Zan Jifang. 44) These names show a fact that the so-called Bigfoot may exist all over the world. Apes evolved with big change of nature environment all over the world. However, because the changes of environment were different from this place to that place, the steps of their evolution were different. As a consequence of it, many apes may not enough evolve till today so that they’re rather like apes than human beings.
How could they live in a high-developing society nowadays? What are the conditions making them alive? Bigfoot’s living environment needs to be paid more attention to be researched, as a most important factor to search whether exist Bigfoot and how could they live till today. I think Bigfoot’s living environment needs two aspects – social aspect and natural aspect – that they need to live in places appeared seldom human beings and having proper climate and less dangerous animals. In China, Shennongjia is the most famous place which is said to appear Yeren in Hubei Province. However, no one has found strong enough evidence to support his expect about whether the Yeren exists in Shennongjia or not. Although investigations have different personal opinions about this mysterious problem and do many researches on it, it’s still a secret nowadays about Yeren’s existence.
What’s the origin of the name of Shennongjia? Locating in the verge of Hubei, Sichuan and Shaanxi, Shennongjia is a number of mountains filled with flourished virgin forest. There’s a word that the ancestor of Chinese named Shennong had developed his agriculture and made medicine here because of the diverse plants on these mountains. Then these mountains were named after this great man’s name. From the origin of Shennongjia’s name, it proved that there’re a great number of plants on the mountains of Shennongjia.
Shennongjia’s a good example to search the advantage of condition for Yeren’s living based on its social and natural environment. Although Shennongjia isn’t seemed to be a good place for living “according to the law of geographical distribution of animals”, its desolation makes it a place in which seldom human come into. Also, people in Shennongjia pay more attention on the quality of environment these years to make more spaces and better living condition for creatures to live in. Shennongjia has a very large space, many different kinds of natural scenery, rich plants and less dangerous mountain animals so that it has the richest ecological system in the world believed by many experts. So many experts believe that there must be Yeren in Shennongjia. For instance, “the Shennongjia forest area covers over 3,000 square km, with a complex natural environment and ideal climatic conditions for animals. It is very possible for unknown species to live in the dense forest or remote caves there,” said by Guo Jianwei, Editor in Chief of the Fossil magazine of China. He had doubted the existing of Yeren in Shennongjia, but his view was changed after he saw the environment of Shennonjia. “After I went to Shennongjia and researched the ecological environment, I changed my view,” he said. (Zan Jinfang. 45) According to compare the two kind’s attitude of Guo Jianwei, his word is a typical example to show that environment is a very important condition for Yeren’s existing.
The special creature, I research above, has its name known by people nowadays and is supposed to have proper conditions of environment to live in. What are they? They’re human-like creatures, called Yeren, Bigfoot or Sasquatch, etc. And how could they live? The strange human-like creatures need necessarily special conditions to live in. The conditions aren’t only seldom human beings’ entering as social aspect, but also, as natural aspect, there’re proper climate, rich plants and less dangerous animals, which are dangerous for Yeren’s living.

WORK CITED

Zan Jifang. “Hubei Bigfoot--Fact or Fiction?” Beijing Review. 20 Dec, 2007: Vol. 50 Issue 51, p44-45

Darwin, Charles. Darwinism: The descent of man and selection in relation to sex. Beijing: Science Press, 1996.
“Tourists Visit Location of ‘Bigfoot’ in Fall.” Editorial. XINHUA NEWS AGENCY [Wuhan] 26 May. 2000.

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