Far-fetched process: A training school principal claimed to have hatched chickens from hard-boiled eggs.
CAN a chicken hatch from hardboiled eggs? Most of us will say “no” but a training school principal said “yes, with the use of superpowers!”
Not only did the educator believe in her theory, the editorial team of a journal believed her and published her findings.
The ridiculous claim has landed the principal and the journal in trouble with authorities instructing the training centre and magazine to cease operations pending investigations.
It is reported that the principal has resigned.
The controversy unfolded recently when Pictorial Geography magazine published two papers, Turning hard boiled eggs into fresh eggs – an experimental report on hatching chicken and Hard boiled eggs turned into raw eggs and hatched chicken experimental report (hatching process).
The papers were written by Guo Huaping, the head of Chunlin Training Centre in Zhengzhou, Henan province, and her team.
The authors claimed that teachers and students at the centre had hatched chickens from 40 hardboiled eggs using “parapsychological consciousness”.
In the first article, which saw print in June last year, Guo pointed out that a team of 10 teachers and students boiled 10 eggs for 23 minutes, then put each of them in a paper cup and started the parapsychological process.
After 20 minutes, the eggs were turned into liquid form.
“The eggs were sent to the chicken farm for hatching, waiting for result, ” she wrote.
In the subsequent report, published in March this year, Guo claimed the experiment was successful.
After the papers were uploaded to the Internet, the journal came under fire with netizens calling the reports pseudoscience and questioning the credibility of the magazine.
Li Mo poked fun at Guo and asked her to turn senior citizens into youngsters and bring the dead to life again.
“She is insulting our intelligence and common sense, ” wrote another Internet user.
Following the uproar, the Jilin provincial press and publication bureau sent a team to investigate the magazine, which was under its supervision.
Zhengzhou city’s human resources bureau is also investigating Guo’s training centre.
In a response last Monday, Guo insisted the findings were factually correct and the experiments involved the science of turning back time and predicting the future.
“I do not know the theory. I only know the result, ” she told local media, adding that she was not a physician but only a psychology enthusiast.
On the following day, she apologised for making the conclusion too soon.
She admitted that the first paper was not written by her.
“The magazine asked if I have anything, I took the opportunity since it was not expensive, just around 700 yuan (RM440) to publish the paper, ” she added.
Her statement sparked another round of backlash when the public found out that articles in academic journals could be published for such an amount, leading to questions on the credibility of these magazines.
Guo is usually known by her pen name Guo Ping.
Her training centre, set up in 2009, provides various courses for people to train as a nutritionist, marriage counsellor, entrepreneur human resources manager, home tutor and babysitter.
It also offers other courses to unleash students’ potential and “mind power”.
According to the centre’s recruitment poster, Guo has more than 20 “titles”, including entrepreneurship trainer, deputy secretary-general of Zhengzhou University alumni, committee member of Henan Psychological Consult Association, an expert of Tsien Hsueshen Educational Thought Research Society and president of central China region of the International Chinese Parapsychology Society.
Many of these titles were found to be fake.
Some have accused Guo of fleecing naive people.
It was reported that a four-day, three-night super-power course at her centre is priced at 19,800 yuan (RM12,500) while a higher-level course that trains students on cutting things with mind power costs 36,000 yuan (RM22,800).
The centre also provides training to those who plan to undergo occupational qualification examinations for ministries or government departments.
In China, academic qualifications are not often enough for adults to enter the job market, with most needing to obtain occupational qualification certificates before they find employment.
Many professions require such credentials including teachers, media personnel, engineers, architects, nurses, property agents and assessors, technicians, sailors, artiste managers as well as certain positions offered by banks, healthcare institutions, fitness centres and factories.
The validity of the certificates varies according to the job.
