China Shandong Evolution Model Chapter 3: East Asian Hominoid Sequence — The Kaiyuan–Lufeng–Yuanmou Lineage as a Counterexample to the "Africa-Only" Premise

The Out-of-Africa narrative rests on an untested premise: that human evolution towards the human condition occurred only in Africa. The fossil ape record from Yunnan, China — spanning the Late Miocene to Pliocene, with Kaiyuanpithecus (~8.3 Ma), Lufengpithecus (~4.0 Ma), and Yuanmoupithecus (~2.76–2.13 Ma) forming a continuous sequence — directly challenges that premise. Unlike African apes, which show increasing specialisation toward extant great ape adaptations and appear to lose the potential for evolutionary development toward the human condition, the Chinese hominoids exhibit a morphological trajectory that moves progressively toward the human condition. This chapter systematically reviews the three-node sequence, its morphological duality, and the shifting taxonomic interpretations that reflect the deep-seated influence of the “Africa-centred” paradigm. It then dismantles three morphological markers often cited in the continuity debate — shovel-shaped incisors, brow ridge prominence, and the Inca bone — and demonstrates that none withstandscritical scrutiny as evidence for African origin or against East Asian local evolution. Ancient proteomic data (AMBN A253G and M273V) are compatible with an independent, deeply rooted East Asian lineage. The chapter concludes with a critical reassessment of Africa's own evolutionaryrecord, showing that it is characterised not by a clear progressive line but by functional retrogression (Australopithecus africanus reverting toward arboreal traits), long-term stasis (Homo erectus showing no directional change for 1.3 million years), and reticulation (the "weakly structured stem" model). The East Asiansequence, by contrast, offers a coherent directional trajectory. The chapter argues that the question is not whether Africa had early forms on the human evolutionary path, but whether the “Africa-only” premise is testable — and on current evidence, it fails that test.