Zhou Zhenglong's South China Tiger Photographs ("Paper Tiger"), Zhenping County, Shaanxi, 2007

No wild South China tiger had been confirmed since 1964. Zhenping County sits in the far south east of Shaanxi, in Ankang prefecture in the Daba Mountains. Beside the road in Wencai Village lived Zhou Zhenglong. A farmer. A former hunter. About 52 years old.

On the afternoon of October 3, 2007, Zhou was in the Maodazi forest area, at a place called Shenzhou Bay, about 15 km north of his village. Around 3 PM, by his account, he "suddenly saw a cave in the rocks, as well as something yellowish like a tiger". He crept closer. About 20 metres. Then the animal let out a "loud and long furious roar". Zhou "rolled back behind the rock to hide himself with his heart beating fast".

From behind the rock he raised both cameras, a Canon EOS 400D and a Great Wall film camera. "The tiger roared at me, when my camera flashed," he said. "I thought even if I may die I have to shoot the photos." He came away with about 40 digital images and some 31 film negatives. The first digital file was stamped 16:38.

On October 12, 2007, the Shaanxi Provincial Forestry Department showed the photographs at a press conference and paid Zhou 20,000 yuan. Forestry officer Wang Yunshan put the odd distortions down to magnification. Zhenping set up a tiger protection office and began promoting tourism under a "South China tiger roar" brand. Zhou pledged to put himself and his son in jail if he had fooled the public.

Doubt came fast. On October 15 the first challenges appeared on the Tianya forum. On October 19 Fu Dezhi, a botanist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, staked his head that the scene was staged. A nearby leaf, he argued, would have to be as large as a basin. Critics noted the tiger did not move at all during dozens of minutes of shooting. Forensic scientist Li Changyu joined a NetEase panel examining the images.

Then a web user in Panzhihua, Sichuan, recognised the tiger. It hung on their mother's wall, on a 2002 Lunar New Year poster. Stripe for stripe, the same animal. The poster maker said its "stripes, bearing and motion are exactly the same". On December 3, 2007, the China Photographers Society declared the images fake. On June 29, 2008, the Shaanxi provincial government announced the tiger was a paper drawing. Police found a wooden tiger paw model used to press prints into snow, and 93 bullets at Zhou's home. Thirteen officials were disciplined or dismissed.

In September 2008 the Xunyang County People's Court convicted Zhou of fraud and illegal possession of ammunition. He received 2.5 years and a 2,000 yuan fine. On appeal the sentence was suspended. In court he apologised for staging a cardboard tiger. Weeks later he retracted. "I solemnly declare that the tiger picture was real, and was not faked."

In April 2010 a three year survey of 2,157 km² around Zhenping found "no trace of wild South China tigers". That same month Zhou's probation was revoked, reportedly while he was in the mountains searching for the tiger. In February 2015 he took new footprint photographs to the Supreme People's Court and vowed to search the mountains until he dies.

Some argued that local officials, hoping for tourism and conservation money, had put Zhou up to it. The case gave China a phrase, "正龙拍虎", Zhenglong photographs the tiger, for a deception by interested parties at the public's expense. It is still cited as an example of crowd sourced investigation by netizens.