Peking Man
Peking Man ("Homo erectus pekinensis") is a subspecies of "H. erectus" which inhabited the Zhoukoudian Cave of northern China during the Middle Pleistocene. The first fossil, a tooth, was discovered in 1926, and the Zhoukoudian has since become the most productive "H. erectus" site in the world. Peking Man was instrumental in the foundation of Chinese anthropology, and fostered an important dialogue between Western and Eastern science for decades to come. The fossils became the centre of anthropological discussion, and were classified as a direct human ancestor, propping up the Out of Asia hypothesis that humans evolved in Asia. Peking Man also played a vital role in the restructuring of the Chinese identity following the Chinese Communist Revolution, and was intensively communicated to working class and peasant communities to introduce them to Marxism and science (overturning deeply-rooted superstitions and creation myths). As a consequence of the former, early models of Peking Man society strongly leaned towards communist or nationalist ideals, leading to discussions on primitive communism and polygenism. This produced a strong schism between Western and Eastern interpretations, especially as the West adopted the Out of Africa hypothesis by the late 20th century, and Peking Man's role in human evolution diminished as merely an offshoot of the human line. Now that the hypothesis is ubiquitous, Peking Man interbreeding with human ancestors is frequently discussed especially in Chinese circles.