Acta Anthropologica Sinica ›› 2005, Vol. 24 ›› Issue (04): 259-269.

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Discussion on the results of some molecular studies concerning the origin of modern Chinese

WU Xinzhi   

  • Online:2005-12-15 Published:2005-12-15

Abstract: The present paper summaries the molecular articles on the origin of modern Chinese published in last a few years. The conclusion of these studies based on the analyses of the genes of Y chromosome, is that the indigenous people of China was totally replaced by the African immigrants during the Last Ice Age. According to those authors there was a gap between 50 000 years BP and 100 000 years BP of human inhabitation in China and the environment during the Last Ice Age was so bad that most of living bodies including humans could not survive. In present paper the author refutes this conclusion with following information.There is morphological evidence indicating the continuity of human evolution in China. The tradition of Paleolithic in China is quite different from that in Africa and Europe. In China the mode I technique persisted in Pleistocene with only a few sites exhibiting techniques of other modes,while a succession from Mode I through Mode V was shown in Africa and Europe. The paleofaunae of Pleistocene China indicate that there was broad area saitable for human inhabitation even in Ice Age. Recent paleoanthropological reports provide evidence of human existence at least at four sites in China between 50 000 years BP and 100 000 years BP. New studies on X chromosome, chromosome 22 and chromosome 1 did not support the total replacement of archaic population in Eurasia by the African immigrants. Near East is most probably on the passageway from Africa to China.Mode  technique prevalent in Near East around 100ky BP has not replaced theMode in China in any time. Paleoanthropological study has already made clear that the human evolution is a very complicated process, new molecular studies indicate that molecular evolution is fairly more complex than that understood in 20th century, we should keep a clear head in thinking about the explanation and inference derived from new information on the origin of humans. The reconciliation of the information derived from different sources could be approximated on the basis of comprehensive consideration on them, so that our knowledge on human evolution could be close to the truth gradually.

Key words: China; Modern human origin; Gene study