Shen Kuo
was a renowned astronomer, mathematician, geologist, zoologist,
diplomat, engineer, inventor, musician, finance minister, and more. He
lived during the Song Dynasty in
China
(960–1127). Within his writings, which cover many topics, is a passage
detailing what appears to be unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings.
Professor Zhang Longqiao of the Chinese department of Peking Teachers
College discovered in the 1970s a passage in Shen’s book “Mengxi bitan”
(“Brush Talks From Dream Brook,” also known as “Dream Pool Essays”)
describing the pearl-like UFOs. Shen is as credible a source as one
could ask for in 11th to 12th century China, he remains a well-respected
contributor to the progress of science in the region.
Professor Zhang was “inclined to think that this might in a big way
supply a clue that a flying craft from some other planet once landed
somewhere near
Yangzhou
in China,” according to Paul Dong, a writer whose articles have
appeared in some of China’s most popular publications, including
state-run newspaper
The People’s Daily. Dong became
editor-in-chief of The Journal of UFO Research, working with many UFO
researchers and other experts at a time when China was hot with UFO
fever (the late 1970s, early ’80s).
Dong presents in his book, “China’s Major Mysteries,” a translation
of the passage Professor Zhang found in the “Dream Pool Essays.”
Shen
wrote:
“In the years of Emporer Jiayou (1056-1064), a UFO as bright as a
pearl often made its appearance over the prospering city of Yangzhou of
Jiangsu Province, particularly at night. At first the object was seen on
a lake in Tienzhang County in eastern Anhui and later on the Pishe Lake
northwest of Gaoyou County in
Jiangsu. Subsequently it was often seen by the local inhabitants near the Xingkai Lake.
“One night, a man living by the lakeside found a shining pearl close
by while studying outdoors. The object opened its door and a flood of
intense light like sunbeams darted out of it, then the outer shell
opened up, appearing as large as a bed with a big pearl the size of a
fist illuminating the interior in silvery white. The intense
silver-white light, shot from the interior, was too strong for human
eyes to behold; it cast shadows of every tree within a radius of ten
miles.
“The spectacle was like the rising sun, lighting up the distant sky and woods in red.
Then all of a sudden, the object took off at a tremendous speed and descended upon the lake like the sun setting.
“Yibo, a poet of Gaoyou and a frequent eyewitness of the moon-like
pearl, wrote a poem about it, but after some years the moon-like pearl
disappeared.
“As the pearl often made its appearance in the town of Fanliang in
Yangzhou, the local inhabitants, who had seen it frequently, built a
wayside pavilion and named it ‘The Pearl Pavilion.’ Inquisitive people
often came from afar by boat, waiting for a chance to see the
unpredictable pearl.”
The account is so clear and straightforward that it is not likely
based on hallucinations, religious visions, or the like, said Zhang.
Zhang also noted that no bioluminescent creatures, such as fireflies,
would be gigantic enough to be described as “large as half a bed and too
bright to behold with naked eyes.”
In the same book, Shen outlines
other scientific observations
that we now see were accurate. For example, he provided the first
description of a magnetic compass’ workings, he identified and analysed
fossils, he argued against the theory that the tides are connected to
the sun and identified a correlation with moon cycles, and he
hypothesized that the sun and moon are spherical rather than flat.
Link:
http://www.visiontimes.com/2015/01/02/eminent-scientist-in-chinese-history-recorded-ufo-sighting.html
