Guilin Anecdotes

Author: Zhao Ping / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: The history of ancient humans in Guilin is missing a link. As early as 1934, renowned paleoanthropologists such as Pei Wenjun and Yang Zhongjian came to the wilderness of Guilin and Wuming in Guangxi to examine cave sites. They collected several Paleolithic stone tools without pottery fragments and a batch of associated animal fossils in Dong Cave of Chuanshan Yueyan in Guilin, capturing traces of early ancient inhabitants in the region. The following year, they published an article in the Journal of Chinese Geology, stating that they had discovered relics of Middle Paleolithic humans in this area. Pei Wenjun also remarked, "China can become the center of paleoanthropology in the world, and Guangxi is the center of the center." From the 1950s to the 1970s, the study of ancient humans in Guangxi achieved significant results, moving from traces to concrete evidence: 500,000 to 100,000 years ago, there were activities of the "Liujiang Man" and "Qilin Mountain Man"; 30,000 to 50,000 years ago, there were activities of the "Laibin Man" and "Lipu Man"; and 8,000 to 10,000 years ago, there were numerous ancient inhabitants such as those at Baizi Head and Zengpiyan. The "Lipu Man" was discovered in Shu Village, Bao'an Town, Shuangjiang Town in Lipu County in 1961, over 130 kilometers away from the "Liujiang Man," and a left lower second premolar of a 12-to-15-year-old juvenile Homo sapiens (i.e., modern humans) was unearthed. However, whether there were ancestors of the same era as the Lipu Man in Guilin before the late stage of Homo sapiens (modern humans) at Zengpiyan remains a mystery. This gap left people puzzled for a time.
The Ancestors of Guilin's Homo sapiens Almost Missed Each Other In 1970, the entire country was implementing the highest guidance of "deepen tunneling and accumulate grain." The relevant authorities in Guilin planned to turn the caves of Baojiayan in the city into a large-scale, interconnected civil defense project. When truckloads of stone debris and soil were dumped outside during blasting, someone noticed numerous paleontological fossils inside and reported them to the Beijing Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Upon learning of this, the institute sent a female paleontologist to investigate. She identified the fossils as common members of the Quaternary "Giant Panda-Saber-toothed Cat Fauna" living in South China, and also discovered a fragment of a human skull on the calcite plate, along with fossils of 13 species of mammalian animals. Due to the Cultural Revolution, with military preparedness taking precedence over everything, she did not propose that the cultural relics department conduct a scientific excavation to uncover the truth. As a result, the caves of Baojiayan were blasted for eight consecutive years, clearing away 500 square meters of fossil-containing cultural deposits in the main cave, which were about one meter deep.
The Research Team Occasionally Collected Homo sapiens Teeth Fossils In May 1979, the first National Youth Science and Technology Achievements Exhibition was held. Li Qingzhong, a history teacher from the Affiliated Middle School of Guangxi Normal University (now the predecessor of Guangxi Normal University Affiliated High School), recalled the fossils in the nearby caves. He organized a "Paleontological Fossil Excavation Group" among his students to carry out extracurricular scientific research activities. They collected a batch of animal teeth fossils from the remaining deposits on the northern wall of the main cave and also found charcoal and animal burnt bones under the calcite plate at the cave entrance. One day that month, Li teacher brought the newly collected fossils to the Municipal Cultural Relics Management Committee on Rongshu Tower, hoping for help with identification. From the fossils he sent for identification, I sorted out a monkey tooth that resembled a human tooth but was smaller, and also found six human teeth larger than the monkey tooth. To be cautious, I immediately suggested that he take these specimens to the Guangxi Cultural Relics Work Team in Nanning for further identification. By the end of the month, the human teeth fossils Li teacher brought indeed excited the Guangxi Cultural Relics Work Team. They expressed their intention to immediately rescue the remaining relics to uncover the truth.