December
1982
Approved ForEReletase^QO/08/1
INVESTIGATIONS INTO "EXTRAORDINARY
HUMAN BODY FUNCTION"
IN CHINA
Information
about
studies
of
psychic
func-
tioning in China have been previously published in
Psi Research.
We continue
this discussion by
publishing materials presented
at
the Invited
Speakers
from
the
People's
Republic
of
China
session of
the Society for Psychical Research/
Parapsychological Association Conference which was
held
at
Trinity
College,
Cambridge,
England,
August
16-20,
1982.
Although some points of
these
materials
have
been
discussed
our
earlier
publications,
we wish to provide our
readers with
yet
a more detailed overview.
-
Ed.
Report on Investigations into "Extraordinary Human
Body Function" in the People's Republic of China
H.
E.
Puthoff, PhD
Radio Physics laboratory
SRI International
Menlo Park,
California
Although
interest
in exceptional human functioning
lias
historically
been
part
of
China's
tradition,
recent
widespread interest was
triggered by a report
in
the March
11,
1979, jftchuan Daily.
In that report
it was claimed that
a young boy,
12—year old Tang Yu,
was able
to
read
written
material placed in physical contact with his
ears.
Although
this
claim
was
soon
being
criticized
as
unscientific
in,
e.g.,
The People's Da ily
in
May,
1979,
reports began
to
surface
from
all
over
China
that
children
elsewhere
were
duplicating
this
feat.
These
reports caught
the attention of
scientists,
many
of
whom
assumed
that
some
form
of
rudimentary
biological
function
was
at
cause,
since
the
early
reports
typically
involved "reading"
through
the
skin.
Thus
the
initial
approach
to
the phenomenon appears
to parallel
in many
respects the earlier work
of
Jules Romains
on "eyeless
sight"
[1]
and similar
Soviet
investigations
into so-called
Approved For Release 2000/08/1 jl
PSI RESEARCH
December
1982
CIA-RDP96-00792R000300420002-7
"demo-optic .perception"
[2].
From
this
beginning,
such
functioning in China goes under a rubric which translates as
Extraordinary Human Body Function (EHBF);
this phrase has
now been broadened
to include
the entire range of phenomena
that in the West are called "psi," since it was not long
before
the reading of Chinese characters, numbers,
etc.,
extended
to experiments
involving non-contact
forms
of
the
phenomena
(e.g.,
use
of
sealed
containers,
long
distances,
etC "
^As a result of growing scientific interest,
in February
1980
a
conference
on
parapsychology
was
held
in
Shang a
,
sponsored
by
one
of
China's
major
monthly
sci^
f^
journals,
Nature
(Ziran
Zazhi).
Participants
from
over
colleges
and”research
institutes
were
in attendance,
along
with
children
purported
to
possess
EHBF
skills,
whic
they demonstrated
at
the
conference.
As a
result
of
these
demonstrations
a number
of
observers
returned
to
their
institutes
to
set
up
research
programs,
and
rigorous
investigations began in earnest.
These efforts ledL to a
second conference
on
the
subject
in
May
1981,
*eld
“
Chongqing,
and
a
continuing
series
of
papers
published
in
Ziran Zazhi
,
some of which have been translated and are
available in English
[3,4].
As
in
the
West,
such research activities,
conferences
and reports are not without controversy.
Some criticism
of
methodology
and
reporting
has
appeared
in
the
literatu
[51
and in October
1981
the State Science Commission set up
a
special
group
to
study
the phenomena,
some
of
whose
reports
have
cited
cases
in
which
the
possibility
o
deception could not be ruled out.
Nonetheless, vigorous
research
efforts
are
continuing
in a
number
of
university
and
research
institutes,
and
a
National
Society
of
Huma
Body Science is in the process of being formed.
October
of
1981 was also the month in which a group of
American and Canadian scientists,
physicians
and
educators
including
the
author,
had an opportunity
to visit
the
People's Republic of Chim,
specifically
for
the
Purpose
o
meeting with Chinese researchers
working
in
the EHBF
area.
The
tour,
organized by Dr.
Stanley Krippner,
took us
to
the
cities of Beijing
(Peking),
Xian and
Shanghai,
where we met
some
of
the "EHBF children," and talked to
a number
o
: CIA-RDP96-00792R000300^20002-7
December
1982
Approved For
Investigators
working
with
them.
Daring
our
visit,
five
formal
technical
meetings
were
held
with
the
scientists,
physicians,
and
journal
editors
working
in
the
field.
The
first was at
the Friendship Hotel
in Beijing;
the second at
the
Beijing Medical
College;
the
third,
at
Beijing Univer-
sity;
the
fourth
at
the
Chinese
Academy
of
Sciences
Institute
of High Energy Physics
in
Beijing;
and
the
fifth
at the Yanan Hotel in Shanghai with the editors and staff of
Nature.
~T5ur
first discussions,
held
at
the Friendship Hotel
in
Beijing,
brought
us
together with researchers and educators
from the following institutions:
(1)
Beijing University physicists and biologists
(2)
Institute of High Energy Physics
(Ch.
Acad.
Sci.)
(3)
Institute of Biophysics
(Ch.
Acad.
Sci.)
(4)
Institute of Automation (Ch.
Acad.
Sci.)
(5) Beijing Astronomical Observatory
(Ch.
Acad.
Sci.)
(6)
Institute of Semiconductors (Ch. Acad.
Sci.)
(7)
Institute of Physics
(Ch.
Acad.
Sci.)
(8) Physics Dept,
of Beijing Teachers'
College
(9) Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine
of
Beijing
This was followed by visits to Beijing Medical College,
Beijing University,
and
the
Chinese Academy
of
Science's
Institute of High Energy Physics.
It was at this latter
institute that we had our first opportunity for somewhat in-
depth discussions
of specific experiments.
Their basic experiment, apparently replicated many
times under widely varying conditions, consisted of the
remote viewing of Chinese characters or numbers sealed in an
opaque
bakelite
container,
inside
of
which
was
also
some
form of detector to register possible physical effects
associated with
the perceptions.
The detectors used in this
format
included X-ray,
nuclear emulsion and
photographic
films,
photoelectric
tubes,
thermoluminescent
dosimeters,
and biological
detectors.
The claim made (supported by raw
data
materials shown
us,
a motion picture
film
of
the
experiments, and published papers) was
that physical effects
were registered during perception, and absent in the absence
of perception.
These included fogging of
the film,
and
Approved For Release 2000/08/1 \
PSI
RESEARCH
December
1982
: CIA-RDP96-00792R000300420002-7
pulses
on
electrical
output
devices
of
the
various
detectors.
The individuals
carrying out
the experiments
were physicists,
well respected
in
their own
fields,
using
standard
techniques and procedures familiar
to
them,
as far
as
apparatus
and
analysis
are
concerned.
It
also
appears
that
their
work
has
some
degree
of
official
sanction,
in
that work in this area is considered part of
their official
work
schedule,
and
in our visit we were cordially received
by two
of
the
Institute's
Deputy
Directors.
These
factors
lend de facto credibility to their claims.
Later
in
the
trip we met
at length over
a two-day
period with
the
staff and feditor-in-Chief
(Mr.
He Chongyin)
of
Nature
journal
(Ziran
Zazhi),
and
from him
obtained
an
overview
of
the
experimentation,
results,
conferences,
and
publication of
the Chinese efforts.
It
is
impossible,
of
course,
for
one
to
evaluate
accurately
a
nation's
progress
in
the
scientific
study
of
exceptional
human
functioning
on
the
basis
of
a
visit
of
less than two weeks, and
the exchange of a few publications.
As
in
the
West,
the
study of exceptional human functioning
is
an endeavor
which has
provided
many
questions
and
few
answers.
Since
this
type
of
research continues
to be
in a
state
of
flux
throughout
the
world,
one
can
say,
however,
that
it
represents an area where
China has
the opportunity
to
make
important
contributions.
Those
of
us
who
visited
China were particularly impressed by
their
scientists'
efforts
to
correlate
research
findings
with
their
ancient
and distinctively national Chinese concepts (especially
those
of
their non-Westem
medical
traditions)
on
the
one
hand,
and
the contemporary perspective of modem science on
the other hand.
A well-known example is
the search for
electrophysiological
correlates of acupuncture points and
meridians;
less
well known
(in
the
West)
are
the
Chinese
studies
on
the possible
relationship between EHBF and
Qigong,
an ancient
discipline,
involving movement and
deep
breathing,
said
to
promote health and
well
being.
Through
exploring
this rich historical tradition scientifically,
the
Chinese
scientists
may
well
contribute
fresh
ideas
to
the
study of exceptional human functioning.
: CIA-RDP96-00792R0003004^0002-7