Beijing to Chinese Humans: Please Move So We Can Hunt for Aliens

Chinese officials announced Tuesday that more than 9,000 people would be relocated to make way for a massive telescope.

This picture taken on July 29, 2015 shows the five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) under construction in Pingtang, southwest China's Guizhou province. China has started assembling the world's largest radio telescope, which will have a dish the size of 30 football pitches when completed, state media reported as Beijing steps up its ambitions in outer space. CHINA OUT     AFP PHOTO        (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)
This picture taken on July 29, 2015 shows the five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) under construction in Pingtang, southwest China's Guizhou province. China has started assembling the world's largest radio telescope, which will have a dish the size of 30 football pitches when completed, state media reported as Beijing steps up its ambitions in outer space. CHINA OUT AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)
This picture taken on July 29, 2015 shows the five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) under construction in Pingtang, southwest China's Guizhou province. China has started assembling the world's largest radio telescope, which will have a dish the size of 30 football pitches when completed, state media reported as Beijing steps up its ambitions in outer space. CHINA OUT AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Over the past two decades, millions of Chinese citizens have been forcibly removed from their homes to allow for the construction of Olympic stadiums, a hydroelectric power plant, and various other government-approved land grabs.

Over the past two decades, millions of Chinese citizens have been forcibly removed from their homes to allow for the construction of Olympic stadiums, a hydroelectric power plant, and various other government-approved land grabs.

Now about another 9,100 will be moved — this time so Beijing can hunt for aliens in outerspace.

On Tuesday, state-run Xinhua news agency reported that residents of Pingtang and Luodian counties in the relatively poor  southwestern province of Guizhou will be evacuated during the wrap-up of installing FAST (or five-hundred-meter aperture spherical radio telescope), the world’s largest radio telescope.

The telescope’s mission? To make contact with extraterrestrials and discover the origins of the universe — a goal Chinese astronomer Shi Zhicheng believes is attainable.

“If intelligent aliens exist, the messages that they produced or left behind, if they are being transmitted through space, can be detected and received by FAST,” Shi told the Hong Kong- based South China Morning Post last year.

The telescope’s diameter is more than 547 yards, and according to Communist Party officials, will require more than a three-mile radius to detect signals from outer space.

It’s cost the Chinese government more than $180 million since construction began in 2011. And now that it’s nearing completion, Beijing’s eco-migration bureau will also be shelling out at least $1,800 to each resident being forced from home. Four different settlements will be set up for those who have to move.

According to Communist Party officials, the telescope’s location in Guizhou’s mountainous Qiannan region makes it the perfect fit for exploring contact with aliens. The only downside? Those pesky humans who have made their homes there.

Photo Credit: STR/AFP/Getty Images

More from Foreign Policy

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping give a toast during a reception following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping give a toast during a reception following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21.

Can Russia Get Used to Being China’s Little Brother?

The power dynamic between Beijing and Moscow has switched dramatically.

Xi and Putin shake hands while carrying red folders.
Xi and Putin shake hands while carrying red folders.

Xi and Putin Have the Most Consequential Undeclared Alliance in the World

It’s become more important than Washington’s official alliances today.

Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

It’s a New Great Game. Again.

Across Central Asia, Russia’s brand is tainted by Ukraine, China’s got challenges, and Washington senses another opening.

Kurdish military officers take part in a graduation ceremony in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, on Jan. 15.
Kurdish military officers take part in a graduation ceremony in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, on Jan. 15.

Iraqi Kurdistan’s House of Cards Is Collapsing

The region once seemed a bright spot in the disorder unleashed by U.S. regime change. Today, things look bleak.