The Hidden Story of Chinese Ufology

By Richard Dolan

March 2025

I can’t claim to be an expert on what follows. I am not Chinese, don’t speak Chinese, and have never been to China. My knowledge of Chinese history is barely passable for a westerner, but surely not for a Chinese person. I have studied the history of UFOs for a long time, but the Chinese aspect of it has largely been a mystery to me. 

But I have always wanted to know more, and therefore recently researched this subject as well as I could. There are gaps in what follows, perhaps errors too. If there are experts in Chinese ufology who see this and notice shortcomings, your insights would be welcome.

That said, we are going to investigate something fascinating: what may be one of the most overlooked chapters in the global study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs), or unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). The nation of China possesses not just several millennia of recorded civilization, but also its own history of fascinating UFO research, sightings, and official investigations that have remained largely hidden from Western eyes.

Here in the West we debate Roswell and the Pentagon’s UAP reports, but China has quietly built its own relationship with the phenomenon of UFO/UAP. It’s a relationship marked by government involvement, military interest, scientific investigation, and cultural complexities that few in the West truly understand.

The story of Chinese ufology is one of contradictions and intrigue. It features scientists at prestigious observatories tracking mysterious objects, military pilots engaging strange craft in the skies, and a government that simultaneously encourages research while controlling the narrative. As we will discover, the stakes in China have always been different – where UFO research intersects with national security in ways that make Western disclosure efforts seem almost quaint by comparison. In China, it seems that the game of UFO disclosure, or UAP transparency, is much more serious.

What makes this journey particularly compelling is that Chinese ufology didn’t develop in isolation from politics and culture – it evolved alongside them, shaped by the Cultural Revolution, the reform period, and China’s emergence as a global power. The organizations involved, the cases investigated, and the conclusions reached all reflect this unique context.

As we begin our exploration, prepare to see familiar UFO phenomena through an entirely different lens – one that, honestly, reveals as much about China itself as it does about the mysterious objects it has observed. 

In other words, I have learned that it is impossible to understand Chinese ufology as something separate from Chinese history and culture. They truly go together and must be understood together. 

Ancient UFO Stories from China

China’s historical records contain many intriguing accounts of unidentified flying objects. While they offer a glimpse into the nation’s ancient fascination with celestial phenomena, most of these are threadbare, impossible to verify, suspicious, or clearly spurious. Ultimately they are legends and should primarily be treated as such. Still, we may be permitted to wonder. It isn’t impossible that some of them may have connections to actual events at some point in the past, although those connections may or may not have anything to do with what we think of as genuine UFOs or UAP. 

The earliest alleged accounts are purely myth, stemming from periods long before the Chinese could even write them down. Vallee and Aubeck in Wonders in the Sky note the account of a legendary Lord Yao who supposedly flew in an aerial machine and descended back to Earth during his reign between 2258 and 2208 BCE. Another story, equally dubious, concerns the Xian, or immortals said to be feathered and capable of flight. These “feathered guests” were apparently associated with Taoist priests. We are told this story goes back to approximately 1766 BCE. Again, long before any form of recognizable writing in China. Interesting, sure. But what can one do with such tales?

We have the account of an interesting celestial phenomenon during the Han Dynasty in 139 BCE. This was the appearance of a bright light resembling the sun. It startled the populace and was interpreted as an omen. We have no idea what this could have been. 

More interesting is the alleged incident from after 618 CE, during Emperor Shun’s era. Records in Dong Tien Ji (Peeping on the Sky) describe a celestial ship over 50 feet long that was found and placed in the Ling De Hall. This vessel was reportedly made of a hard, rustproof material and emitted a metallic sound when struck. That’s surely intriguing, but we seem to have no idea whatever happened to this ship. To my mind, it feels like fiction. 

During the Song Dynasty (960-1127), the great scholar Shen Kua documented in Meng Qi Bi Tan (Essays of the Meng Hall) a pearl-like object that flamed and burned fiercely in the air, moving up and down before descending into the sea. It’s an interesting event recorded by a genuine scholar of the time. Without a doubt, Shen Kua at least ought to bear consideration. Still, we can’t really know what this was. 

Instinctively, we want good ancient UFO stories, but I’ve believed for a long time that too many of us overstate just how good (and plentiful) they are. There are some other ancient Chinese stories that could have been included here, but they are no more compelling than the ones discussed above. This is not to say there wasn’t anything potentially anomalous going on, only that the evidence for it is essentially non-existent. 

There is an interesting Chinese painting by Wu Youru from 1892 that depicts a fireball UFO above Nanjing’s Zhuque Bridge. 

This artwork was accompanied by an inscription discussing how, on the night of September 28, 1892, a bright red, egg-shaped object appeared in the southern sky of Nanjing City, traveling slowly eastward and lingering for a period of time before fading into the distance. The object’s unusual behavior and characteristics, including its slow movement and slight, barely audible noise, sparked widespread discussion and speculation among hundreds of witnesses, but none of the proposed explanations, including a meteor or a lantern-kite, could fully account for the phenomenon.

Now that’s rather interesting, and might represent China’s earliest visual representation of a UFO. But of course by this time we are at the doorstep of the 20th century. 

What stands out among these early stories isn’t their compelling nature but their status as part of ancient Chinese culture. For our purposes, they don’t need to be true. But as China entered the modern age, and especially the era of Mao Zedong, most connections to China’s past were banned. The Chinese, however, never forgot their connection to their past, as would later become evident. 

Modernity and Mao

China has a long history and underwent tremendous development, occupation, and control by Western nations before ultimately fighting for its independence in the twentieth century. Though always potentially strong, China remained extremely weak for an extended period. The nation became a republic in the early 20th century under Sun Yat-sen’s leadership, but was subsequently invaded by Japan in the early 1930s and fought major battles during World War II—a contribution often overlooked in Western historical accounts. Following this period came the Chinese Civil War, during which Mao Zedong’s communist forces defeated Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist forces. In 1949, the nationalists retreated to Taiwan. 

Meanwhile, Mao established control over the mainland and henceforth crushed China under totalitarian rule. His regime eliminated free thought and punished dissent with brutal efficiency. From there, things only got worse. The Great Leap Forward promised modernization but delivered mass starvation. Officials reported fictional harvests while millions starved. Thirty million Chinese died, their suffering silenced.

Then came the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), which perfected his system of mind control. Red Guards destroyed cultural artifacts and historical texts. They publicly beat teachers and intellectuals branded as enemies of the people. Millions were exiled to labor camps, broken by relentless indoctrination.

Mao’s image dominated every space. His Little Red Book became mandatory. Schools abandoned education for political dogma. Children informed on their parents, with loyalty to Mao considered more important than family bonds. State media spread propaganda exclusively. Thought reform camps erased intellectual opposition. Public executions of “class enemies” served as warnings. Neighbors spied on each other. Families disintegrated. Fear ruled daily life.

Even UFOs were forbidden topics. Discussing them suggested realities beyond government control. The Party demanded absolute ideological compliance and eliminated all competing narratives. In Mao’s China, truth existed only as the Party defined it.

But then he died. It happened on September 9, 1976, at the age of 82 in Beijing. After his death, China’s leadership quickly dismantled Mao’s inner circle. The Gang of Four was arrested and Deng Xiaoping emerged to transform the nation. Deng’s pragmatic approach, captured in sayings like “It doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice,” opened China to economic reforms and limited freedoms.

This shift created space for previously forbidden topics, including UFO research. Yet these changes had clear boundaries. China never fully confronted Mao’s devastating legacy for two reasons. First, genuinely processing such collective trauma—the broken families, betrayals, and mass killings—remains nearly impossible. More importantly, the Communist Party still draws legitimacy from Mao as its founder. They permit no meaningful critique of his rule, even today.

Before exploring China’s post-Mao UFO landscape, we must examine significant sightings from his era. These reports, suppressed at the time, mostly emerged only after his death in 1976. The cases below represent just a fraction of Chinese UFO encounters but establish a baseline understanding.

What’s striking is how consistently Chinese UFO reports align with global accounts—matching descriptions from Western nations, the Soviet Union, and virtually every region where such phenomena were documented.

UFOs In China Under Mao Zedong

The 1942 Tianjin UFO Photograph

In 1942, during the Japanese occupation of Tianjin (formerly Tientsien), a street photographer captured an image of a cone-shaped UFO flying over the city. The photograph depicts pedestrians looking upward and pointing at the mysterious aerial object. A Japanese Army officer bought the photograph and brought it back to Japan, where it remained undiscovered until 1979, when his grandson found it while examining his father’s old photo albums.

This photograph has always struck me as credible, if not entirely proven to be authentic. I am aware of no definitive debunking of it. The manner in which it came to light seems genuine, and I am inclined to think of the image as a depiction of the real thing. 

Huangshi City, 1957

In Huangshi City, Hubei Province, on July 25, 1957, at around 4 a.m., Lu Nongzhu and fellow metalworkers from the Xialu Iron and Steel Works rested at the entrance of the 2nd steel rolling workshop. Their break was interrupted by a humming sound from above. Looking up, they spotted a bright point moving through the star-studded southwestern sky.

The object accelerated toward them, growing larger as it approached. Its humming deepened into a piercing whistle as it flew overhead. The witnesses described seeing a circular, spinning disc radiating intense white light. It carved a graceful semi-circle across the sky, trailing a white path behind it.

Having completed its arc, the object turned eastward and retreated, shrinking to a tiny white speck before vanishing into the distance. The encounter lasted only 2 to 3 minutes, with the object flying at roughly 1,000 meters altitude. Its whistle, louder than any jet plane, left the workers staring skyward in fear and wonder.

This sighting, by the way, doesn’t seem to appear anywhere on the web. It is, however, described in some detail in the out-of-print 1983 book of Chinese UFO researcher Paul Dong, UFOs over Modern China. 

The 1961 Kaifeng UFO Sighting

Shockingly, this event also does not appear to be discussed anywhere on the Internet. It is however described at length in Paul Dong’s UFOs Over Modern China. On October 28, 1961, in Kaifeng, Henan Province, China, multiple witnesses, including engineer Chang Ching-lai, observed a low-flying, unidentified object. The UFO, a circular, disc-shaped craft with a metallic sheen, moved slowly and periodically hovered, giving Chang the opportunity to take several photographs during the 7-minute encounter.

Chang’s photographs rank among the earliest UFO images captured in China, clearly showing a disc-shaped object with a metallic surface. These images were later smuggled out of China and published in Japan by CBA International, a UFO research organization, in the early 1960s. The photographs appeared on the cover of Flying Saucer Review, an international UFO journal, drawing worldwide attention to UFO activity in China.

During the 1960s under Mao Zedong’s rule, UFO discussions were heavily suppressed in China, labeled as counter-revolutionary. As a result, the Kaifeng sighting remained largely unknown within China itself, with information shared only through underground networks. The international publication of these photographs helped raise awareness of Chinese UFO activity, despite the country’s isolationist policies at the time.

The 1961 Kaifeng UFO sighting, documented through Chang Ching-lai’s photographs, is something of a milestone in UFO history. It underscores the difficulties of sharing such information under political repression and remains one of the best-documented Chinese UFO cases from that era. 

The 1968 Border Area UFO Sighting

In early 1968, near Luda (now Dalian) in Liaoning Province, four coast artillerymen of the Naval Garrison spotted a golden, oval-shaped object in the sky. The UFO climbed steeply at breathtaking speed, trailing a thin vapor behind it. 

During its ascent, both communication and radar systems suddenly failed, forcing the fleet into high alert. Though the encounter lasted only minutes, it left a lasting impression on witnesses and underscored the enigmatic nature of UFO activity in the region. This is another event found only in Paul Dong’s rare and valuable book. 

The 1970 Datan Commune UFO Sighting

On the night of June 24, 1970, at midnight, Zhang Meiqian and three companions witnessed an unusual aerial phenomenon over Datan Commune. The object appeared as an ellipsoidal ring of light with three luminous beams forming an isosceles triangle. It hung motionless in the air before rising straight up at a slow, silent pace, finally disappearing after 20 seconds. 

This case stands out for its distinctive visual characteristics and the precise details the witnesses provided.

1976 Ball of Fire in Xinjiang Province

The following event occurred about a month after the death of Mao. We will cover this and a few other UFO accounts before shifting gears.

In early October 1976, around 8 p.m., Yang Dewei and others from the Meteorological Team of the First Agricultural Institute of Xinjiang Province observed a curious ball of fire approaching from the north. The object, shaped like an inverted saucer and creamy white in color, was seen at an elevation of 30 to 35 degrees above the horizon. It moved rapidly in horizontal flight, rolling back and forth, and left behind a long, flat trail. 

This phenomenon, or a similar object, reappeared on the next two or three consecutive nights. Each sighting lasted between 1 to 2 minutes and was witnessed by multiple observers. This too only seems available in Paul Dong’s UFOs Over Modern China.

July 26, 1977, in Sichuan Province

On the night of July 26, 1977, a significant UFO event occurred in Sichuan Province, China. Multiple sightings were reported across various locations within the province, including Chengdu, Mianyang County, Shuangliu County, and Luzhou City. The UFO was consistently described as a spiral-shaped object with a yellowish center, emitting a bright light and leaving a coiling tail. Witnesses observed the object moving horizontally, with some reports noting its slow rotation.

In Chengdu, the UFO was observed by Zhang Zhousheng of the Yunnan Astronomical Observatory, who described it as a spiral-shaped luminous object with a yellowish center. The object moved in a straight line and disappeared after roughly five minutes. Similar sightings were reported in Mianyang County, where the UFO was seen as a red luminous body rotating counterclockwise.

In Shuangliu County, the object appeared as a series of concentric circles, while in Luzhou City, it was described as a luminous yellow disturbance resembling boiling porridge.

The widespread nature of these sightings, across different locations and involving numerous witnesses, makes this event one of the most significant UFO incidents in Chinese history. The consistency in the descriptions of the UFO’s appearance and movement further highlights the credibility of the accounts. This event remains a notable example of UFO activity in Sichuan Province during the late 1970s. I have looked but found no explanation for this. Honestly, I haven’t even found any attempted explanations. This event is covered in Paul Dong’s book, but can also be referenced here.

October 23, 1977, Xianyang, Shaanxi Province

On the evening of October 23, 1977, at about 6:45 PM, a UFO was observed in Xianyang, Shaanxi Province, China. Witnesses described the object as a small, yellow, luminous, ball-like entity that was rotating and moving rapidly from north to south. The sighting lasted about one minute before the object disappeared. This event was documented by multiple observers, including a member of a geological prospecting team, who also reported a similar sighting at the same time. Only available in Paul Dong’s book. 

Reform and the Birth of Chinese Ufology

Two years after Mao’s death, a breakthrough finally came with the November 13, 1978, edition of the People’s Daily newspaper. It featured an article titled “UFOs — An Unsolved World Puzzle” written by Sheng Heng Yen, an editor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. This was the first article about UFOs ever published in the Chinese press, marking a major shift in how these topics could be discussed in China.

The Formation and Rise of CURA

The late 1970s marked a turning point in China’s history of UFO research and sightings. This change mirrored the broader cultural and scientific reforms sweeping the nation. Under Mao Zedong’s regime, especially during the Cultural Revolution, talk about UFOs was labeled counter-revolutionary and forbidden. Squashing such topics was part of a wider effort to control information and thinking, making any mention of UFOs both rare and risky. The lifting of these bans led to a flood of UFO reports. 

By 1979, this new openness helped establish China’s first official UFO organization. The China UFO Research Association (CURA) grew out of the China UFO Enthusiasts’ Liaison Office, founded on September 20, 1979, at Wuhan University. This marked the start of organized UFO research in China. By May 1980, the group had expanded greatly and was officially renamed CURA. 

In February 1981, CURA launched the Journal of UFO Research, which introduced UFO sightings to Chinese readers at home and abroad. The journal became a key channel for sharing UFO information and drew a large readership. Unfortunately, I could not find any copies of their journal.

CURA grew quickly, setting up over 40 branch organizations across China by the mid-1980s, with thousands of members.

Qi Gong and Its Integration into Chinese UFO Research

Qi Gong is a traditional Chinese practice that focuses on cultivating and balancing the body’s energy, or “qi.” It combines physical movements, controlled breathing, and meditation to enhance health and well-being. Rooted in Chinese philosophy, particularly Taoism and Buddhism, Qi Gong has been practiced for centuries and is known for its holistic approach to bodily and mental harmony.

This ancient practice was completely banned during the Cultural Revolution—just one of Mao’s many brutal policies designed to destroy and refashion China to suit his particular vision. Following his death, restrictions were relaxed. Though I couldn’t find an official statement legalizing it again, Qi Gong seems to have been tolerated, even if unofficially. This ambiguous status would later prove problematic.

After the Cultural Revolution, there was a renewed interest in traditional Chinese practices, including Qi Gong. At the same time, UFO research was gaining momentum, driven by curiosity about the unknown and the potential for scientific discovery. This convergence of interests would eventually bring these seemingly separate domains together.

In its early years, CURA (China UFO Research Association) adhered to a strict scientific approach, emphasizing empirical evidence and rational analysis. This was partly due to the influence of the Chinese scientific community, which sought to legitimize UFO research within established scientific methodologies. CURA’s investigations were characterized by systematic data collection, interviews with witnesses, and analysis of physical evidence, aiming to distinguish between explainable phenomena and genuinely unidentified objects.

However, as the 1980s progressed, CURA’s focus began to shift. The organization became increasingly associated with the All-China Qigong Science Research Association (QSRA) in 1988, which introduced a new dimension to its research: the integration of traditional Chinese practices like Qigong. Researchers began exploring the deeper aspects of Qi Gong, suggesting that its meditative states could offer insights into or even communication with extraterrestrial beings.

During the 1990s, this synthesis of science and spirituality became more pronounced within CURA. Some members began to explore the idea that UFOs could be connected to supernatural or extraterrestrial beings, and that Qigong practices might offer a way to communicate with or understand these entities. This period also saw the rise of charismatic figures within CURA, who claimed to possess extraordinary abilities derived from Qigong, further blurring the lines between scientific investigation and spiritual exploration.

Despite this growing emphasis on spirituality, CURA continued to conduct investigations with a degree of scientific rigor. The organization maintained a commitment to verifying reports through empirical means, even as it explored more unconventional theories. This dual approach reflected CURA’s complex identity: it sought to remain credible within the scientific community while also engaging with the broader cultural fascination with the mysterious.

The affiliation with QSRA and the integration of Qigong into CURA’s philosophy were not without controversy. Some members felt that the organization was being infiltrated by pseudoscience, leading to internal tensions. At CURA’s Fourth National Congress in 1992, the organization reiterated its commitment to the dialectical-materialist guiding principle, signaling an attempt to balance its scientific roots with the growing influence of spirituality.

Paul Dong: Case in Point

This blending of traditional practices with scientific UFO research is perhaps best exemplified by Paul Dong, a prominent figure in Chinese ufology. Born in mainland China but later emigrating to the United States, Dong became a crucial bridge between Chinese and Western UFO research communities. He contributed regularly to CURA’s Journal of UFO Research.

But Dong also deeply explored Qi Gong, in fact becoming a Qi Gong Master. At times, his writings reflected how this traditional practice might relate to UFO phenomena. This approach was was not unique to him among Chinese researchers. Many others also reflected the synthesis of ancient Chinese spirituality and modern scientific inquiry. Such an attitude and approach appears to have characterized this entire period of Chinese ufology.

Through his translations and publications, Dong introduced many Chinese UFO cases to Western audiences. Perhaps more than anyone else, he raised international awareness of UFO phenomena in China. 

Explosion of Chinese UFO Sightings

Once the government permitted public interest and study of UFOs, a major surge in sightings was reported across the country. This development is remarkable. Many of these sightings were documented by Paul Dong and included in his important 1983 book on the subject. For many of the cases that follow, his work appears to be the only source available to Western readers.

Although Dong’s book only covers cases up to 1982, it is clear that UFO activity in China continued beyond that year. The evidence from these few years strongly suggests that China was, and likely remains, a hotspot for UFO activity, comparable to the United States. The fact that these cases are not widely accessible to the West does not diminish their importance. On the contrary, the large number of sightings from the late 1970s and early 1980s provides compelling evidence that China is a major region for UFO activity.

The following cases in this section by no means constitute all that Paul Dong recorded, but they do make a good highlight reel, so to speak. 

During the late 1970s, the western regions of China, including Inner Mongolia and the Gobi Desert, were the settings for several fascinating and unexplained encounters with UFOs. One occurred on October 23, 1978, in Gansu Province, near the Gobi Desert, when a huge rectangular UFO appeared over an airport. Its altitude was estimated to be between 6,000 and 8,000 meters, and it was estimated to be 1,000 meters in length. This was also reported in the British publication, Flying Saucer Review, where it was potentially linked to the infamous disappearance of Australian private pilot Frederick Valentich two days earlier. It is true that the incidents were only two days apart, but otherwise it is hard to see a direct connection. The two incidents, after all, were about 7,000 miles apart, almost a third of the Earth’s circumference. Still, the Chinese event itself is interesting. 

Another interesting sighting from Inner Mongolia occurred on July 21, 1979 in Tongxian City. Sometime at night, a worker named Dong Kuori saw a round, dark red ball of light in the sky. It moved slowly from south to north at an altitude of around 800 meters, or 2,600 feet (half a mile). The sighting lasted about 15 minutes before the object disappeared into the distance. The slow speed of the object, which was slower than that of an airplane, made it particularly interesting. 

Another sighting occurred one evening during the next month, August 1979. This was in Gansu Province, about 300 or 400 miles south of Inner Mongolia. There, a worker from the Sichuan Motor Transport Company noticed a round, luminous flying object in the night sky. The object resembled the moon in size and color. It rotated about its axis and dragged a luminous ring behind it. For 15 minutes, the worker stared at the object before it disappeared behind hills.

Back in Inner Mongolia the next month (September 1979), in the city of Gujining, a resident reported seeing a bright flying object approaching from the northwest at night. It was saucer-like, rotating clockwise, and gave off a soft, red light. The sighting lasted a few minutes before the object vanished in the distance.

These are virtually standard UFO reports, insofar as any such report can be. They are no different than anything one would find in any other region of the world. The objects were luminous, round or saucer-like. They moved slowly and silently. They were often seen at low altitudes. They frequently had unusual lighting and rotation patterns. And they could include the military.

Elsewhere in the country the pattern was the same. In Lanxi, Zhejiang Province, a fascinating encounter occurred on the Lanxi-Xinanjiang Highway at 4 a.m. on December 13, 1979. Two truck drivers, Wang Jianming and Wang Dingyuan, encountered something rather out of the ordinary. Wang Dingyuan, driving ahead, noticed a powerful light beam and two unusual humanoid figures on the highway. Both drivers stopped abruptly, but the figures and light vanished. After discussing the incident, they swapped positions and continued driving. Moments later, Wang Jianming, now leading, observed the same light beam and figures, described as 1.5 meters tall, wearing helmets and “space apparel,” with accessories that looked like a thermos bottle and a square package. They also carried short cudgels and emitted a red light from their helmets. Wang Jianming tested the figures by toggling his headlights, but they remained until he exited the truck with a crowbar, at which point they disappeared. Wang Dingyuan, initially frightened, later recounted the event, noting their trucks were carrying different loads and that they had never met before. The sighting occurred near Long Wang Miao on the Lanxi-Xinanjiang Highway, with Wang Jianming being the sole witness during the second encounter.

In early February, 1980, in the northeastern city of Harbin, She Feng, a pupil at Hongji Primary School reported two sightings. The first occurred on February 5, at 5:40 p.m., when she saw a star-like object emitting red light. It was initially motionless in the sky, but then moved slowly westward before disappearing. Then, on February 8, at 3:40 p.m., she observed a similar object that rotated, gave off some type of gas, and moved backward before vanishing. Although quite young, she evidently impressed researchers enough with her observation that they took her seriously. 

In Beijing at 4:30 p.m. on June 1, 1980, near the Sport Grounds of the Sutou Silk Textile College, witnesses reported a dark gray flying object. For five minutes they watched it move horizontally from southwest to northeast at a low altitude. It left no trail or sound. Authorities later confirmed that no meteorological balloons or aircraft were in the area at the time.

Late at night on July 23, 1980, in the city of Tongling, next to the Yangtze River in the Anhui Province, a man named Gong Yuanlong saw a golden, oblong object. It discharged sparks from its rear and flew at a steady speed along a straight horizontal path. All the time it made a slight upward climb. It was silent and had sharp, clearly defined edges. The sighting lasted for 10 minutes, quite a while.

Another interesting event occurred on August 5, 1980, at 3 a.m. near Dagang Oilfield in Tianjin, Yunnan Province. This is essentially next door to Beijing. Here, five workers on a night prawn-fishing expedition observed a cone-shaped aerial object. Even though it was roughly 3,000 feet in altitude, more than half a mile, they felt intense heat from it. In their words, it was “like standing under a stove.” The area was also illuminated during this encounter. The strange object moved quickly from west to southeast and then disappeared over the sea.

The Chinese military had another UFO encounter on August 26, 1980, at 10:50 p.m. A group of officers and soldiers from a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Unit garrisoned on Dinghai Island, Zhejiang Province, reported seeing an unidentified flying object in the sky above the island. They described it as a big fireball in the center, surrounded by many small balls of fire, and trailing a long fire tongue behind it. The object flew from north to south towards them at a very quick speed and an altitude of 300 to 400 meters, giving off a dazzling fiery light. The weather at the time was cloudy and misty, which blocked their line of vision after about one minute. They immediately asked Zhang Xiti, who was on sentry duty on the mountain, to confirm the sighting, and he reported seeing the same object for about two and a half minutes.

On September 9, 1980, at 9:40 p.m., Luo Xuezhi, Secretary of the Political Department of the Hunan Diesel Engine Factory, witnessed a strange flying object n Chengdu Province. The object was elliptical in shape, with an orange-red front, lighter middle, and reddish-yellow rear. It emitted strong reddish-yellow rays and trailed a light tail as it flew from north to south and slightly westward. The object was observed for about 3 minutes, flying at a slow speed, similar to a jet airliner at 10,000 meters altitude. Luo Xuezhi, an aviation enthusiast, was certain that the object was not an airplane or a searchlight reflection, but rather resembled reports of “Flying Pans” published in the press. The incident was also witnessed by the cinema audience, and other eyewitnesses who were not present at the show confirmed that they did not hear any noise from the object.

A brief but intriguing report comes from Beijing on April 25, 1981. At 8 p.m., a number of people observed a golden cylinder-shaped object streaking through the sky. It was silent and left no trail. After a few seconds, it was gone. 

Quite a few interesting sightings were reported on July 23 and 24, 1981, especially the latter date.  

On July 23, 1981, at 7:05 a.m., a group of middle school students were chatting outside their homes in Yanjia Jing, Nanjing. Suddenly, they noticed a flying object appearing in the sky, traveling from east to west. The object was triangular in shape and emitted blue rays as it flew. What struck the students as unusual was that the object moved silently, making no sound as it flew through the air. After a brief appearance, the object disappeared into the sky, leaving the students amazed and certain that they had never seen anything like it before.

July 24, 1981 was a very busy day for UFO sightings in China. Here are brief descriptions of some of them.

Zhongji County, Ningxia Province, 8 p.m. A luminous flying object was seen moving from east to west, with a bright center and a small tail. It emitted two belts of light and was three times the size of Venus.

Jiqui County, Hebei Province, 9:30 p.m. A flying object, described as a “Flying Pan,” was seen flying rapidly from east to west and disappearing after 2 minutes. It was described as a round, yellowish-grey object with a rotating projection on its edge.

Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai Province, 10:25 p.m. A strange object was seen flying over three provinces. It was shaped like two symmetrical sectors with a silvery light and an orange-colored core. It flew slowly and silently, with a size ranging from that of a full moon to five times that size.

Sichuan Province, 10:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Sichuan Province, 10:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Thousands of people from several provinces observed a huge luminous spiral-shaped light crossing the sky. It looked like a huge flat pinwheel and was 5 times brighter than stars. A group of medical students in Sichuan watched it through binoculars and sketched what they saw. At the center of the pinwheel was a circular “bi-convex lens-shaped body” of blue and green light. Surrounding the upper dome was a row of lighter spots like windows or ports. The circular body was surrounded six times by the ever-increasing spiral trail of light of a golden yellow color.

Dragon-Mouton Valley, Gansu, 10:36 p.m. A young astronomer, Liu Kuanxin, saw a huge, luminous object in the sky, moving slowly and leaving a trail of light behind it. The object resembled a spiraling comet and was very brilliant.

Nanjing, 11:00 p.m. An elderly man in Nanjing saw a strange object in the sky, as big as a “sesame seed cake,” flying from south to north with a blue light in front and a trail of light behind. He ruled out the possibility of it being a meteor or an airplane due to its size and lack of noise.

Northern Tibet, night. A meteorological official reported seeing a bright object, surrounded by rings of blue-white light, moving from east to west at an altitude and a speed of 120 kilometers per minute. The object’s center brightened and rotated in the opposite direction of the surrounding rings, which dimmed and widened over time.

July 23 and 24 of 1981 were surely remarkable nights in China. But this entire period was active with UFO sightings. 

On October 12, 1981, at 11:00 p.m., in Ya County, Guangdong Province, a primary school teacher named An Peng saw a luminous flying object with his roommate, Wu Taibin. The object was described as being big in the middle and tapering to a point at both ends, and was traveling from south to west at a speed similar to an airplane. It emitted rays of all colors, including red, yellow, and blue, and was much brighter than any star. The sighting lasted for about 3 minutes, after which the object suddenly vanished from view.

1982 continued the same pattern and density of sightings. June in particular seemed like an especially active month, and June 18 recorded quite a few sightings in China’s northeastern region. On that evening, the action appears to have begun sometime after 9 p.m. The following is only a portion of what appears to have been going on. It is very fortunate that Paul Dong recorded these for us. Clearly, this was an extremely visible display that occurred over a large portion of northeastern China. 

Here is a brief summary of activity in this region on June 18, 1982. 

Great Xinganling Mountain Range, 9:10 p.m. First in appearance seems to have been something over the Great Xinganling Mountain Range, also known as the Greater Khingan Range. This is a volcanic mountain range extending roughly 1,200 kilometers from north to south, and acts as a divide between the Manchurian Plain and the Inner Mongolian Plateau. According to Cao Zhenhe from the Ganhe Forestry Administration, at 9:10 p.m. on June 18, two large luminous objects were seen in the sky above Canhe Township. He interviewed several witnesses. One told him: “I was going home from a friend’s house when the sky was suddenly lit up. I saw two radiantly luminous bodies in the sky to the west. The smaller one kept revolving, giving out a light which, at intervals, was golden-red. In about 40 minutes, the larger one vanished, and towards 10 o’clock, the smaller one also went out of sight. Ten minutes later, the same objects reappeared again; this time, they remained in sight for more than an hour.”

North China, 9:57 p.m. A group of Chinese Air Force pilots encountered a UFO while on patrol in some region of North China. The pilots were flying five jet fighter aircraft when their aircraft’s electrical power systems began to malfunction, and their communications and navigational systems failed.

Suddenly, they encountered an unidentified flying object of a milky yellowish-green luminous color, which was about the size of a full moon. The object was first seen as an oval nebulous glow in the sky. The pilots were forced to return to base due to the equipment failures.

One of the pilots reported that when he first saw the object, it flew towards him at a high rate of speed as it whirled rapidly. While it was rotating, it generated rings of light, and in the center of the light ring was fire. In ten seconds, the center of the ring exploded, and then the body of the object expanded rapidly.The pilot described the object as looking as big as a mountain of mist, with black spots seen in the interior of the phenomenon. The other four pilots also wrote reports of the experience, which were published in the first issue of The Journal of UFO Research, along with sketches on pages 10 and 11. Paul Dong included the exact text of the pilot’s statement.

Aspects of this encounter remind one of the famous encounter of two Iranian F-4 pilots with an extraordinary object near Tehran, which had occurred just a few years earlier, in 1976. 

There were quite a few other reports from June 18, 1982, all apparently from northern or northeastern China. Most of these were from Liaoning Province or close to it. All are remarkable but I will mention one final observation from that night. At 10:15 p.m., in Kangping County, Liaoning Province, Liu Huiming of the Grain Bureau, Toiling Prefecture recounted that while he was home on leave, his wife hastily summoned him outside, visibly shaken. She directed his attention to the sky, where a large ring of light was suspended vertically to the north of Kangping County Seat. Initially appearing to measure roughly 10 to 15 meters in diameter, the ring’s lower edge seemed to touch the ground. Its intense brilliance overshadowed the faint stars, with sharply defined edges. Within two minutes, the ring expanded to seemingly 100 meters across. It seemed to dim as it drifted eastward before disappearing from view after a few minutes. 

A few days later, an incredible display was seen by many witnesses on the other side of the country. On June 25, 1982, in the early hours of the morning, a remarkable and consistent UFO was observed in northwestern Xinjiang Province, Uyghur Autonomous Region, particularly centered over Karami (Karamay) City and the nearby Mount Genghis Khan. This extraordinary phenomenon, witnessed by many people, including 2,000 workers at an outdoor film show, displayed a coherent set of characteristics across the sightings. This suggests it was a single object observed from different vantage points over a span of five to ten minutes.

The object was mainly described as plate-like or disc-shaped, often compared to the size of a football with a luminous appearance. It had a bright, silvery white center that sometimes appeared as a dazzling spot, surrounded by a creamy yellow edge. This central luminosity was occasionally accompanied by a ring of weaker light and, in some observations, a fan-like or broom-like trail that glowed and left a lingering path in the sky.

The object’s behavior was dynamic and intriguing. It was seen whirling or rotating, changing shape momentarily into a straw-hat-like form before resuming its flight. Witnesses noted its rapid movement, faster than a jet airplane, as it moved across the sky. Despite its speed, the object moved silently, leaving behind a glowing trail that persisted for several minutes after it had vanished from sight.

The sightings also described the object’s altitude and proximity to the observers, with some reports indicating it came as close as 1,000 to 1,500 meters. Its flight path was consistent across the observations, maintaining a west-to-east trajectory, and its luminosity was notable for being bright yet not overpowering, often compared to the moon obscured by light clouds.

Very intriguing. Paul Dong’s list of Chinese sightings essentially ends at this point, a pity, as sources describing Chinese sightings after this are few and far between. And none are as complete as what he gathered. Still, we can confidently assume that the activity didn’t stop after he published his study in early 1983. For a few years, the window of openness allowed a surge of UFO reports to emerge, proving that China is every bit as inundated with this phenomenon as the United States, or any other region on Earth. 

The Falun Gong

Falun Gong burst onto the scene in the early 1990s as a spiritual movement founded by Li Hongzhi. It blended traditional Qigong practices with Buddhist and Taoist teachings, stressing truth, compassion, and forbearance. The practice drew millions of followers—particularly women, who comprised 75% of adherents within China. Millions and more millions joined the movement, attracted to its mix of moral values and meditative exercises. It was sometimes described outside of China as a kind of mania.

Falun Gong’s teachings went far beyond meditation and exercise. Li Hongzhi spoke openly about UFOs and aliens, weaving them into the movement’s core beliefs. He claimed aliens watch Earth and shape human events. According to Hongzhi, UFOs prove the alien presence, and these beings have guided human evolution. Yet unlike many UFO believers who welcome the space brothers, he viewed aliens as threats. His teaching on this matter was unambiguous:

– Aliens have invaded human minds and corrupt our culture.

– They introduced technology like computers and airplanes to control us.

– Their ultimate goal is replacing humans through cloning.

– They cause wars to keep us dependent on their advanced technology.

– They covet human bodies, seeing them as the universe’s perfect form.

Li portrayed aliens as evil forces bent on dominating humanity—a view reminiscent of both David Jacobs and David Icke, but in some ways going further. He blamed aliens for pollution, birth defects, spiritual decline, and other maladies affecting humanity.

I say this not to criticize or support the view. It is not a unique view of the matter. What’s important here is that this view of alien intervention forms an important pillar of Falun Gong teaching. 

Falun Gong seemed to be everywhere. Certainly many members joined UFO research groups in the 1990s. Their ideas about aliens found receptive ears in some UFO circles, creating overlap between the movements. But this relationship grew increasingly complicated. Many scientists saw the movement as bringing pseudoscience into their field, splitting the UFO research community. Some embraced the spiritual angle while others pushed for stricter scientific methods.

Throughout the 1990s, Falun Gong’s explosive growth and unconventional beliefs created greater and greater friction with Chinese authorities. The Chinese Communist Party, after all, was officially atheistic, materialistic, and Marxist-Maoist. Li Hongzhi could see the writing on the wall. In 1996 he fled to the United States. This move startled the authorities to some degree. Now Falun Gong was about to go international. It was no longer a purely domestic problem. The organization was now going beyond the Party’s reach. 

And it kept growing. By 1999, it was estimated that the Falun Gong had attracted anywhere from 70 million to 100 million followers in China. Even in a country with a billion people, this was astonishing, and (to the regime) extremely troubling. 

Why the CCP was Terrified by the Falun Gong

It must be remembered that the entire nation of China, and certainly CCP leadership, was still recovering from the trauma of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Those demonstrations had begun in April 1989 with students mourning reformist leader Hu Yaobang. These quickly escalated to hunger strikes and grew to over a million protesters. Finally, the Chinese military undertook a bloody crackdown on June 3 that left countless dead over the next few days. The image of “Tank Man” – an unidentified protester blocking a column of tanks, whose fate remains unknown – became a global symbol of resistance that haunted Chinese authorities.

Now, a mere ten years later, it looked as though history was about to repeat itself with perhaps an even more powerful and dangerous movement. True, the Falun Gong was not openly preaching revolution against the government. But in the eyes of the CCP, it was politically destabilizing. 

For starters, it offered a multi-pronged ideological threat. First, as a genuine moral critique, with its emphasis on truthfulness (Zhen 真), compassion (Shan 善), and forbearance (Ren 忍). Most people around the world profess to believe in such principles, of course. Even totalitarian governments. But this was a movement of millions that made such principles the core of their way of life. In other words, they actually meant it. This posed a direct challenge to the authority of the Communist Party to control public narratives. That was a problem. 

The movement’s spirituality was another prong of this ideological challenge. After all, the CCP officially promoted a strict state atheism and Marxist doctrine. A genuinely spiritual movement would certainly undermine the CCP’s authority. Finally, the movement’s teachings about UFOs, aliens, and cosmic matters didn’t help, either. All this struck authorities as “superstition,” one of the greatest putdowns within the Chinese establishment. Within atheistic, materialist, Marxist China, here was an organization of millions that openly defied the official beliefs that the state was trying to enforce. 

This leads to the problem of the Falun Gong’s independence. We are talking about a genuine grassroots movement under the direction of a charismatic leader. Li Hongzhi may have fled the country in 1996, but he had a moral authority that was beginning to rival, or perhaps even surpass, that of the CCP itself. And the Falun Gong could organize. Throughout the 1990s, the movement had proven its ability again and again to mobilize followers quickly and effectively. Mostly this was in the form of mass meditation and exercise gatherings. But any independent organization that could gather thousands of people together into a single place, practically at the snap of a finger, was surely a threat to the Party. 

There was yet another dimension to this threat. The movement appeared to be infiltrating the power structure of the nation itself. According to some reports, up to 30% of certain military units practiced Falun Gong. It also had quite a few sympathizers within the upper echelons of the Party. Chinese Leader Jiang Zemin called it the most severe level of infiltration by an outside movement since the country’s foundation in 1949. It probably was. 

In a nutshell, the Falun Gong had a membership that exceeded that of the Communist Party’s. It had spread across all social layers, from factory workers to intellectuals. And it had penetrated deeply into both the Party and military ranks.

The Crackdown

Finally, the regime began its offensive. It started with a critical article in April 1999 denouncing the practice as superstitious. I haven’t been able to find the original article, but apparently it appeared in a major Chinese magazine and was sponsored by the government. 

The Falun Gong responded immediately. On April 25, 1999, between 10,000 and 20,000 followers of the movement gathered in Beijing. They demanded official recognition and action taken against the magazine that had published the article. More broadly, they called for an end to harassment by the government. 

But they didn’t just gather anywhere in Beijing. They surrounded the Zhongnanhai leadership compound. This is the seat of the Chinese government and the central headquarters for both the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council of China. That triggered a few alarm bells. Worse, this just happened to be the ten-year anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests, right down to the month. This had to be on everyone’s mind. 

To the bureaucrats, this was a brazen display of power, a direct challenge and even a threat to their authority. Yes, the gathering was peaceful. There were no calls for revolution. But the display of thousands reminded CCP leaders of Tiananmen’s early days. It revealed the Falun Gong’s power. The movement’s decentralized structure and use of modern communication also resembled the pro-democracy networks the Party had worked so hard to destroy.

In the context of this article, it’s useful to remember something else. There are no parallel examples from any other country in which an organization with a distinctive and core UFO belief system was perceived as such a powerful threat to national stability, and indeed the survival of the state. UFOs and aliens were by no means the only aspect of Falun Gong belief and ideology. But they were absolutely part of it, quite openly as well. 

And so the crackdown began. 

It began in darkness on July 20, 1999. Chinese police dragged people from beds across the nation. No warning, no mercy. The target was Falun Gong. Communist Party head Jiang Zemin gave the order, “Eradicate them in three months.”

Two days later, the practice was officially banned. The machinery of state turned against ordinary citizens. Factory workers, university professors, government officials. All enemies now.

Jiang feared their numbers. He feared their faith. Most of all, he feared their connection to traditional Chinese culture. This was something the Party had worked decades to destroy. His words were clear: “Defame their reputations. Bankrupt them financially. And destroy them physically.”

The Politburo actually objected but Jiang overruled them. This appears to have been part of a power struggle within the CCP. It is believed by many that the crackdown was partly driven by Jiang Zemin’s personal political agenda. As general secretary of the Communist Party (1989-2002), chairman of the Central Military Commission (1989-2004), and president (1993-2003), Jiang saw an opportunity. It seems as though Jiang leveraged anti-Falun Gong rhetoric to consolidate power, casting himself as the Party’s defender against a “spiritual threat.” The Politburo’s internal divisions—some leaders reportedly opposed the crackdown—highlighted how Falun Gong became a tool for factional maneuvering within China’s highest leadership circles.

Jiang created the 610 Office. This was an extra-legal force with unlimited power. No laws established it and no rules constrained it. Its mandate: use any means necessary.

For a little while at least, the Cultural Revolution essentially returned. Police raided homes, confiscated valuables, destroyed books, and hauled people away. 

Trucks with loudspeakers drove through streets, denouncing Falun Gong and creating fear. Fifty thousand were detained in the first week. Stadiums filled with prisoners. Ordinary people were now enemies of the state. Book burnings spread nationwide. Tens of millions of Falun Gong materials were destroyed in three months. The echoes of darker times were unmistakable.

Some tried to speak out. In October 1999, practitioners held a secret press conference with Western media. They told of their suffering and asked for freedom to practice their faith.

They paid a high price. Two who spoke at that event were later tortured to death—Ding Yang and interpreter Cai Mingtao, their faces now memorialized only in grainy photographs and the memories of those who knew them before they were silenced. December brought show trials. Sentences up to eighteen years. For practicing meditation, for believing in truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance.

Reports of practitioners dying in custody began to emerge. More followed, accompanied by repeated allegations of systematic torture. Local officials had explicit orders to break practitioners through violence. The Wall Street Journal’s Ian Johnson won a Pulitzer Prize exposing this. 

With nowhere to turn, they went to Tiananmen Square. They held banners displaying the characters for Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. 

Then they sat in meditation. Police beat them in broad daylight, literally kicking and dragging them into vans, all in full view of the public, tourists, and onlookers. In one particularly documented instance, after a practitioner displayed a banner reading “Falun Dafa [e.g. Falun Gong] is Good,” officers beat him until he lay motionless in the square while a policeman walked away holding the confiscated banner. These public displays of violence shocked witnesses. However, they served the regime’s purpose of demonstrating the cost of defiance.

The financial cost was high. Arresting protesters at Tiananmen alone cost nearly 910 million yuan yearly. The nationwide campaign required billions more. Money for expanded labor camps, new brainwashing centers, and surveillance systems. This was a real blitzkrieg waged by the Chinese government.

The Chinese government could not avoid international embarrassment. When Li Hongzhi fled to the United States in 1996, the movement gained an international dimension that further unsettled the CCP. Falun Gong was no longer just a domestic issue—it had connections beyond China’s borders and the Party’s reach. After the crackdown began, the practice gained considerable sympathy abroad. Having already faced Western condemnation after Tiananmen, Party officials were extremely sensitive to this new potential for global embarrassment. But this did not stop them from crushing this dire threat. 

The Fire That Wasn’t

On January 23, 2001, five people supposedly set themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square, with state media quickly blaming Falun Gong. However, inconsistencies emerged. A CNN crew saw men dousing themselves with gasoline, but their gear was seized. Police put out the flames rapidly, and two deaths were reported: Liu Chunling at the scene and her daughter Liu Siying months later.

Investigations by The Washington Post found no evidence Liu Chunling practiced Falun Gong. Video analysis showed police had fire extinguishers ready before the incident. Medical experts doubted how severely burned victims could speak calmly on camera. Ambulances couldn’t have reached the hospital in under seven minutes, given Beijing traffic.

Falun Gong teachings oppose violence and suicide. The UN International Education Development organization later alleged the incident was staged. In China, schools screened the footage, children wrote essays against Falun Gong, and public opinion shifted from sympathy to disgust.

The death toll revealed the impact: 173 practitioners died in 18 months before the incident, and 869 in the 36 months after. A fabricated event achieved what years of propaganda couldn’t.

As you can see, the crackdown against the Falun Gong was much larger than UFO research. It transformed the direction of Chinese modernization. The future of Chinese culture in a new, essentially capitalistic framework. Yes, the communist party still ruled, but the country was changing radically. The Falun Gong offered a chance for genuine freedom from ideological control—and it was brutally suppressed.

This is because the CCP’s response wasn’t just about eliminating Falun Gong—it was about crushing any model of grassroots organization that might inspire future dissent.

With this understanding of how the Falun Gong crackdown shattered Chinese ufology and reshaped Chinese society, let’s return to the UFO research scene in China.

 

FROM CURA TO ICUA

The Chinese UFO Research Association (CURA) had been developing its own problems. By May 1992, concerns were mounting within the organization. At its Fourth National Congress, members voiced alarm over “pseudoscience” infiltrating their work, particularly from practices related to Qi Gong. It remains unclear whether these concerns targeted Qi Gong broadly or specifically the rising Falun Gong movement. Clearly, though, some members saw trouble brewing.

As a result, the organization publicly reaffirmed its dedication to “the dialectical-materialist guiding principle,” emphasizing scientific methods over spiritual speculation. This pivot aimed to preserve the organization’s credibility and align with state ideology.

The effort failed. In September 1997, CURA lost its status as a second-level study society under the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST)—effectively removing government sanction of its activities. This was a devastating blow. It stemmed directly from the government’s growing unease with Qi Gong and Falun Gong influences. Left with no choice, CURA disbanded.

After this dissolution, branch organizations continued independently, operating largely underground. One report described them as “wandering about like lost children with no home, totally unsure of what to do.”

After CURA dissolved in September 1997, its branch organizations survived independently but operated underground. Internal documents described them as “wandering about like lost children with no home, totally unsure of what to do.” 

The Dalian branch, located in the north near Beijing and North Korea, stepped up to rebuild a central organization for Chinese UFO research. In September 1998, a key meeting brought delegates from across China to Dalian. Their goal: plan a new organization that could continue UFO research while navigating China’s dangerous political landscape. These talks led to the birth of the International Chinese UFO Association (ICUA) in April 1999.

This timing is telling—just as the Falun Gong crisis was reaching its peak, Chinese ufologists were reshaping their field. They were clearly cleaning house for their own safety.

One smart decision the ICUA made was to register in Hong Kong. Having returned to Chinese control in 1997, Hong Kong still kept its separate legal system under the “one country, two systems” policy. This offered a safer home for research groups like ICUA. The arrangement gave them breathing room from mainland politics while keeping ties to Chinese UFO researchers.

What’s striking is that ICUA formed just as UFO sightings in China were climbing and getting more public attention. In 1998, Chinese news reported several major UFO incidents. I’ll highlight two of them here.

More Chinese UFO Sightings

Despite increasing political pressure on UFO and paranormal research organizations in late 1990s China, important UFO events continued to occur and be reported. This was a major help to maintain public and scientific interest in the phenomenon during a genuine crisis in Chinese ufology.

There were quite a few important Chinese UFO Incidents of 1998. One occurred on October 3, 1998. This was the Kunming diamond formation UFO. 

On Saturday, October 3, 1998, the Han family visited a mountainside cemetery outside Kunming, a major city in China’s Yunnan province. Around 11:50 a.m., the father spotted a bright object flying over the city and captured about three minutes of video footage.

The object first appeared as a bright ball surrounded by two pieces of black rubber. It then changed into five diamond-shaped objects flying in a diamond formation. There was a noticeable shifting of colors, from silver to lighter tones, then to orange. At the same time the object appeared to transform from a cylinder to a disk shape. The entire change took about two minutes. 

This case stands out because the witness recorded extended video evidence. Chinese scientists who studied Han’s footage confirmed its value, noting that few UFO sightings are recorded for this long. Chinese state newspapers reported this as one of three major UFO events during this period that defied explanation.

The same month, another fascinating UFO sighting occurred. On October 19, 1998, around 11:00 PM, four military radar stations in Hebei Province picked up an unknown blip hovering over a military flight academy in Changzhou. This triggered a response that would become one of China’s most important UFO incidents.

Colonel Li, the Changzhou airbase commander, sent a Jianjiao 6 jet fighter to intercept. The pilot and at least 140 ground witnesses observed an object with distinctive features. This was a mushroom-shaped dome on top with a flat bottom. It was very bright, with constantly-rotating lights around its rim. 

When the jet closed to within 4,000 meters over Qing county, the object shot straight up. Throughout the chase, the UFO seemed to play with the pursuit plane, repeatedly pulling away only to reappear overhead. At one point, the frustrated pilot asked permission to open fire, but command refused.

The chase continued to 12,000 meters altitude before ending when the plane ran low on fuel. The UFO vanished before backup aircraft could arrive. According to multiple sources, this remains China’s only officially confirmed UFO sighting by military authorities.

China surely was collecting many UFO reports. Paul Dong in his 1983 book UFOs Over Modern China wrote that since ancient times there had been 6,000 UFO cases from China. Another source, citing the South China Morning Post, stated that China had generated 5,000 total cases merely from 1990 through 1995. This is a substantial number and compares reasonably well with the total collected by the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) in the U.S. Unfortunately, the vast number of these sightings, or those from later years, are not readily (or at all) accessible to outsiders. 

China’s Shift to Scientific UFOlogy

From 2000 onward, we see a clear shift in Chinese UFO research. The Qi Gong UFOlogy movement that linked traditional Chinese spiritual practices with UFO phenomena was replaced by a straightforward “scientific nuts and bolts approach”—a change necessary to maintain government approval.

I found a reference to popular novelist Ke Yunlu, widely read in 1990s China, who published works connecting UFOs with spiritual themes. He even suggested Jesus was either an extraterrestrial’s son or had learned from aliens. These aspects of Ke’s work are now omitted from official publications celebrating his literary contributions.

The Journal of UFO Research, which once circulated 300,000-400,000 copies, underwent a major transformation. According to editor-in-chief Ma Wenrou, after 2013 the publication shifted focus to “theoretical and serious science” in aerospace, planetary science, and related fields, largely dropping coverage of UFO sightings.

All UFO-oriented groups in China must be registered with a government body, such as the China Association for Science and Technology. Going outside the known rules of engagement means losing your affiliation and thus your professional status. 

In addition to the ICUA, there are other leading UFO groups in China. Two representative ones are the Beijing UFO Society and the Shanghai UFO Research Center. 

The Beijing UFO Society was established in 1984 under the umbrella of the Beijing Science and Technology Association. This organization was dedicated to exploring UFO phenomena through a scientific lens, adhering to the principles of dialectical and historical materialism. In other words, it somehow seeks to explain UFOs via some form of Marxist interpretation. In practice I must think this means no paranormal explanations, but perhaps not necessarily a debunking approach in every instance. 

By 1994, it had gained official status as a corporation, still focusing on its commitment to integrating scientific and technological resources within Beijing’s community. The society’s main objectives included promoting science development and contributing to the understanding of UFOs. It is said to remain active, with approximately 300 members. 

The Shanghai UFO Research Center was founded by Lou and Wu Jialu, with Wu serving as its director. The center focused on meticulously analyzing UAP sightings, with a strong emphasis on finding rational explanations. Lou’s background in aeronautical engineering provided the group with valuable expertise, enabling them to approach each sighting with technical precision. The majority of reported incidents were attributed to natural phenomena or optical illusions, such as light reflections from aircraft.

One notable incident investigated by the Shanghai UFO Research Center occurred in 1999, where a strange object moving in a ‘V’ formation was observed. This sighting lasted about 10 minutes and was personally witnessed by Wu. We are told that the Shanghai UFO Research Group adopts a generally “pragmatic and skeptical” approach. They prioritize debunking UAP sightings by identifying possible natural or man-made explanations, reflecting a conservative and scientifically cautious stance. 

Admittedly, the source material on all of these Chinese UFO organizations is scarce. But the information we are getting seems to point in this direction. In other words, public, established Chinese ufology now looks very similar to a SETI-like endeavor. Strict scientific skepticism rules the field. 

Contactee Cases Still Investigated

Despite the crackdown, interest in UFOs and alien contact has remained high among many Chinese. Quite a few have continued to follow alleged contactees who claim to receive messages from extraterrestrials. The heavy repression hasn’t stopped the contactee emphasis of grassroots Chinese ufology. The risks have been real, yet the believers have remained. While officially registered UFO associations in China have about 50,000 members, some estimate tens of millions of Chinese are interested in the subject.

Zhang Jingping, a member of the International Chinese UFO Association, represents this ongoing interest. Since 1990, he has investigated China’s most sensational UFO cases. He uses Geiger counters and polygraphs. He is precise. 

But there is also another side, perfectly in keeping with grassroots Chinese ufology. Zhang also claims to represent beings from Planet Dongsheng in the Sirius system—1.9-meter-tall entities that can pass through walls. Though never meeting them directly, he communicates through human intermediaries and believes these aliens help humanity by relocating earthquakes to minimize casualties. In 2019, Zhang even sent a service agreement to Turkish President Erdogan, via the Chinese ambassador, seeking compensation for allegedly preventing an earthquake in Izmir through alien intervention. Unsurprisingly, his claim appears to have been unanswered. He has also sent regular reports on his research to China’s leadership without response. 

Mainstream scientists dismiss his work, but Zhang represents China’s grassroots ufology movement that flourished in the 1990s but now operates in the shadows of tightening regulations. Working with his own money, he is tolerated but unembraceable by authorities who require UFO organizations to register with official science bodies.

Probably the most famous case Zhang investigated, indeed probably the most famous UFO case in all of China, is that of Meng Zhaoguo. In 1994, this man, a farmer from Heilongjiang Province, had sex with an alien. But not just any alien. 

Meng described the UFO landing on Fenghuang Mountain, emitting a force field that kept him away. He says aliens took him aboard their craft, where a 3-meter (10 feet) tall female alien with six fingers on each hand engaged in a 40-minute sexual encounter with him. The aliens told him their child would be born 60 years later. 

Zhang Jingping investigated the case and concluded the encounter was real. The ground was scorched. Trees were damaged. Something had happened, at least in his assessment.

Another interesting contactee case is that of Cao Gong, a Beijing school principal. He reported an experience in 1999, claiming that aliens abducted him and performed a procedure that healed a sick girl who was also on the spacecraft. Cao described being taken aboard a flying saucer where he witnessed the healing.

Zhang also investigated Cao’s case, taking him to a police station where a computer image of the girl was created based on Cao’s description. The girl was later found but deemed too mentally unstable to provide reliable testimony. If this is actually accurate and true, it would certainly be quite remarkable. Perhaps one day there might be a way to examine this case more fully. It would be very interesting to do a deeper dive into it. 

Another interesting story in recent Chinese contactee culture is that of Xiang Kuansong and his family. In 2012, Xiang Kuansong, a retired soldier from Hunan Province, and his sons completed a “liaison station” for aliens in Mayang Village. Seventeen years of work. Two hundred thousand yuan spent. Faith kept them going.

The family claimed to communicate with beings from Planet Dongsheng from the Sirius star system. This planet, by the way, seems to be referenced a number of times in Chinese contactee culture. The family claimed the aliens guided them and they simply listened. They built what they were told to build.

Just Don’t Go Too Far

Some of the contactee claims are tolerated by the Chinese government, and some are not. You can definitely go too far if you are not careful. Then you pay a heavy price. Such was the case of Zheng Hui. 

For several years, she led the Galactic Federation UFO contact group in China, where she was also known as Master Miao Le. Apparently she was influenced by Western UFO literature that had been translated into Chinese during the 1980s and 1990s. Zheng claimed to be in contact with extraterrestrial beings, particularly the Pleiadians. She identified Ashtar, a figure in Western UFO contactee literature, as the commander of the Galactic Federation. Ashtar was equivalent to Buddha, she said, and he had appointed her as “Princess Buddha.” Her group became one of the most prominent UFO organizations in China.

Western ufology is filled with self-appointed gurus and saviors. True, they are tiresome, but they are not thrown into prison for that. They can of course if there is financial fraud or other related crimes. But as far as we can tell in the case of Zheng Hui, her crime was “heterodox teachings.” In 2015 she was sentenced to eight years in prison. The state does not forgive. The state does not forget. Indeed, standard web searches in 2025 do not tell us of her fate, or whether she has even been released. We sincerely hope she is at least finally free from imprisonment, whether or not we choose to believe her claims. 

I suspect the incarceration of Zheng Hui has had a further chilling effect on Chinese UFO researchers. Hong Kong researcher Cheuk Fei emphasized how tricky it is to go down this path. During interviews he gave in 2018 and 2019 he discussed how mainland China prohibits “superstitious” UFO stories. And stay out of conspiratorial writing, too. Bad idea. The government only tolerates UFO discussion that it considers scientific. Write about aliens if you must. But keep them scientific. Keep them distant and safe.

Chinese UFO Crash Retrieval?

Given China’s documented UFO encounters, including military ones, and its status as a rising global power, it’s plausible that China might have retrieved a downed UFO, especially given its vast size. Indeed, according to one of Zhang Jingping’s investigations, such an event did happen. This was a UFO crash near Datong, China in 1997. Zhang pursued this case with special interest.

Unfortunately, the story came from just one source: a former soldier who had served three years in the third battalion of the Datong military training division. This ex-serviceman claimed military teams were sent to a crash site near Datong in China’s Shanxi province. Most notably, he reported that “two aliens” were at the scene. He provided no details about their appearance or condition.

Despite Zhang’s efforts, the incident remains unconfirmed. The account depends entirely on one witness with no supporting evidence. 

Did it happen? China’s scientific community scoffs. They view such claims as interesting cultural stories, nothing more. I would say, never rule it out. They happen in the United States. They happen in Russia. They have happened in many other places around the world. They can certainly happen in China. But we certainly need more evidence or testimony than what we currently seem to have. 

The Chinese Military’s Interest in UFOs

The People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) interest in UFOs probably began during the Cold War era when, like militaries worldwide, China monitored UFOs unexplained aerial phenomena as potential foreign surveillance or advanced weapons threats. We have discussed a few of these instances, going back to the rule of Mao Zedong. While unconfirmed by the Chinese government, they seem most probably true, at least in my opinion. Also, as discussed above, there is at least one confirmed encounter by the Chinese military with a UFO. This was the pursuit on October 19, 1998, in Hebei Province. It would seem beyond any common sense to think there were no other such cases. But the Chinese military doesn’t like to share very much.

We know a little bit about China’s military engagement with this phenomenon. By at least 2019, the PLA had formalized its UFO investigations under a specialized task force addressing what they term “unidentified air conditions” (UACs). This terminology shift mirrors similar changes in other countries, including the United States’ transition from UFO to UAP which was officially adopted when the Pentagon established its Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force in August 2020.

The establishment of China’s formal task force came in response to an increase in mysterious aircraft in Chinese airspace. As Chen Li of the PLA’s Air Force Early Warning Academy stated in a 2019 report: “The frequent occurrence of unidentified air conditions in recent years… brings severe challenges to air defence security of our country.”

Unlike the U.S., China never publicly announced the creation of its UAC program with a specific launch date. The system appears to have evolved gradually, with incremental improvements in data collection and analysis rather than through a single formal decree. The existence of this structured approach only became widely known in June 2021 when the South China Morning Post reported on the PLA’s efforts. This seems typical of the Chinese government: no fanfare, and tell as little as you need. 

By June 2021, the PLA had implemented a sophisticated three-tier system for handling UAP reports:

1. Base Level: Military radar stations, air force pilots, police stations, weather stations, and Chinese Academy of Sciences observatories collect raw data.
2. Mid-Tier Processing: PLA’s regional military command conducts preliminary analysis before transferring data to a national database.
3. Headquarters Analysis: With AI assistance, PLA headquarters assigns a “threat index” to each object based on behavior, frequency, aerodynamic design, radioactivity, materials, and other factors.

On paper at least, this seems like an exceedingly logical and well-thought out system. 

Another interesting tidbit. In recent years, the PLA has increasingly relied on artificial intelligence to manage the overwhelming volume of sighting reports coming from both military and civilian sources. By 2021, Chinese military researchers were actively using AI systems to cope with the surge in UAC reports. According to Chen’s report, “human analysts have been overwhelmed in recent years by the rapidly mounting sighting reports.” Of course, we have no access to this apparent flood of UAC (e.g. UFO) reports coming to the Chinese military. 

We are told that the AI systems help analyze data, pull together relevant information, and determine an object’s possible purpose. This technological approach reflects China’s broader push toward military modernization and adaptation to new security challenges. It would seem unwise to underestimate their capabilities in this realm. 

The PLA hunts threats, not aliens. They search for enemy drones and spy tech. Nothing more! China’s military sees UAPs through a materialist lens. They want facts. They reject speculation. Their approach matches the nation’s ideology. They seek enemies they understand, not visitors from stars. Or so they keep telling us. 

Chinese citizens love UFO stories, but the government clearly does not. Military investigations stay classified. Public fascination grows anyway. The PLA keeps its distance from civilian enthusiasm. They reframe all sightings as weather or lights and censor when necessary. The overriding imperative is to maintain control.

Meanwhile, the gap widens. Citizens wonder about visitors from space. Military officers worry about foreign surveillance. The two worlds rarely meet.

The Xiaoshan Airport Incident

One UFO event of the 21st century gives us a sense that the phenomenon continues in China, and also continues to be repressed. That is the famous Xiaoshan Airport Incident. 

A strange light appeared over Hangzhou on July 7, 2010. At 8:40 PM, a flight crew spotted it. They called it in and air traffic control acted fast. By 8:45 PM, the airport shut down. Outbound flights stayed grounded. Inbound planes diverted to Ningbo and Wuxi. The closure lasted 56 minutes and affected more than 20 flights and two thousand passengers. 

Earlier that day, Hangzhou residents saw something hovering. It had a golden light and a comet-like tail. Ma Shijun took a photo at 8:26 PM. It showed a bright white streak. The flight crew later described a twinkling object. It didn’t show on radar.

Two days later, an unnamed Chinese official mentioned a “military connection.” He said nothing more. Then, on July 14, investigators arrived. Experts from the Beijing UFO Research Society and Shanghai UFO Research Center interviewed witnesses and studied the site. On July 25, they released findings. They found no evidence of alien spacecraft. They couldn’t rule out private or military aircraft.

Experts offered other theories: a high-flying aircraft reflecting light, military exercises, missile tests. The authorities settled on “airplane reflections” or “meteorological phenomena.” Two completely different phenomena, but one assumes they were waiting to see which answer stuck to the wall best. 

This was China’s first airport shutdown for a UFO. The case went cold. The strange light remains unexplained.

That summer, UFO reports surged across China. Zhou Xiaoqiang’s UFO Research Society received over 100 reports. One-quarter came from Beijing alone.

Chinese UFO Research: Survival Under State Control

UFOs came to China in 1979 when Wuhan University students formed the first UFO research group. The timing was perfect. China was opening up, the old guard was losing power, and people could breathe again. CURA grew fast. By the mid-1980s, it had forty branches and thousands of members. They published a journal and investigated cases. The government watched but allowed it.

Then it changed. In 1988, CURA affiliated with the Qigong Science Research Association for legal protection. Understandable at the time. After all, for so long everything had been repressed. Why not try some far-out ideas? But it was a bad move. Qigong became political, and eventually it all tracked back to Falun Gong. 

Then things fell apart. In 1997, the government compelled CURA to disband. Branch organizations wandered “like lost children with no home.” The survivors regrouped in Dalian. They formed the International Chinese UFO Association in Hong Kong in 1999. Safer that way.

The UFO regrouping and reorganization coincided with the Falun Gong purge. UFOs had become guilty by association. But Chinese UFO researchers adapted. They embraced materialism, rejected mysticism, and adopted “dialectical-materialist guiding principles.” Survival required state-endorsed scientific legitimacy. Jin Fan, head of Dalian UFO Research, put it plainly: “The study of UFOs is fundamentally different from Falun Gong. This is purely scientific. Falun Gong deals with cults and superstition.”

As we have seen, some didn’t comply well enough. In 2015, Zheng Hui received eight years in prison for her Galactic Federation UFO contact group. Article 300 of the Criminal Code was the hammer. The charge: heterodox teachings.

Military interest never stopped. In 1998, a Chinese jet chased a UFO over Changzhou. Radar tracked it and one hundred forty witnesses saw it: “a large dome-shaped object with a flat bottom and many lights around the rim.” Pretty clear description, we should think. 

The People’s Liberation Army now uses AI to track “rapidly increasing UFOs.” They assign each a “threat index.” As the military describes it, this is a national security issue, not visitors from space.

UFO enthusiasts still exist in China. They operate carefully. Unless they are looking for trouble, they avoid supernatural claims and keep conversations materialistic.

This is Chinese ufology today. Controlled, scientific, and safe.

For now, at least. But there is always that unpredictable undercurrent. 

Does China Run a Secret UFO Program?

Does China operate a classified UFO program beyond public view? We lack definitive proof, but several indicators suggest this possibility merits serious consideration.

First, there is the People’s Liberation Army. The PLA actively tracks UAPs through its Early Warning Academy. They’ve developed AI systems to analyze what they call “unidentified air conditions,” framing it as a national security matter. However, the true scope and depth of their investigations remain concealed. It would seem obvious that the PLA is more interested in these UAP than they are letting on. This aligns with China’s long-standing policy of tightly controlling airspace information.

Second, China has a history of suppressing UFO incidents. There’s the entire Mao era for starters. Then there is the complete obliteration of competitive voices such as the Falun Gong, politically dissident voices, and any form of ufology deemed too far-out. Or even, at this point, any genuine hint of an extraterrestrial hypothesis. When Xiaoshan Airport shut down in 2010 due to an unidentified object, officials almost immediately attributed it to “airplane reflections” despite compelling pilot reports and photographic evidence. This mirrors how the United States handled UFO incidents for decades. 

Another odd event occurred in 2022, when China’s massive Sky Eye telescope detected unusual signals. Officials quickly dismissed them as “interference.” Beijing Normal University researchers initially found these narrow-band electromagnetic signals intriguing enough to report, but Science and Technology Daily hastily deleted their article. The consistent approach appears to be: show scientific interest publicly while tightly controlling information flow.

More recently, a 2023 “phantom UFO” sighting near Qingdao rapidly disappeared from Chinese social media platforms. The pattern is consistent: control the narrative, suppress unusual reports.

Finally, the Chinese military has clearly been interacting with these objects for a long, long time. True, the early reports are unconfirmed. But then again … Mao. It surely seems as though there has been a fairly regular engagement by the Chinese military with these unknown, potentially alien, craft. And it’s not impossible that they acquired one of these objects in some manner. Maybe from the alleged 1997 event near Datong, maybe somewhere else. The Chinese military doesn’t like to talk. 

I suspect that the public Chinese UFO organizations function like the old U.S. Project Blue Book—offering conventional explanations while deeper investigations happen elsewhere. Groups like the ICUA and Beijing UFO Society routinely attribute sightings to drones, weather phenomena, or foreign technology. It is not hard to see how this could provide cover for more serious military research.

These public, officially sanctioned, UFO groups hit the same themes over and over—natural phenomena, foreign surveillance, technical glitches. Politically safe, always politically safe. Given the circumstances, it’s hard to blame them. But still, it’s not as though we can’t see what’s going on. 

Chinese Ufology and the Stakes of Disclosure

We have no smoking gun for a secret Chinese UFO program. But the military interest, data control, and strategic ambiguity match the old U.S. playbook. The PLA likely conducts classified studies while public skepticism provides cover. Like all nations, China blurs the line between national security and the search for visitors.

If I had to form a provisional conclusion, I would say that in China, the truth remains classified. There remains a lot to learn about Chinese ufology—its history, trends, and important cases. What surely seems to be the case is that the Chinese government has turned off the spigot, so to speak, and greatly restricted access to information on this subject.

Clearly, some of this is motivated by State Party ideology and a genuine paranoia about maintaining their power. That paranoia could be very well placed. But there is also at least a reasonable likelihood that a genuine “disclosure” of truth about UFOs in China would create real problems for them.

China’s economic growth in the last few decades has been incredible and has probably helped to solidify the government’s position and that of the CCP. Of course, economic upturns eventually become downturns. It’s not clear how confident and secure the government feels. Opening up research on UFOs would cause several problems. One would be to open up conspiratorial speculations, a virtual inevitability. Another is that it would likely open the door to greater spiritual movements. 

And the Falun Gong hasn’t disappeared. The organization still operates outside of China with a decent amount of international sympathy, if not all the support they want. The Chinese authorities therefore must feel that there is never going to be a good time to engage in UAP transparency as we call it here.

Now, as the UAP transparency movement in the West, especially in the United States, continues to gain attention and maybe some traction, it’s fair to assume that this is not going unnoticed among the Chinese government leadership. They are watching, deciding, game planning, thinking of how to respond if this subject continues to escalate.

It’s not clear to me, and I might imagine not clear to anybody, how China would actually react to a genuine “disclosure” about UFOs by the United States, should one ever occur. It seems clear enough that they themselves would never initiate one. But if the US were to make a significant disclosure—say, if Donald Trump announced “it’s real, they’re here, we’ve got their stuff”—I think it could potentially constitute a severe shock to the Chinese system, simply based on the recent past.

I do wonder if there are analysts in the US government who have considered this possibility—that UFO disclosure could function as a weapon against the Chinese government. I am not advocating for the use of UFO disclosure as a geopolitical weapon. The subject and the reality it represents is far too important to be used for such a purpose. But the world is what it is, and that means it is the scene of a never-ending power struggle among the organized powers of this planet. In the event of a United States-sponsored UFO Disclosure, you can be confident that there will be geopolitical stakes, and there are probably at least a few cunning strategists who will be thinking along these lines. 

As an aside, I might be inclined to think that China has more vulnerability in this matter than, say, Russia. The story of Russian ufology deserves its own in-depth treatment. But in the case of China, it is not impossible to see that UFO Disclosure could have the potential to be destabilizing. Or, perhaps as likely, an excuse to tighten the grip of the state over its people. 

Another piece of the 21st century’s ever-changing geopolitical puzzle. 

Conclusion

The story of Chinese ufology reveals a fascinating paradox: a nation with one of the world’s richest histories of aerial phenomena, yet one where discussing such experiences has carried some of the highest stakes imaginable. 

What makes Chinese ufology unique is not merely the quality or quantity of sightings—which appear to match or exceed Western reports in their strangeness and credibility—but rather the sociopolitical context in which these encounters unfold. Whereas Western ufologists might fear ridicule or career setbacks, their Chinese counterparts have faced imprisonment, “re-education,” and worse. The price of curiosity in China has been measured not in social capital but in human freedom.

The spiritual dimension of Chinese ufology represents another distinctive element. The synthesis between traditional Qi Gong practices and UFO research created a powerful cultural force that transcended mere scientific curiosity. This fusion threatened state control. It generated an alternative worldview with its own principles and authorities. Unlike Western ufology, where spiritual interpretations are generally ignored by the scientific and political establishment, in China this connection became a genuinely revolutionary force that challenged the CCP’s monopoly on truth.

Today’s officially sanctioned Chinese ufology shows the scars of this confrontation. Sterile, materialistic, and politically neutered, it has been deliberately shaped to serve rather than challenge state interests. The vibrancy of the 1980s and early 1990s has been replaced by cautious scientific language and conventional explanations. Yet beneath this sanitized surface, the underground currents of curiosity and unconventional belief undoubtedly continue to flow.

The Chinese military’s approach to UFOs probably reflects its approach to all sensitive matters: thorough investigation, sophisticated analysis, and absolute secrecy. Their three-tier reporting system and AI-enhanced analytical capabilities suggest a level of institutional seriousness that might even exceed American efforts. What they have learned—and potentially recovered—remains hidden behind layers of classification and denial that may very well make the Pentagon look transparent by comparison.

As Western UFO disclosure efforts gain momentum, the Chinese government finds itself in an increasingly precarious position. Each new revelation from Washington, each declassified video or congressional hearing, represents not just information but potential destabilization. The CCP understands that UFO disclosure transcends simple questions of aerial phenomena; it cuts to the heart of who controls reality itself. For a regime whose legitimacy rests on ideological certainty, the mere possibility of non-human intelligence operating beyond state control represents an existential challenge. Moreover, a resumption of a genuine grassroots ufology in China would probably trigger another spiritual movement, and this will not be tolerated by the current government. 

This explains why Chinese authorities have maintained such a viselike grip on UFO information. It’s not merely about national security in the conventional sense—it’s about preserving the philosophical underpinnings of the state itself. The prospect of Western UFO disclosure represents a genuine asymmetric threat to Chinese political stability. One that is unlikely to be countered with conventional military or diplomatic tools.

Despite these constraints, the history of Chinese ufology demonstrates the resilience of human curiosity. Through imperial dynasties, foreign occupation, communist revolution, and economic transformation, the Chinese people have continued to look skyward and wonder. Their stories—from ancient celestial ships to modern military intercepts—form an essential chapter in humanity’s encounter with the unknown.

As we consider the global implications of potential UFO disclosure, we would be wise to remember that such revelations will not unfold evenly across different societies. For China, the stakes are uniquely high, the potential disruptions uniquely profound. The hidden history of Chinese ufology isn’t just about strange lights in the sky—it’s about the fundamental questions of control, belief, and power that have shaped human civilization for millennia.

In this light, Chinese ufology stands not as a peripheral curiosity but as a critical lens through which we can understand both the phenomenon itself and the societies that encounter it. The truth, if it ever fully emerges, will transform not just our understanding of the cosmos, but the very structures of human organization here on Earth. And nowhere might those transformations be more consequential than in China.

— Richard Dolan, March 2025