Guo Ping, who founded the Chunlin Vocational Training School in the city of Zhengzhou, published a paper in the journal Pictorial Geography in March. He wrote that he led several “special” students who were able to turn boiled fertilized eggs back into live ones, the South China Morning Post reported.
Guo claimed that one of seven boiled eggs used in the experiment was successfully incubated and hatched using “mind power and energy.” The report said that the process was witnessed by a number of people, including seven students, six parents and two professors.
“You have to concentrate and reflect the eggs in your mind. Then you apply a way — which is a core secret — to make the eggs resurrect,” Guo later told the Xinan Evening News, according to the Post.
Guo’s paper provoked a frenzy of online ridicule in the past month, leading several social media users to liken the publication to fiction like that in a Harry Potter novel.
On Tuesday, a column in the People’s Daily, an official newspaper of the Chinese government, criticized Guo and the academic journal for publishing the report.
“Peeling back this ‘revived’ boiled egg, [we] see the cliched trick of scammers, and profits from shady business models. We also need to reflect on how such a ‘finding’ could have been published in an academic journal. What kind of a journal is this?” the column read, according to the Post.
“Our society does not allow a deceitful shell. Science cannot tolerate a lying egg,” the column added.
The People’s Daily went on to accuse Guo of previously publishing additional false claims, including a paper on how to make objects go through walls. Guo’s school offers students lessons on how to use mental power to move objects, Vice News reported.
According to a Friday report from the Post, Guo apologized for writing the paper and resigned from her position after facing heavy backlash. The Chunlin Vocational School has since been shuttered for “rectification,” according to local reports.
On Tuesday, authorities suspended Pictorial Geography’s operations and are trying to determine how the article was published, Vice reported. The journal is considered a fringe academic magazine managed by the government of Jilin province in northeastern China.
An initial investigation revealed that the publication had illegally accepted money for publishing the article. According to the Post, Pictorial Geography’s director has resigned, and authorities are now conducting a legal probe into both Guo and the journal.
Newsweek was unable to reach the Chunlin Vocational School or Guo for additional comment.
