Acknowledgments
Conventions
Introduction
1. "From 'Dragon Bones' to Scientific Research": Peking Man and Popular Paleoanthropology in Pre-1949 China
Celestial Clouds and Zip Wires
A Willingness to Change
Nationalism and Internationalism
Tradition, Superstition, Science
First Contacts
Who Discovered Peking Man?
Presenting Peking Man
Conclusion
2. "A United Front against Superstition": Science Dissemination, 1940–1971
A Role for Scientists in Revolution
Ghosts into People, Apes into Humans
The Who and How of Science Dissemination
Darwin "Strikes A Blow" for Materialism
Scientists Feel the Heat
The Pursuit of Monsters
Conclusion
3. "The Content of Human": In Search of Human Identity, 1940–1971
The Question of a Universal Human Nature
Labor as the Core of Human Identity
Primitive Communism
Peking Man as a National Ancestor
All the World Is One Human Family
Conclusion
4. "Labor Created Science": The Class Politics of Scientific Knowledge, 1940–1971
Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approaches to Popularizing Science
Science Dissemination for Whom, by Whom?
Ivory Towers and Cow Sheds
Mass Science
Paleoanthropology and Popular Culture
Conclusion
5. "Presumptuous Guests Usurp the Hosts": Dissemination and Participation, 1971–1978
Cultural Revolution Science on Its Own Terms
A Favorable Time for Popular Science
Dissemination: Fossils Magazine Strikes a Blow for Popular Science
Dissemination: Dinosaurs and the Masses at Zhoukoudian
Dissemination: Learning about Humanity at Zhoukoudian and Beyond
Mass Participation: Laborers and Hobbyists
Mass Participation: Criticism of Scientists
The Missing Link
6. "Springtime for Science," but What a Garden: Mystery, Superstition, and Fanatics in the Post-Mao Era
Some Other Spring
Tensions of Reform
"Opening"
The Strange and the Mysterious
"Labor Created Humanity" and Its Post-Mao Fate
Mass Science and Its Post-Mao Fate
Conclusion
7. "From Legend to Science," and Back Again? Bigfoot, Science, and the People in Post-Mao China
"Yerén Fever"
Replacing Superstition with Science
The Scientific Significance of Yerén
From Mass Science to Scientific Heroism
Popular Culture Goes Wild
Conclusion
8. "Have We Dug at Our Ancestral Shrine?" Post-Mao Ethnic Nationalism and Its Limits
The Scope and Limitations of Chinese Ethnic Nationalism
Earliest Origins of Humanity
The Origin of Modern Humans
Ethnic Nationalism, Defensive and Assertive
Making a Contribution: China as a Research Center
Making Connections: China as a Center for the Human Family
Ancestors, National and Personal
Choices and Interpretations
Conclusion