(1) Anthropologist Believes Chinese Race Has Two Different Ancestors -
Peking Man and Yuanmou Man
[CND, 05/24/98] After studies on human skulls from 36 regions in China,
anthropologist ZHANG Zhenbiao concluded that the northern and southern
Chinese, separated by the Yangtze River, each have their own ancestor,
AFP quoted an official China Daily report Wednesday. While the northern
Chinese were descended from the Peking Man, the ancestor of the
southern Chinese was another hominid, the Yuanmou Man, who was
discovered in Yunnan, said Zhang. Although both hominids are
introduced in school textbooks, the Peking Man, first discovered in
1929 in Zhoukoudian near Beijing, has been considered the only ancestor
of the Chinese. Zhang's study included samples dated from 200,000 years
ago to the present. (Jim YU, YIN De An)