We're all familiar with the concept of modern technology having ancient Chinese analogues. But a 2002 discovery in remote Qinghai province is anachronistic enough to constitute an OOPart. Out-of-place-artifacts are so unusual, or found in such improbable contexts, that mainstream science has no plausible explanation for them.

The crystal skulls of Mexico referenced in the latest Indiana Jones movie, the iron pillar of Delhi, and the ancient Greek Antikythera mechanism are examples of OOPart yet to be explained. Like these, the pipes of Qinghai's Mount Baigong suggest a level of technology simply inconceivable for the apparent era of their manufacture. Those open-minded enough to think "extraterrestrial" when searching for a theory, while often dismissed out-of-hand, have like-minded souls in some of the Chinese scientists investigating.

Locals, residing forty kilometers southeast of Qinghai's Delingha city, have known of the pipes for centuries. They credit aliens for their construction, and even have legends of extraterrestrial visitors to Mt. Baigong. Although the stories are met with predictable skepticism, they become harder to laugh off when one takes in the sixty-meter pyramid near the mountain's summit. Superficially, the pyramid could be shrugged off as having been shaped by natural forces. For some reason, however, the structure has not been conclusively studied, at least officially.

Near the foot of Mt. Baigong lie three caves, the largest and most accessible some eight meters high by six meters deep. Inside, spanning from the roof to the back end of the cave, runs a pipe 40 cm in diameter. Another one roughly the same size runs into the earth from the floor, with just the top protruding.

The pipes, according to tests carried out at a local smeltery, are made chiefly of iron, but with an unusual thirty percent silicon dioxide in their matrix. They are also centuries old, if Xinhua and its source, Liu Shaolin, the engineer who carried out preliminary tests, are to be believed. Strange, but easily written off as a bizarre metallurgical operation by some nomads with too much time on their hands, assuming geological origins of the eerily symmetrical pyramid.

However, dozens of pipe openings have been discovered in the mountains far above the caves. Now these nomads must be credited with some advanced system of drilling since forgotten, as there is no modern industry in the area nor record of such. Not far from the foot of Baigong sits Toson Lake, on whose beach run many more iron pipes in unlikely patterns and in a variety of diameters, toothpick-sized at the thinnest. More pipes are in the lake, some protruding above the water surface, others buried beneath the lake's bed.

Although nine Chinese scientists were reportedly dispatched to make a detailed analysis of the pipes in 2002, there has been no further information. This hasn't prevented local government from promoting the site as a tourist attraction. A CCTV crew went to Mt. Baigong soon after, accompanied by researchers from the Beijing UFO Research Association, but no record or footage of the expedition has come to our attention. If this is because such documentation would be widely laughed off, then they would at the expense of Yang Ji, a research fellow of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who told Xinhua that the extraterrestrial theory was "understandable and worth looking into".

Then again, plain old terrestrial science has many mysteries left to be fully explained. Similar pipe-like structures have been found in the Jurassic sandstone of the Southwestern United States, as well as in Citronelle formations in Louisiana. No pyramids have been found close on, and researchers have concluded that they were formed through natural processes. But similar conclusions from scientists studying the Baigong pipes have yet to be announced, six years later.

SOURCE: China Expat

The Baigong Pipes are a series of pipe-like features found on and near Mount Baigong about 40 km southeast of the city of Delingha, in the Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China.

These pipe-like features are cited by various web pages as an example of an out of place artifact (OOPArt), and have been put forward as a possible sign of extraterrestrial life having visited Earth. [1]
 

Xinhuanet 2002-06-19 16:17:14

DELINGHA (QINGHAI), June 19 (Xinhuanet) -- A group of nine Chinese scientists will go to west China's Qinghai Province this month to closely examine the relics thought by some to have been left by extraterrestrial beings (ET).

It will be the first time scientists seriously study the mysterious site near Delingha City in the depths of the Qaidam Basin, according to government sources with the Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, where Delingha is located.

The site, known by local people as "the ET relics", is on MountBaigong about 40 kilometers to the southwest of Delingha City.

On the north of the mountain are twin lakes dubbed as the "lover Lakes", one with fresh water and the other with salty water.

The so-called ET relics structure is located on the south bank of the salty lake. It looks like a pyramid and is between 50 to 60meters high.

At the front of the pyramid are three caves with triangular openings. The cave in the middle is the biggest, with its floor standing two meters above the ground and its top eight meters above the ground.

This cave is about six meters in depth. Inside there is a half-pipe about 40 centimeters in diameter tilting from the top to the inner end of the cave. Another pipe of the same diameter goes intothe earth with only its top visible above the ground.

Above the cave are a dozen pipes of various diameters which runinto the mountain. All the pipes are red brownish, the same color as that of surrounding rocks. The two smaller caves have collapsed and are inaccessible. Scattered about the caves and on the bank of the salty lake area large number of rusty scraps, pipes of various diameters and strangely shaped stones. Some of the pipes run into the lake.

According to Qin Jianwen, head of the publicity department of the Delingha government, the scraps were once taken to a local smeltery for analysis. The result shows that they are made up of 30 percent ferric oxide with a large amount of silicon dioxide and calcium oxide. Eight percent of the content could not be identified.

"The large content of silicon dioxide and calcium oxide is a result of long interaction between iron and sandstone, which meansthe pipes must be very old," said Liu Shaolin, the engineer who did the analysis.

　　"This result has made the site even more mysterious," Qin said."Nature is harsh here. There are no residents let alone modern industry in the area, only a few migrant herdsmen to the north of the mountain."

Someone has suggested that the site might have been a launch tower left by ET. The area is high in altitude, with thin and transparent air. Itis an ideal place to practice astronomy, Qin said. In fact, the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academyof Sciences has a large radio telescope just 70 kilometers from the site. Yang Ji, a research fellow at the observatory, said the hypothesis of ET relics is understandable and worth of looking into. "But scientific means must be employed to prove whether or not it is true," he added. 

SOURCE: Xinhuanet 

CNN News Asia Addition June 20, 2002
China baffled by 'alien' pyramid

BEIJING, China -- A team of Chinese scientists is to head out to the far west of the country to investigate a mystery pyramid that local legend says is a launch tower left by aliens from space.

Nine scientists will travel this month to probe the origins of the 50-60 meter (165-198 ft) tall structure -- dubbed "the ET relics" -- in the western province of Qinghai, China's state-run Xinhua agency said on Wednesday.

The mystery pyramid sits on Mount Baigong, has three caves with triangular openings on its facade and is filled with red-hued pipes leading into the mountain and a nearby salt water lake, Xinhua said.

Rusty iron scraps, pipes and unusually shaped stones are scattered around the inhospitable and largely uninhabited area, it said.

ET theory

A research fellow at a nearby observatory of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Yang Ji, told Xinhua the theory the pyramid was created by extra terrestrials was "understandable and worth looking into."

"But scientific means must be employed to prove whether or not it is true," Yang said.

Xinhua has not given any details on the age of the structure, or any other possible explanations for it.

But a study carried out by a local smeltery suggests the pipes are very old, Liu Shaolin, the engineer who carried out the analysis, told Xinhua.

These findings have made the site more mysterious, says Qin Jianwen, a spokesman for the Delingha government.

"Nature is harsh here. There are no residents let alone modern industry in the area, only a few migrant herdsmen to the north of the mountain," Qin said.

This will be the first time scientists are heading out to study the mysterious site near Delingha City in the depths of the Qaidam Basin, according to sources with the Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. 

SOURCE: CNN News Asia Addition

Mysterious Pyramid Baffles Chinese Scientists

No one seems to know the origin or the meaning behind a mysterious pyramid that sits atop Mount Baigong in western China that local legends claim is an alien UFO launch tower.

Nine scientists form the team that will travel to the western province of Qinghai and the mouth of this 165-198 foot tall structure known as the “ET Relics.”

“The pyramid has three caves with openings shaped like triangles on its façade and is filled with red-hued pipes leading into the mountain and a nearby salt water lake,” says China’s state-run Xinhua agency.

To add to the mystery, iron debris and unusually shaped stones are scattered about the desolate area.

“The theory that the pyramid was created by extra terrestrials is “understandable and worth looking into… but scientific means must be employed to prove whether or not it is true,” says Yang Ji, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The site in question with its high altitude and thin, crisp air has long been considered an ideal astronomical location. Two of the three caves at the foot of the mountain have collapsed and are inaccessible. The remaining middle one, which is the largest, stands with its floor about 6 feet above the ground and its top about 9 feet above the surface.

Inside the cave, there is s a half-pipe about 40 centimeters in diameter tilting from the top to the inside of the cave. Another pipe of the same diameter goes into the earth with only its top visible above the ground. Dozens of strange pipes surround the opening with diameters ranging from 10 to 40 centimeters. Their structures indicate a highly advanced and completely unknown construction technique.

On the beach at nearby Toson Lake, many strangely-shaped iron pipes lay amid the sands and rocks. They run in the east-west direction with a diameter between 2 and 4.5 centimeters. Even more bizarre is the discovery of pipes in the lake itself, some reaching above the surface and others buried below, with similar shapes and thickness as those found on the beach.
 

SOURCE: Weird Asian News

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