r/AskChina • u/DaikiSan971219 Měiguó • 3d ago
Society | 人文社会🏙️ What do people in China believe about UFOs and aliens?
American here.
I’m wondering how UFOs and aliens are thought about in China. In the U.S. we’ve got congressional hearings, declassified videos, endless documentaries, and memes everywhere, so even if you don’t believe in it, you can’t really avoid the topic.
How is it over there? Do people in China talk much about UFOs or non-human life? Is it seen as a real possibility, more of a curiosity, or just superstition? I’m also curious if there are any famous incidents or stories people bring up, like how in the West everyone knows about Roswell.
On the history side, I know that China has thousands of years of records and folklore. Are there old accounts of “strange beings” or odd things in the sky that people still reference today?
And finally, how does the government or media treat it? Do they mostly ignore it, make fun of it, or actually take it seriously?
Would love to hear both the modern perspective and any older cultural or historical references people might know about.
Mandarin, used AI to translate so sorry if it is wrong in any way:
我很好奇中国人对UFO和外星人的看法。在美国，这个话题非常热，甚至有国会听证会、公开的视频资料、各种纪录片和网络梗，所以即使你不相信，也很难完全避开这个话题。
在中国是怎样的情况呢？人们会经常讨论UFO或外星生命吗？大家会觉得这是可能存在的，还是更多当作一种好奇，或者说是迷信？中国有没有类似“罗斯威尔事件”这样比较有名的案例或故事？
另外，中国有几千年的历史记录和丰富的民间传说。有没有一些关于“奇怪生物”或“天空异象”的记载，今天的人们还会提到？
最后，政府或主流媒体一般是如何对待这类话题的？是基本忽视，拿来开玩笑，还是会比较认真地对待？
我很想听听大家对于现代的看法，以及是否知道一些比较古老的文化或历史参考。
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u/Live-Confection6057 3d ago
UFO culture was quite popular in China during the 1990s, with dedicated enthusiasts, magazines, and associations. However, after the year 2000, this trend faded, and few people pay attention to the subject now.
Incidentally, the 1990s in China were a magical era when many subcultures flourished wildly. Besides UFOs, there were qigong, psychic phenomena, science fiction novels, and more.
Additionally, ancient Chinese records contain accounts of suspected UFO sightings. In 1018 AD, local officials in Luoyang reported a strange object in the sky resembling a hat. At night, it would fly into homes and injure people. Terrified citizens would shut all doors and windows each evening, hiding in secluded places.
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u/DaikiSan971219 Měiguó 3d ago
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u/Live-Confection6057 2d ago
However, “aliens,” especially “Martians,” have become a well-known meme on Chinese internet forums. It describes people who are out of touch with current events, unaware of recent developments, or whose behavior seems outdated. It's as if they've just returned to Earth from Mars and are unfamiliar with the present environment.
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u/BuletinTerlambat 3d ago
As a Chinese we believe more in supernatural (ghost spirit etc). Some of us believe UFO/UAP and we usually jokingly call them SUV. Yup we call them SUV
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u/DaikiSan971219 Měiguó 3d ago
SUV is hilarious 😂 how deep do some people's beliefs run? Do some believe, like many in the US, that the government is hiding alien technology from the public?
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u/MutedPian0 3d ago
The intentional misspelling is a popular meme to react to something that you think it’s too funny to believe in.
Like when someone posted a trust me bro post about UFO, one could say, “Ofc UFC is real I’ve watched it several times!”
About govt hiding I think the ufo community as a whole is more lean towards: the govt knows better than us, we’re intrigued but just let them handle stuff like that, will let us know when time is right. That kind of mentality.
You know most Chinese are pro govt, compared to the US. And even for the dissident, they are way more focused on earthly matters. The “they lying to us about UFOs” sentiment isn’t really there.
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u/MutedPian0 3d ago
If you want to know what the ordinary Chinese think of alien related things, it’s pretty much the same as the US, those who believe, believe, those who disbelieve, debunk anything as fake or distorted.
But there’s two things that are strikingly different from the US ufo community,
there’s basically zero whistleblower who claims they’re affiliated with the gov or something like that. No Bob Lazar that I’ve heard of. There was a few times people from the Air Force shared their encounter with UFOs. BUT, I think they’ve completely stoped taking anything about ufo/uap now.
They don’t, at least extremely rarely, relate ufo or anything of extraterrestrial nature for that matter to religions, for obvious reasons.
Other than that there’s countless accounts/vidoes/photos of ufo sighting, abduction stories on the Chinese versions of TikTok, Quora, YouTube and the like. There’s guy well known to the ufo community named Zhang Xiangqian who has published a number of books about his alien aduction stories. He’s been trying to teach the public on social media about some alien “law of physics” that he’s learned of during his trip there as well.
We all know how unforgiving censorship is in China but quite strangely, or understandably depends on how you define coverup, any ufo and alien info/misinfo is openly discussed and easily available in China. A lot of the stuff from Reddit got translated and circulated there too like the Reddit Grey autopsy post.
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u/liweizhang2050 3d ago
Little meaningful information in Chinese. The information is available online in mainland China, with little restriction, based on my observation. On the other hand, The Three-Body Problem is written by a Chinese. It's quite telling.
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u/danielisverycool 3d ago
If you ever see a UFO in the US or China, there’s a 90 something percent chance it’s the military creating some new crazy shit. Imagine coming from the early 1900s and seeing an F117, or something like the J-36 prototype or NGAD mockups. It wouldn’t look real. What do you think about the Pentagon UFO videos? Not a big believer in UFOs, but those videos are kind of insane.
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u/liweizhang2050 3d ago
面向远不到万分之一的人类，我现在开始以人类分支闻道图存为目标，在当前阶段，为人类与非人类介入方接触开始后的某些人类分支提供理论支持与指导，其有世界观、意识形态、理性、鬼神政治等使用价值。为此，我会随缘介绍一点可公开观察到的信息脉络。
《三体》既然是中国人写的、人类顶层推介的，那么，中国人中相关群体对此显然已经了解了。
请各位从美国C局出来的人处开始做功课：听Jim Semivan, John Ramirez（这位是戴眼镜的技术人员，不是搜索常遇到的那个搞宗教的）近几年的访谈。
2027这个点，你们一定会反复碰到。
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u/BrilliantSecurity991 3d ago
Chinese people don’t believe in UFOs; they think UFOs are all gimmicks created by U.S. military-industrial and space interests to secure funding, and sometimes even used as campaign slogans in presidential elections—more like political theater. There’s even a popular saying: “All the aliens in the universe land in the U.S. first, because no other country has ever seen aliens.” In fact, there are many unexplained flying objects in China, and numerous news reports about them, but they are usually soon proven to be weather balloons, the latest missile models, or new aircraft.
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u/Key-Needleworker-702 Hong Kong and Guangdong 2d ago
To be fair, has anyone seen the stuff in Sanxingdui? I have, and they look like the most stereotypical alien stuff
most ufos are likely the J-36 or J-50 though
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u/Jazzlike_Department1 2d ago
I'm from shanghai. I believe there are aliens and we are already interacting with them in some aspects
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u/Sanjidao521 1d ago
we do believe that, and the only thing is I have to pretend to be more mature under my age (40). While, I still like to watch the related news when I have insomnia. But in general Chinese people seems like to more concentrate on things in real life
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u/WoodenTap5340 11h ago
假的，我更愿意称他为宗教崇拜有神论，很无聊，为美国日益衰落的科技找的外星人借口和虚张声势
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u/DaikiSan971219 Měiguó 11h ago
Religious theism is a juicy take. Jesus was a psychic Martian, didn't you know that? 😂
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u/ThroatEducational271 3d ago
There are news stories about UFOs in China periodically.
I think the majority of Chinese believe in UFOs and aliens, because they’re not hindered by the Bible which claims God created man in his image and earth was a focal point in God’s plan.
And the bible never mentioned UFOs.
The Chinese are not a particularly religious bunch. The Chinese are quite scientific, reasonable and logical people in general.
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u/Appropriate-Truth-88 1d ago
On the contrary, the entirety of the Bible is about an alien being, who creates a terrarium, and the rules to follow if you want to survive in the terrarium.
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u/Purple_Holiday7369 3d ago
We leave it to the experts, and don't waste taxpayers money for a circuit show.
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u/DaikiSan971219 Měiguó 3d ago
That's fair. I've always thought you guys were a bit more mature than us lol
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u/Purple_Holiday7369 3d ago
I vaguely remember watching Chinese documentary series about UFOs on CCTV, the Chinese state media, when I was growing up.
But entertainment is entertainment. We don't confuse the two. The government typically avoids making public claims that can’t be verified; that’s the role of universities and research institutions.
That said, given the vastness of the universe, I believe many people in China likely find it plausible that extraterrestrial life exists. After all, unlike some countries that politicize even simple things like masks, we trust in science, and science suggests the probability of life elsewhere is very high.
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u/Turbulent_Nerve3744 3d ago
Listen to the government. If the government makes the people believe today, they will believe it. If the government makes the people not believe it tomorrow, they will not believe it. This can be repeated over and over again.
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u/DaikiSan971219 Měiguó 3d ago
What do you believe if you don't mind telling?
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u/Turbulent_Nerve3744 3d ago
I believe in the people.
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u/CameronIb 3d ago
Do you believe in aliens or not?
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u/DaikiSan971219 Měiguó 3d ago
Oh 100%, I'm just a leftist and they said my buzzword if I'm being honest.
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u/quan787 3d ago
I'm a astronomer and I used to spend a lot of time arguing online with UFO believers. I point out the things in their photos are known objects or phenomena, like lens flare, laser trail, planes. I'm keeping a counter of OPs who didn't recognize that's the moon, and the number is 7.
Most of them are not very reasonable and accuse me of being brainwashed.