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Approved For Release 2000/08/11 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000400320001-8 UNCLASSIFIED ‘(U) These reports caught the attention of scientists throughout China, many of whom assumed that some form of rudimentary biological function 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.® From this beginning, such functioning in China goes under a rubric that translates as Extraordinary Human Body Function (EHBF). From its original 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.” 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 organizing structure for work in the EHBF area, (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 2 Approved For Release 2000/08] NICALRAPES p PREG 400320001-8