Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

UFO Research Serious Stuff in China

Aired April 16, 2002 - 06:50   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: UFO research is usually the stuff of sci-fi buffs, but in China, it's serious stuff.

CNN's Kristie Lu Stout has a close encounter with the researchers at Hong Kong's UFO Club.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Joseph Wong is a man of science. As a lab manager at Hong Kong's City University, his job is to assess the structural performance of buildings. But familiar as he is with hard data, he's also a fan of the unexplained.

JOSEPH WONG, HONG KONG UFO CLUB CHAIRMAN: If something flies over, there's a very good reason to try and understand why they're here, why they come to us. What is their relationship between us and them?

STOUT: Wong is the chairman of Hong Kong's thriving UFO Club, a group that meets once a month to explore other worldly topics like E.T.'s civilization and alien kung fu.

(on camera): Members occasionally meet here, at a cyber cafe called UFO Station, where you can find Hong Kong's version of the "X- Files." Books, newsletters, even faded news clippings of past close encounters. Material that UFO club members take very seriously.

(voice-over): Members like Professor Albert So, a Hong Kong UFO enthusiast who is not a dreamy star gazer, but a researcher who sees his passion as a science. So much so that he's lobbying for a university degree program in UFOlogy.

DR. ALBERT SO, HONG KONG UFO CLUB MEMBER: Graduates from this program will grasp at least all the major knowledge in order to understand UFO phenomena, and also other technologies and any skills related to UFOs.

STOUT: Sounds like a tough sell, but it may not be hard to pitch in mainland China, where there's little taboo about flying saucers.

SO: It seems that people in the East are more open to discuss issues related to UFOs. Perhaps that has something to do with the culture of the races; in particular, Chinese. Chinese is the kind of race who easily believes in something supernatural. STOUT: And they may have been believing for a long time, according to "Asian Enigma," a documentary airing on The Discovery Channel. This ancient drawing shows the thousand-year story of an emperor meeting a flying boat. A compelling artifact in support of UFO study, but not the only one.

WONG: For me, it's not very important that there's really a UFO that can fly or not. It's when we are investigating this, I think it's the process that actually helps us understand more about ourselves, our independence (ph).

STOUT: For Joseph Wong, the truth may be out there, but the payoff is personal. Studying the alien (UNINTELLIGIBLE), a very human curiosity.

Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com