PSYCHOENERGETICS RESEARCH IN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA (1982)

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• Collection: STARGATE
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP96-00792R000400320001-8
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• Document Page Count: 65
• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 28, 1998
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: October 1, 1982
• Content Type: RS

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Final Report October 9982
PSYCHOENERGETICS RESEARCH IN
THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA (1982) (U)
By: HAROLD E. PUTHOFF
Prepared for:
DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20301
CONTRACT MDA908-82-C-0034
SPECIAL ACCESS PROGRAM FOR GRILL FLAME.
RESTRICT DISSEMINATION TO ONLY INDIVIDUALS WITH VERIFIED ACCESS.
WARNING NOTICE
Intelligence Sources
and Methods Involved
333 Ravenswood Avenue
Menlo Park, California 94025 U.S.A.
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SR. 180281: UN~~~S~?S~~o~~~~~~d~O~Q~g~~~EO1EN~~1:,~~P96-007928000400320001-8 RECIPIENT'S COPY
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Final Report October 1982
Covering the Period October 1981 to October 1982
PSYCHOENERGETICS RESEARCH IN
THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA (1982) (U)
DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY Contract No: MDA908-82-C-0034
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20301 SRI Project 4028
Attention: DT-5A
SPECIAL ACCESS PROGRAM FOR GRILL FLAME.
RESTRICT DISSEMINATION TO ONLY INDIVIDUALS WITH VERIFIED ACCESS.
ROBERT S. LEONARD, Director
Radio Physics Laboratory
DAVID D. ELLIOTT, Vice President
Research and Ana/ysis Division
Intelligence Sources
and Methods Involved
CLASSIFIED BY: DT-5A
REVIEW ON: 31 October 2002
SECRET
~'~
Copy No . ..............
This document consists of 68 pages.
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NOT RELEASABLE TO
FOREIGN NATIONALS
333 Ravenswood Avenue Menlo Park, California 94025 U.S.A.
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I BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW (U) .
1
A,
Chronology of Major Events (U).
1
B.
Official Policy (U)
3
I I EAST-WEST EXCHANGE (U)
7
A.
China Psychoenergetics Tour--Introduction (U)
7
B,
Institute of High Energy Physics (Beijing) (U).
8
C,
Shanghai Meeting with Editorial Staff of 'Nature'
('Ziran Zazhi') (U)
10
D.
PRC Representation at Cambridge Conference (U),
12
III ASSESSMENT AND CONCLUSIONS (U)
17
A.
Assessment (U) ,
17
B.
Conclusions (U)
18
REFERENCES .
21
APPENDICES
A
EXCEPTIONAL HUMAN BODY RADIATION (U),
23
B
STUDY OF THE EXTRAORDINARY FUNCTION OF THE HUMAN BODY
IN CHINA (U) .
37
C
PARTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY ON CHINESE WORK ON EHBF (U),
49
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(U) In this document we review the recent (1979 to present) rapid
escalation of interest and research activity in psychoenergetics phenomena
in the People's Republic of China. This includes evidence of large-scale
screening far talented individuals, officially-sanctioned pursuit of
research at the national laboratory level, continuing publication of
results in leading scientific journals, and official PRC representation
at international conferences on psychoenergetics phenomena,
(U) Definition: Human-mediated effects consisting of
(1)
the
acquisition
of information not presented to any obvious sense, (2)
physical effects not mediated by any obvious mechanism.
the
generation of
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A. Chronology of Major Events (U)
(U) Although interest in exceptional human functioning has historically
been part of China's tradition, "parapsychological" or "psychoenergetics"
studies have until recently been unacceptable as a subject of inquiry
under Marxist rule. As recently as 1975, for example, the official journal
of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Scientia Sinica, carried an article
critical of increasing U.S. and Soviet interest in psychoenergetics.l
(U) A reversal of this viewpoint can be traced to a report in the
March 11, 1979, Sichuan Daily, which apparently acted as a trigger for
renewed interest and exploration. In that report it was claimed that a
12-yr-old boy, 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 Daily in May 1979, reports began to sur-
face from all over China that children elsewhere were duplicating this feat,
(U) In September 1979, a major monthly science journal, Nature (Ziran
Zazhi), carried a report entitled "Observation Report on the Non-Visual
Recognition of Images." This report, written by a correspondent of the
journal on the basis of his own personal observations, provided support
for the claims.2 The journal then followed up in its October-December
issues with additional reports on experimental observations by scientists
at Beijing (Peking) University and elsewhere, which provided additional
evidence for authenticity of the claims.3-s
~k
(U) "Peking" is translated as "Beijing" in the newer Pinyin transcription
system, declared the official system of the PRC in 1958.
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UNCLASSIFIED
(U) These reports caught the attention of scientists throughout China,
many of whom assumed that some form of rudimentary biological functio n
was at cause, since early reports typically involved "reading" through the
skin, As a result, the initial approach to the phenomenon by the Chinese
scientists parallels in many respects earlier similar work of Romains on
"eyeless" sight? and Soviet investigations into so-called "dermo-optic"
perception,e From this beginning, such functioning in China goes under a
rubric that translates as Extraordinary Human Body Function (EHBF), From
its griginal association with "skin-reading," this phrase has now been
broadened to include the entire range of phenomena that in the West are
called "parapsychological" or "psychoenergetic," since it was not long
before the reading of Chinese characters, numbers, etc, extended to
experiments involving noncontact forms of the phenomenon (e.g ? use of
sealed containers, long distances, and so forth),
(U) As a result of growing scientific interest, in February 1980 .the
"First Science Symposium on the Extraordinary Function of the Human Body"
was held in Shanghai, sponsored by the editorial department of the journal
Nature. Participants from over 20 colleges and research institutes were
in attendance, along with 14 children purported to possess EHBF skills,
which they demonstrated at the conference ,e As a result of these demon-
strations a number of observers returned to their institutes to set up
research programs, and rigorous investigations began in earnest,
'(U) These efforts were followed by a "Second Science Symposium in the
Extraordinary Function of the Human Body," held in Chongqing in May 1981,
At that symposium a professional group,. the "Preparatory Committee of
the Chinese Human-Body Science Institute," was set up to act as an
(U) Throughout the 1980 to 1981 period a continuing series of papers
on EHBF work were published in Nature, some of which have been translated
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and are available in English .1o The first presentation of EHBF research
results to a professional audience outside of China took place at the
24th Annual Convention of the Parapsychological Association affiliate of
the AAAS, held at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, August 1981.
There, Professor Zheng Rongliang, Division of Biophysics, Department of
Biology, Lanzhou University, on sabbatical to the Johns Hopkins University,
Baltimore, Maryland, gave an overview of results reported to date.
(U) In October 1981 the State Science Commission set up a special
group to study EHBF phenomena, and in February 1982 the Chinese Academy of
Sciences sponsored a public hearing on the phenomena. In both formats a
wide spectrum of viewpoints was aired, including discussion of examples
in which it was concluded that deception had occurred.ll
B. Official Policy (U)
(U) Despite criticisms from some quarters (notably, sociologist Yu
Kwong Yu) official acceptance of the potential importance of the study
of EHBF phenomena can be inferred from four key events in the 1981 to 19.82
frame. One is the appearance of an entry on EHBF in the China Encyclopedic
Almanac of 1981 in its column on science and technology. Although carrying
a cautionary note that "there are still some people holding skeptical
attitudes with respect to the authenticity of the extraordinary function
of the human body," the development of the study of EHBF is discussed.
(U) A second indicator of official acceptance was the granting of
permission for a visit to China in October 1981 by a delegation of American
and Canadian parapsychologists, expressly to meet with Chinese researchers
in the EHBF area. While in China members of the delegation had an
(U) American Association for the Advancement of Science.
3
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(U)
opportunity to meet; with EHBF research groups at Beijing (Peking) Uni-
versity, and at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of High-Energy
Physics (also in Beijing), and to discuss at length reported research
results and publication policies with the staff and Editor-in-Chief of
Nature.
(U) A third indication of official interest was the decision by the
PRC government to send two official representatives to the annual inter--
national convention of professional parapsychologists held in Cambridge,
England, August 1982, These representatives, both Deputy Directors of the
Institute of Space Medico-Engineering in Beijing, presented an authorita-
tive summary of Chinese work in a Special Symposium on PRC Studies, chaired
by Dr, H. E. Puthoi'f of SRI International,
(U) A fourth indication of official support for investigation of EHBF
is provided by a statement by the Secretary-General of the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP), Hu Yao-pang:
"This so-called Exceptional Human Body Function is not yet
gncluded in tY~e different lines of present science which
have been accepted, Therefore, before the real truth has
been discovered, there should be no propaganda work on this
subject, and for this reason there should be no antagonistic
publication either, I think my two points are clear and
fair. On this subject a group of a limited number of
scientists should form a moderate-size research center to
study and carry out experiments, and the results of their
research work published for all those who are interested in
SG1B this new line of science."
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A. China Psychoenergetics Tour--Introduction (U)
(U) In October 1981 a group of 18 American and Canadian scientists,
physicians and educators had an opportunity to visit the People's Republic
of China, specifically for the purpose of meeting with Chinese researchers
working in the EHBF area. The twelve-day stay, which took the group to
the cities of Beijing (Peking), Xian, and Shanghai, was organized as a
collaborative effort between a well-known American parapsychologist, Dr,
Stanley Krippner, Dean of the Faculty of the Humanistic Psychology
Institute in San Francisco, and Mrs. Shuhyin Mar, a retired University
of Maryland mathematics instructor interested in EHBF phenomena, with
family ties in China. Others in the group professionally involved in
psychoenergetics research and members of the Parapsychological Association
affiliate of the AAAS were, in addition to Dr. Krippner, Dr. H, E. Puthoff,
researcher at SRI International; Dr. Marcello Truzzi, sociologist at
Eastern Michigan University; Dr. Thelma Moss,. psychologist/researcher
in private practice; and Mr. Jerry Solfvin, Ph,D, candidate at
Rijksuniversiteit, Utrecht.
(U) During the China stay, five formal technical meetings were held
with scientists, physicians, and journal editors working in the EHBF field,
The first was at the Friendship Hotel in Beijing; the second at the Beijing
Medical College; the third, at Beijing University; 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.
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(U) The first discussions,. held at the Friendship Hotel in Beijing,
brought the visitors together with researchers and educators from the
(1) Beijing University physicists and biologists
(2) Institute of High Energy Physics (Chinese Academy
of Sciences)
(3) Institute of Biophysics (Chinese Academy of Sciences)
(4) Institute of Automation (Chinese Academy of Sciences)
(5) Beijing Astronomical Observatory (Chinese Academy of
Sciences)
(6) Institute of Semiconductors (Chinese Academy of
Science:; )
(7) Institute of Physics (Chinese Academy of Sciences)
(8) Physics Department of Beijing Teachers' College
(9) Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Beijing
(U) This was followed up by visits to Beijing Medical College,
Beijing University, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of
High~Energy Physics,
(U) Note that those interested in psychoenergetics are primarily
from the hard scif~nces, rather than from the psychological sciences as
in the West. This is in large part because of the weaker position of the
latter as a result of the excesses of the "Cultural Revolution," which
led 'to suspension of Acta Psychologica Sinica and the closing of all
university psychology departments as well as the Institute of Psychology,12
B, Institute of High Energy Physics :(Beijing) (U)
(U) It was at the Institute of High-Energy Physics that the first
opportunity for detailed discussion of specific experiments occurred.
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Invitees to the Institute were Dr, Krippner, tour leader; Dr, H, E. Puthoff,
and Ms. B. H. Humphrey, researchers at SRI International; Mrs, Thelma
Moss, who had done research in Kirlian (corona discharge) photography;
and K. Zirinsky, MD, radiologist.
(U) The group was welcomed to the Institute in an opening meeting by
Institute Deputy Directors Ho Lung and Li Yi. They expressed the opinion
that EHBF work was important and relevant to physics, and indicated that
a small group of researchers, led by Zhao Yun-Je and Hsu Hung-Chang, spent
approximately ten percent of their professional time researching EHBF,
This was followed by a seminar in which the work and its results were
presented by Zhao.
(U) 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
corollary to the perceptions, The detectors used in this format included
X-ray, nuclear emulsion, and photographic films, photoelectric tubes,
thermoluminescence dosimeters, and biological (plant/polygraph) detectors.
The claim made (backed up by raw data materials shown the visiting re-
searchers, published pictures, and, later in the trip, motion picture
film of the experiments) was that physical effects were registered during
perception, and absent in the absence of perception. These included
fogging of the films, and pulses on the electrical output devices of the
various detectors, A summary paper describing these experiments was pro-
vided the visitors;: it has been translated13 and is provided here as
Appendix A,
(U) Xu Hongzhang in Pinyin transcription.
9
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I(U) Technicall evaluation of efforts such as those presented at the
Institute of High Energy Physics is, of course, difficult on the basis,
of a hort laboratory visit and the exchange of a few publications, O~
one sYde of the ledger the individuals carrying out the experiments were
physi',cists, well respected in their own fields, and using standard tech-
nique's and procedures familiar to them, Such factors, coupled with the
degree of official sanction that exists, tend to lend de facto credibility
to their claims. On the other side of the ledger, however, details as 'to
countermeasures against the possibility of fraud, methodological procedures
used,'. and the statistical treatment of the data are notably lacking in the
brief'.. publications to date, a weakness noted in general in the response
of Weistern scientists to published reports on EHBF work by the Chinese.l~
Definitive conclusions as to the technical quality of the work must there-
fore await further development of information exchange.
C, Shanghai Meeting with Editorial Staff of 'Nature' ('Ziran Zazhi') (U)
',(U) Later in the trip the group of Western parapsychologists met at
length over a two-day period with the staff and Editor-in-Chief, Mr. He
Chongyin, of Nature (Ziran Zazhi), and from them obtained an overview of
the experimentation, results, conferences and publication of the Chinese
efforts. It was clear from these discussions that the Nature group played
a seminal role in 'bringing together researchers in the Shanghai and
Chongqing conferences of 1980 and 1981,. and in providing space in their
journal for the publication of results.
(U) In addition to discussion, an hour of filmed EHBF research was
shown, The film, made by Shanghai Science and Education Studio for tele-
vision distribution within the PRC, showed a wide-ranging series of
investigations, including mass screening of schoolchildren with regard to
the capacity to "skin read," standard telepathy/clairvoyance tests over
room-to-room distances, apparently successful "dowsing" to locate buried
10
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cisterns, the Institute of High-Energy Physics experiments on the detec-
tion of EHBF radiation, and attempts to apply EHBF techniques as tools in
medical diagnosis and healing,
(U) Generally speaking, the observations reported are in accord with
what has been reported in the West, Specifically, from the work that had
gone on, the Chinese condluded that
? Extraordinary human body functions do exist, and they
include in addition to the skin reading phenomenon
first observed, other classical psychoenergetics
functions such as telepathy, clairvoyance, and
psychokinesis.
+ EHBF appears to be a universal inherent, though latent,
function in all humans (based on Beijing University
studies on induction of the phenomena in children),
? EHBF phenomena are not shielded by materials such as
paper, plastics, the human body, layers of soil, and
metal, and so resist interpretation in terms of the
present scientific paradigm.,
+ EHBF "perception" extends beyond the visible range into
the inf rared and ultraviolet portions of the electro-
magnetic spectrum, and the sign of magnetic fields can
be discriminated,
Power levels on the order of 100 mW can be generated in
EHBF functioning, as determined by psychokinesis
experiments,
There appear to be interrelationships between EHBF
functioning and elements of traditional Chinese concepts,
as evidenced by shifts in dermal temperature and electro-
dermal potential at acupuncture joints, interference with
or strengthening of EHBF by gigong* meditational techniques,
and the like.
(U) Pronounced "chigong," an ancient system of deep breathing and move-
ment exercises said to promote health and well being.
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? The use of EHBF phenomena in Chinese hospitals was found
to be somewhat effective as a tool in medical diagnosis,
and in helping the blind to sense their environment,
? Several of China`s well-known scientists have involved
themselves in the increasing activity in psi studies,
including H. S. Tsien, Bei Shi-Zhang, Zhao Zhong-Yao,
Wang Gan-Chang, Wang Da-Heng and Tan Ja-Zeng,
(U) In the above list, H, S, Tsien, who has been a driving ford
behind establishing EHBF science, is singled out as an individual who has
played a key role in legitimizing the investigation of EHBF in China,
Tsien is one of China's most respected scientists in the field of military
rocketry, and is thought to have had a major role in developing China's
first nuclear bombs, Before emigrating to China from the United States
in 1955, he was Goddard Professor of Jet Propulsion at Caltech and Director
of the Rocket Section of the U,S. National Defense Scientific Advisory
Board, At Caltech, he was well known to Richard D, Delaur, now Under-
secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, who characterizes Tsien
as an "elder statesman" in China's scientific development,
D, PRC Representation at Cambridge Conference (U)
(U) Each August the Parapsychological Association (PA) holds its
annual conference, where about 150 professionals meet over a three-to-~our-
day period to present papers and exchange research information, In 1982
the PA meeting was cosponsored by the British SPR (Society for Psychical
Resenrch) and held at Trinity College, Cambridge, England, as the Centenary
Conference to commemorate the founding of the SPR 100 years ago in 1882,
To parapsychologists in the West, the 1882 date in a certain sense marks
(U),Qian Xue Sen in Pinyin transcription,
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the beginning of formal investigation of psychoenergetic phenomena by
the scientific/academic communities.
(U) In preparation for that conference, one of those involved in the
China tour, Dr. H, E. Puthoff of SRI International, chaired a special
session on the Chinese work. Puthoff sent invitations to several of the
leading Chinese scientists, met on the China tour, to attend the conference
and report on their progress. Of those invited, none were permitted to
attend. In their place, the PRC government sent to the conference two
highly placed scientists to represent the Chinese work. They were Chen
Hsin and Mei Lei, both Deputy Directors at the Institute of Space Medico-
Engineering, P,O, Box 5104 , Beijing, an institute of over two decades
standing, the last 15 years under the present name.
(U) Hsin and Lei reported that they were involved with the PRC space
physiology program, There, as neurophysiologists, they are studying
various techniques to combat space sickness, including biofeedback training
(of the type employed by NASA for their astronaut training program) and
the use of meditational/breathing exercise/martial art techniques from their
gigong martial art tradition. Because the latter are said to enhance
spontaneous EHBF abilities, their involvement in EHBF studies evolved
from this source.
(U) They reported their present involvement includes research efforts
in their own institute, and their funding and monitoring of research outside
the institute, all under the administrative leadership of Hsin, who, in
addition to being Deputy Director of the Institute of Space Medico-
Engineering, is also Chairman of the Space Medico-Engineering Professional
(U) Chen Xin in Pinyin transcription,
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Committee of the