received this report in an e-mail this morning (a WA Sasquatch e-mail list) and since Loren Coleman sent it, I even left his advertisement on at the end...

http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jun/30china.htm
'Bigfoot' spotted in central China: Report
June 30, 2003 13:28 IST

An 'ape-like' beast nearly 1.65 metres tall has been sighted in the forests
of central China, a media report on Monday said today.

The grayish 'mythical ape-like animal', suspected by locals to be a
'bigfoot', was reported to have shoulder-length black hair, it said.

'Bigfoot' is more commonly known as the Yeti and has remained an unsolved
mystery of the Himalayas. Known as 'the rock living animal' (Yah means rock
and the means animal in Sherpa), and popularly known as 'the abominable
snowman' in the west, the sightings of Yeti have been reported since the
late 1800s.

Half man, half monkey, it is said to live high up in the thick forests of
Nepal and Tibet, where it is known locally by the name 'migou'.

Chinese wildlife officials have launched an investigation after apparent
sightings of the mysterious animal on by six people, including a reporter
from the local broadcasting station, in Shennongjia nature reserve in Hubei
province on Sunday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Shang Zhengmin, the reporter, and five others were on the way back to
Songbai town from Muyu town when they sighted the creature.

When the vehicle they were in took a left turn along the mountain road, four
people in the vehicle saw an ape-like animal moving fast on the road. But as
the vehicle finished the turn, the animal had disappeared.

The passengers got out of the vehicle and found several 30 cmentimetre-long
footprints and newly broken branches in the jungle near the road.

On the road where the animal was spotted, they claimed to have discovered a
three-meter-long patch of foul smelling urine-like liquid.

Hundreds of local people have reported 'bigfoot' sightings over the past
decades in the Shennongjia area.

China has organised several high-profile searches for the unidentified
animal through the 1980s and 1990s, but no hard evidence has been found.
--
Brought to you by...
BIGFOOT!: The True Story of Apes in America (NY: Paraview Pocket-Simon and
Schuster, 2003)

So howcome the chinese govt. and media.take this so much more seriously than our own ? doh... No tabloids.

One of the nicer byproducts of living in a totalitarian society...

Interesting observation about the three-meter-long patch of foul smelling urine-like liquid. I've always believed that the smell associated with these creatures was due to a chemical scent released from glands, perhaps a defensive warning signal.

Just thought that was very interesting.......