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XI
Chronology
of Recent Interest
in
Exceptional Functions
of the Human
Body
in the People’s Republic
of
China
1978
First
scientific
research conducted on
exceptional
functions
of the human body (EFHB) with Tang Yu.
1979 (March
11)
Article
in Sichuan ..Daily about a 12—year old
boy,
Tang Yu,
being
able
to
"read"
with
his
ears
touches
off widespread
interest.
1979
(May)
Article
in
People’s
Daily
criticized
the
Sichuan
Daily report
as
unscientific.
1979
(September)
A major
Chinese science journal, Ziran Zazhi
(Nature
Journal],
carried
a
report
on
"nonvisual"
pattern
recognition"
in which popular accounts
of exceptional human
body function were confirmed.
1980 An
unofficial
preliminary
organization
entitled
the
Chinese
Human
Body
Science
Association
(Preparatory
Committee)
was
set up under the auspices
of Nature Journal.
1980
(February)
Ziran
Zazhi
[Nature
Journal]
and
the Chinese
Human
Body
Science
Association
held
a
parapsychology
conference
in
Shanghai
with
participants
from
over
research
institutes and
universities.
1981 A news
film on EFpm "Do You
Believe?," was produced
by
the
Central
Newsreel
and Documentary
Studio and was
shown
on TV
and
in
many
theaters.
This
resulted
in
hundreds
of children
claiming
they had
psi
ability.
This
in
turn
led
to the formation of over 100 centers
to study
these
abilities
with
the
cooperation
of
at
least
100
formally
trained scholars.
403
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404
Parapsychology
in the
Soviet Union
1981 (May) A second conference on parapsychology organized by
the
Chinese Human
Body
Science
Association was
held
in
Chongqing.
This
led
to
publication of a
series
of papers
in
Ziran Zazhi.
1981
(October)
The
State
Science Commission
set up
a
special
group
to study exceptional human body function.
1981
(October)
Organized by
Dr.
Stanley
Krippner
of Saybrook
Institute,
a
group
of
American
and
Canadian
scientists,
physicians,
and
educators
visited
the
People’s
Republic
of
China and attended
5 formal technical meetings.
1981
In
order
to accommodate
the many
papers submitted
to
Nature
Journal,
a
monthly
newletter,
the EFHB
Bulletin,
was
initiated by Nature Jounal.
1981
China Encyclopedia Almanac uses the term "extraordinary
functions of the human body."*
1981
(October 30) Summary statement
issued by
the Committee
for
the
Study
of
Exceptional Human
Functions
who
had
visited the PRC
earlier
in the month.
1982
(February
24)
Chinese Academy
of
Sciences
sponsored
a
public
hearing
in
Beijing
attended
by
4,000
scholars,
in
which
the
cases
reported were
analyzed
and most
of them
considered
to
be
unfounded.
They
called
for
"fair
but
strictly
controlled"
tests
to
lead
to
a
final judgment.
This
disapproval
of
psi
research was widely
published
in
the two
most
important
government— authorized
media,
Xinghua
News Agency and the People’s Daily.
1982
(February
25)
People’s
Daily presented
the view
that no
solid evidence for the paranormal had been put
forth.
1982
(April)
A
joint
trial was
arranged
by
the
Party’s Na-
tional
Committee
of
Science
at
Beijing
Teacher’s
College.
Proponents
of both
sides
attended.
The
results were mostly
negative,
with
the
exception
of
those
of Oz^ (Zhang
Baosheng)
.
J
}
*
The
entire
article
has
been
translated
into
English
and
is
printed
in Section
IIC.
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Chronology (Parapsychology in China)
405
1982
(May
13)
Both
sides
of the debate appealed to the Party.
The
decision
was
announced
by Hu
Yaobang,
the
Party’s
Gereral
Secretary.
Exceptional functions
of the human body
was
rejected
as
an
approved
subject
of
scientific
research,
but
a
minority
group
of
scientists
was
to
be
allowed
to
continue
their
research and report
it
in an
internally circu-
lated
publication
for
the
consideration
of
interested
scien-
tists.
The
media
were
requested
not
to
publish
on
the
topic.
Formal
university
research
and government
funding
was
halted.
1982
(August)
An
invited
speech
was
given
by
two
Chinese
scientists,
Chen
Hsin
and Mei
Lei,
at
the
joint
convention
of
the
Parapsychological
Association
and
the
Society
for
Psychical Research held
at Cambridge University.
1983
A
series
of PK
experiments
with
the
subject
Zhang
Baosheng
(Z) were conducted by
researchers
led by
Prof.
Lin
Shuhuang
of
the
physics
department-
* of
Beijing
Teacher’s
College.
The
results
were
reported
in EFHB
Research.
1984
Zhang
Baosheng
became
a
full-time
subject
of
the
military—run
psi
research team
at what was
called
the
507
Institute,
or
the
Institute
of
Space
Medico— Engineering
(ISME)
in
Beijing.
Thus,
psi research
at ISME was
official
and funded.
1985
In an
interview with Paul Dong
in the March, 1985
issue
of
Psi
Research,
Larissa
Vilenskaya
asked
if
Chinese
psi
research was
continuing.
He
replied
that
the
government
ordered
the
scientists
not
to
refer
publicly
to
their
work.
The
research
continues
but
is
published
only
in
special
journals
for
internal use only.
1985
(August)
At
the
1985 convention
of the Parapsychological
Association,
H.E.
Puthoff
of SRI
International
reported
an
attempt
to
repeat some experiments
reported by
researchers
from the
People’s Republic
of China
at
the
1982 convention
of
the
Parapsychological
Association.
The
repetition
was
partially
successful,
although
smaller
in magnitude than
the
Chinese
results.
1985
(August)
A PRC—made
film
on
qigong
was
presented
during
a workshop
on
the
"Status
of
Psi
Research
in
the
People’s Republic
of China"
at
the 28th Annual Convention
of
the
Parapsychological
Association
in
Medford,
MA,
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