China's 'extraordinary human functions' research
In the 1980s Chinese scientists and officials studied children said to read with their ears, part of a national 'qigong fever'.
1979 CE · 39.90, 116.40 · status: disputed
The account
Reports in 1979 of a boy who could 'read' with his ears set off state-backed studies of 'extraordinary functions of the human body'. Rocket scientist Qian Xuesen promoted the idea as 'somatic science'. Qigong masters attracted millions of followers before the government cracked down in 1999. US military psi programmes watched this work: DIA's 1983 Grill Flame report says psi research in the USSR and China is well funded with high-level backing (p.6), and a later DIA briefing says Chinese scientists claimed to have detected remote viewing in experiments with children, a claim SRI was trying to replicate (p.37).
The sceptical view
Investigations, including tests by visiting Western skeptics in 1988, found cheating and loose controls. Chinese science later officially rejected the claims.