Near-death experience research on Tangshan survivors

　　Shanghai, July 24 (Interfax News Agency) – Chinese psychiatrists are conducting medical research into the near-death experience on the survivors of the Tangshan earthquake, whichhit the city, 180km east of Beijing, on July 28, 1976.

　　Feng Zhiying, a professor and the former president of Tianjin Anding Hospital, surveyed 81 survivors of the Tangshan earthquake, which caused 240,000 deaths.

　　Some 43 men and 38 women, 76 of whom suffered paraplegia after the earthquake were questioned, the largest number to be surveyed in a near-death study, its organizers believe.

　　Researchers found that half of the survivors felt that, during the earthquake, their consciousness was separated from their body, one third felt that they were passing through some kind of channel to another dimension, and a quarter of those surveyed said that their body parts felt like they were falling to different places, and then into an abyss.

　　The study also found 47 of the 81 cases experienced a personality change, and that all aspects of their life had been reflected in their near-death experience.

　　Experts at the hospital have tried to put the research to clinical use. The study is of psychological significance, providing valuable understanding in the treatment of personality changes.

　　“Near-death research is still a basic theory,” an official of Tianjin Anding Hospital said, “and can not be into clinical use in the near future.

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