Chinese Research Suggesting the Reality of Clairvoyance and Mind-Over-Matter

Around page 376 of the book here, you get a discussion of Chinese research into "Extraordinary Human Body Function" or EHBF, which was largely research into clairvoyance, telepathy and mind-over-matter. 

The CIA document you can read here (and also here) is a translation of a Chinese 1984 parapsychology publication, one entitled "Research in Human Paranormal Capabilities." There are some very fascinating parts. 

On page 4 we have a claim that a particular person could read Chinese characters with his ears. We read this:

"Today is a very important and very memorable date, it is the anniversary of the first publication in the 'Sichuan Daily' of Tang Yu's paranormal capability to distinguish Chinese characters with his ear. This is a very important event in modern China."

The parapsychology term used for this ability is "transposition of the senses." The history of psychical research has many well-documented examples, some of which are listed in my series of posts here.  On page 53 of the same document, we read about tests done on children to see whether they could recognize the color of cards (and symbols on cards) that were placed in their outer ear. This is a test of one type of transposition of the senses. We read this about the testing procedure:

" Propaganda cards printed in various colors with number four type were cut into cards of two to five characters each to form a sampling pool. They were then folded in half and rolled into cylinders. Then tweezers were used to place these deep in the student's left or right outer ear deep enough that the students could not dig them out with their little fingers. Since the cylinders were springy, they opened up to press themselves to the walls of the ear canal, making them difficult to remove."

I do not recommend that anyone ever try this at home as a test procedure.  As my mother would often tell me, "Never stick anything in your ear smaller than your elbow." The only exception is manufactured things specifically designed to be placed in ears, such as earplugs.

On page 53 we read this about the results from a subject:

"On the morning of the 18th of July, at 8:30, 31 minutes after the test began, eleven year old Han nationality student, XIXY X( )X( ) correctly answered the test card. It was verified that the characters, color, and color of the paper were all correct. After 40 minutes, thirteen year old Tibetan Student Xun Wen (X) also correctly recognized the characters and color of paper in his ear. This was the first occasion of psychic abilities being induced in children in Tibet. Results of the three day test show that among these subjects of the survey (nine to fifteen years old) the occurrence of ('recognizing characters by ear') was about 40%."

On page 13 of the same document we read this claim about clairvoyance in two children:

"He reported on the results of psychic testing of two psychic children during last summer vacation and this spring vacation by himself together with Comrades Chen Bao-Liang, Liu Yi-Cheng, Yang Jian-Hua with the cooperation of Comrades Luo Cheng-Lie and Liu Gui-Lin of the Qufu Normal College in Shandong. Contents of the test were the ability to see something on the other side of a wall or in another building and the ability to make out messages. The procedures of the testing were very strict, the results were positive and repeatable under specific conditions."

A claim like this is too vague to have much of any value as evidence, and I present it merely to contrast it with the next example, which gives us a very precise account of exactly what went on in a test of clairvoyance which seems to have been a stunning success. We read this on page 22:

"In the 'Joint Experiment Report on the Reality of Human Psychic Functions' there were records of tests carried out on 'Z's ability to do 'psychic writing.'  The author of this article took part in making up the samples. The test at that time was to take a blank sheet of paper which the tester would sign, roll it up into a tube around a ball point pen, and fold back both ends. This would be placed on the table in front of the person being tested with three people watching at the same time. 'Z' was only allowed to pick up the tube and smell it. Then he had to put it back on the desk. He was not allowed to open the tube. Then 'Z' was given a fountain pen and another blank sheet of paper. After 'Z' had written on the second sheet of paper and stated that he had written the same thing on the piece of paper rolled up around the ball point pen, the observers opened the rolled paper. It was discovered that what 'Z' had written on the second sheet of paper with a fountain pen was also written of the signed sheet of paper in ball point pen. The style of the characters was also very similar. To do further testing to determine if Z''s psychic writing could break through the barriers of space, this experiment used a sealed envelope. "

There then follows a more explicit discussion of what exactly went on, an account that lists the exact names of the observers, and lists the date and time as 4:30 in the afternoon of January 22, 1983. The test words written down in the rolled up sheet of paper were "How are you? Thank you teacher." The  words written by "Z" were exactly the same: "How are you? Thank you teacher."

After  this more detailed account of the successful test of clairvoyant abilities, on page 24 we read this:

"The entire experiment lasted less than one hour. None of the observers ever left the area. 'Z', the person being tested, remained seated in his original position while performing the psychic writing. The entire desk was within the observers' field of vision. None of the four observers noticed 'Z'  doing anything suspicious. This was the third time this experiment was carried out. The former two occasions had similar results." 

As evidence for clairvoyance, the reported results seem very good. The main deficiency is the failure to report the real name of the person identified as 'Z.'  The report has appeared about one year after the observation date. But the report has so many details written so precisely that we can be rather sure it is based on notes  of what occurred written at the time. 

On page 27 and the following pages we have a report claiming tests showed a "psychic ability" of someone to break into two a needle that had been put in a sealed matchbox.  Unfortunately, the account is not explicit enough to qualify as good evidence. We are told that the tested subject could touch the sealed matchbox, but we lack a description of whether there were precautions to prevent the subject from using both of his hands to break the needle. 

On page 54 of the document, we read about tests of mind-over-matter. We read this:

"Because of what happened with the above experiment, beginning on the 25th, we change to a 'psychic movement' test, where we placed knotted twine, an open lock, a small bolt with the nut off, or a watch in a cardboard box which we sealed with tape. The children were allowed to attempt to untie the knot on the string, lock the lock, put the nut on the bolt, and set the watch. This was successful. The 11 year old Tibetan girl, Tsering Jwolka, on her first attempt, set the watch ahead one hour and forty seven minutes. On her second attempt she set the watch ahead six hours and twenty minutes. This test was repeated many times and successful each time. This caused quite a stir in Zedang village, and rumors started spreading around."

On the next page of the document (page 55) we read this astonishing account of child subjects displaying mind-over-matter trying to make changes in objects in a sealed cardboard box, apparently through mind-over-matter, without breaking the seals:

"The first subject was Tsering Jwolka, a twelve year old Tibetan girl. On the first test she successfully set a watch ahead 30 minutes, then she set it backwards 37 minutes. On the second test she closed a lock in six minutes. On the third test she opened the lock in four minutes, on the the fourth test she closed the lock again in two minutes. 

The second subject was Nima, a 13 year old Tibetan girl. On the first test she threaded a nut on a bolt in 30 minutes. On the second test she unknotted a string in ten minutes. On the third test she opened a lock in four minutes. 

The third test subject was 11 year Han nationality girl, Liu... On the first test she opened a lock in 39 minutes. In the second test she unscrewed a nut from a bolt in 30 minutes, and in the third test she was unsuccessful in attempting to knot a string. 

The fourth subject was 10 year old Han nationality girl, Xu (X). In the first test she was unsuccessful in knotting a string after 30 minutes. In the second test she unknotted a string in three minutes. In the third test she unknotted a string in 27 minutes. In the third test she unknotted a string in 12 minutes. 

The fifth subject was ten year old Han nationality girl, Chen (X) (X). her first test she unknotted a string in 12 minutes. In the second test she opened a lock in 22 minutes. In the third test she was unsuccessful in threading a nut on a bolt after 30 minutes. In 

The sixth subject was nine year old Han nationality boy, Chen (X). In his first test he unknotted a string in 30 minutes. In his second test he threaded a nut on a bolt in seven minutes. His third test was to be unscrewing the nut from the bolt. This was not attempted. 

In all of these tests, the test object was in a cardboard box. The cardboard box was sealed with tape. A special symbol was marked along the edge of the tape."

On page 66 we have a first-hand report which sounds like one of many cases of medical clairvoyance, in which a clairvoyant is able to mysteriously see inside the human body.  The reported results are very impressive. The main deficiency from an evidence standpoint is that the narrator is not identified. We read this:

" 'X-ray vision' is one form of manifestation of the human psychic function. This kind of vision is not really 'X-ray' vision, but is where the psychic uses his eyes to inspect the inner structure of the human body, does a comparison of normal and abnormal, and thus comes up with a diagnosis. Therefore, in this article I will talk a little about what I have learned from experience through many years of diagnosing diseases through 'X-ray vision' into the human body so others may use it for reference. I am a nurse in a hospital. Thus it is very convenient for me to do diagnosis through 'X-ray vision'. "

The author provides the table below, which indicates a very high success rate. 

We read some case accounts by the author in which claims are made of successful diagnosis through clairvoyance.  No one who has carefully studied the 19th century reports of clairvoyance (often written by doctors) will be very surprised by this part of the Chinese document. In the 19th century it was very often reported that in a state of hypnosis some clairvoyants would be able to see into the human body, and make many a correct diagnosis about medical problems that the unaided human eye could not see. 

After hearing of such wonders, we should remember why we should not be surprised to hear of mysterious powers of the human mind. The reason is that a human mind is something utterly beyond the understanding of physical science.  The most basic powers of the human mind (such as learning, instant recall of relevant information, recognition, imagination, insight and the persistence of memories for decades) are powers utterly beyond any credible explanation by neuroscientists, who offer nothing but vacuous jargon-laden hand-waving when asked to explain such powers.  No learned information has ever been found in a brain through the microscopic examination of brain tissue. Nothing in a brain bears the slightest resemblance to any system for permanently storing or instantly retrieving learned information. We know the type of things that allow the permanent storage and instant retrieval of information in physical systems: things such as components for writing information, components for reading information,  stable and easily navigable writing surfaces,  sorting, addresses and indexes. The brain has no such things. No scientist has any credible theory of how any of the very many types of things that humans remember could be encoded as brain states or synapse states. Because we lack any credible neural explanation for the basic powers of human minds, there is no credibility in trying to exclude accounts of mysterious powers of minds by saying "a brain could not do that." Almost every human mind does every day many things that brains could never do. 

The latest result of an ESP test is the result reported on page 62 of the year 2025 document here. It is a test of 240 participants conducted at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland's largest university), by two professors. The researchers used the long-successful Ganzfeld protocol, which for many years has produced results of around 30% to 32%,  well above the result expected by chance (only 25%).  The tests were done in a "ganzfeld laboratory" in a "quiet and secure basement room of a university building," in the years 2023 and 2024. We read that "Seventy-two hits were obtained out of 240 sessions, a 30% hit-rate," a success well above the result expected by chance, only 25%.