Dangerous training
Control begins with suppression and abuse.
Xue Ying's experience is to pick faults from the students' past experiences and criticize them-"You are too selfish", "You are indifferent" and "You think you are"... He often uses these expressions.
According to his observation, at this stage, some trainees feel uncomfortable in their heart, unable to breathe, and some trainees vomit halfway through.
These memories have been hidden in Xue Ying's heart.
Until recently, I saw the news that Wei Meng, a 32-year-old female investor in Beijing, fainted during the LEGACY course and died after the rescue failed. He remembered that from 2016 to 2017, he had been a tutor of similar courses in Beijing. The content of the lectures was similar to that of Wei Meng. The content of the courses are very similar.
Some media reported that in the LEGACY course, students insulted each other, causing Wei Meng's emotional breakdown. Family members denied this statement.
Currently, the Beijing Tongzhou District Market Supervision Administration is investigating the institutions that Wei Mengsheng visited before.
According to a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily, there are many such training courses in China that include abusing trainees.
Chen Tianjia, an associate professor at the School of Marxism at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, who has been paying attention to such phenomena for a long time, said that the source of such courses is in the United States. Transformation) and three stages of practice.
This kind of course helps students break through in name. In essence, through interlocking training courses, they control the minds of the participants, and target different user groups with different vocabulary packages to spread variation in many places.
For a long time, such courses under the guise of various trainings are concealed and confusing.
The news of Wei Meng's death has renewed the discussion of the "coaching technique" course.
A mutual aid group for victims with more than 400 people also paid attention to this news.
Most of the group of friends met in the post bar, which opposed "coaching technology", and they were engaged in industries including finance, foreign trade, construction engineering, the Internet, and insurance.
Some are fresh graduates, some are retired old people, and some teenagers come to ask whether the courses they take are "coaching skills."
Among them, a small group of friends have attended classes and left the training institution after being aware of the problem.
In order to save the family members who are in class, most people enter into group exchanges and find ways to discourage their family members from attending class.
Control the students’ mood like a roller coaster ride
As an instructor of the "Coaching Technique" course, Xue Ying does not have any professional background in psychology.
He once attended this kind of training class. Later, in order to become a tutor, he quit his original job and spent 100,000 yuan training fee to attend the tutoring class.
It was not until 2017 that he ceased to be a mentor due to his family's dissuasion.
According to his memories, absolute obedience and discipline are the characteristics of many "coaching techniques" courses.
In class, he asked the students to wear uniform class uniforms, shout neat and loud slogans, and keep their emotions high. The purpose is to unite the students and "make the students collectively unconscious."
Participants also need to hand in their mobile phones, and the content of the course is not allowed to be passed on.
In the memories of the interviewed students, the most common sentence is "I will do whatever they ask me to do."
Xue Ying said that such courses are usually divided into three stages. In the first stage, Xue Ying will ask students to hug each other to increase their sense of belonging and trust.
Before the end of the first stage, he also invited the students’ family members to "secretly" come to the graduation ceremony site. With the music and lighting, the family members suddenly appeared holding a bunch of flowers or holding gifts to celebrate the students’ graduation. "Tutors" and encourage students to sign up for the second stage of the course.
In the second stage, Xue Yinghui broke the students' psychological endurance by suppressing, blaming, and finding faults.
At this stage, many students will experience physical discomfort.
In order to ensure safety, Xue Ying will understand the mental state and pregnancy of the students before the class.
The trainees' time was fully arranged.
Xue Ying concluded, "The second stage of the game consumes a lot of physical energy, so you can only listen to it when your brain is empty."
He also asked students to share privacy and trauma, and role-play as the most annoying people, such as prostitutes, old ladies picking up garbage, etc., and encourage students to "go out" and "break through themselves."
His students once wore beggar's clothes and went to the amusement park for a round.
A role-play that has attracted attention on the Internet is that in 2018, a female student engaged in insurance work appeared at the Mong Kok subway station in Hong Kong, China in a three-point bunny costume and took the subway.
She participated in the "Life Improvement Course" in Hong Kong, China. The instructor asked the female students to wear revealing clothes in public places to break through themselves and enhance self-confidence.
It wasn't until the last day before the end of the second stage that Xue Ying began to praise the students, "It's like riding a roller coaster. At first, you press down and then slowly lift up. When you reach the highest point, people tend to become excited and joyful."
In the third stage, the training organization will guide the trainees, randomly form buddies with students of the opposite sex in the class, and go out to inspire new trainees.
Xue Ying used an analogy. When a student finds a new student to attend a class, it is to help the new student, just like picking up a starfish washed ashore by the waves and throwing it back into the ocean, saving the starfish's life.
In this type of training class, "starfish" has become synonymous with new students.
Inspiring "starfish" is a compulsory homework for students.
A student engaged in foreign trade invited friends on WeChat one by one, but only one person was invited. She felt frustrated for a time, "Why don't you believe me?"
Xue Ying will also organize students to participate in public welfare activities, go to left-behind children's schools, nursing homes to show love, and increase the sense of collective honor.
Li Cheng, born in 1997, once participated in such public welfare activities.
In junior high school, in a charity event jointly organized by his school and entrepreneurs, he and his father participated as student representatives and parent representatives respectively.
He still remembered that there were red banners at the school that said "Together to hold up the sun for tomorrow", and the students took turns on stage to say gratitude to their parents.
It was not until his father participated in the "coaching technique" course that Li Cheng knew that the original charity activities were actually free publicity for the "coaching technique" course, with the purpose of tapping parents to become potential students and shaping a good social image of the training institution.
According to public reports, many schools across the country have held similar activities. On the red banners or background boards hung in the schools, the organizer reads the "coaching technique" class that organized this charity event.
Their usual class code starts with the letters "TA" and "LP", followed by a number, such as "TA57", which refers to the 57th student.
These charity activities were published in the local newspapers to encourage the students to endorse the "starfish".
Five days and four nights to quickly become a "youth leader"
"Coaching psychology" and "coaching technique" have similar names. The former is a sub-discipline of psychology that focuses on discovering potential, improving people's happiness and work performance.
Long before coaching psychology became widely known in China, there were already training courses under the guise of "coaching skills" to implement new MLM methods.
The three-stage training routine of the "coaching technique" course can evolve into many forms.
In Shandong, in order to recruit the bosses who set up shops in the county town, the training institution offered "entrepreneur training" and added the content of Chinese culture on the basis of "coaching skills".
In Shenzhen, in the face of corporate executives and factory owners, training institutions focus on cultivating students’ "leadership" and corporate management.
Some "coaching technology" training institutions set up the registration point in the university's continuing education college.
In the face of young people, it has become a five-day and four-night summer camp, "Youth Leadership Class" and "Awakening Talent Leadership Training Camp."
Compared with adult classes, which last for several months, youth classes are mostly held during winter and summer vacations, and the time is shorter.
Many netizens commented on online videos related to "mental pyramid schemes" and "coaching techniques" that they had participated in such courses as a teenager.
"Southern Weekend" reported in 2019 that in order to recruit more people, some training institutions require students to bring their children in, and some even offer courses for children aged five or six.
As a parent, a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily consulted two institutions suspected of offering such courses.
One said that new students must be recommended by students before they can attend classes. Another said that parents must first attend two days of class before they can accurately select courses for their children.
In a written introduction from one of the institutions, such courses can transform (students) beliefs about "forced" behavior.
The course consultant explained to the reporter that the teacher uses subconscious hypnosis to let children do things they don't want to do. "Listening to repeated words every day is also a kind of hypnosis."
15-year-old Hu Ding once participated in a course called "Young Leaders Training Course", and the painful impact it has brought to this day.
The course was opened in July 2019. The five-day and four-night course is worth tens of thousands of yuan. The course is located in a hotel in Baiyun District, Guangzhou. Old students who have taken the course serve as assistant teachers in the summer camp.
Hu Ding’s parents heard that the other children “suddenly got awkward” after class, and they were in the top ten of the grade. They specifically asked Hu Ding to rush from Foshan to Guangzhou for class.
In class, Hu Ding had to yell a slogan repeatedly, "I want to be a responsible leader!" The hotel conference room echoed this slogan repeatedly.
There are about 36 students in the class, and whoever stops first loses.
Hu Ding's voice became hoarse, and "throat treasure" became a necessity for the students.
The course also has a game session, which often lasts until more than 10 o'clock in the evening, and sometimes it ends at 12 o'clock in the evening.
Hu Ding recalled that each student had to share his mistakes, and a group of 6 people would criticize each other.
He shared that he often quarreled with his parents. Under the leadership of the veteran students, the group members surrounded him and scolded him for "hypocrisy", "unfilial piety" and "irresponsible" until he cried.
Some students were reluctant to participate in the game and were criticized in public by teachers and veteran students.
Teachers and veteran students are the absolute authority in the classroom.
They asked all students to stand on the chairs and turn left and right following the teacher's command.
The first time you make a mistake, you will be punished by kneeling on a chair; the second time you make a mistake, the student has to get off the chair and stand on the ground; the third time you make a mistake, the veteran student will drag the person out of the meeting room and wait outside the door for the game to end. .
The teacher said that the veteran students are "your parents". Every time they make a mistake, they will hurt their parents and they cannot do anything wrong.
Hu Ding recalled, "The whole process made people feel very guilty. Half of the people were dragged outside."
Two years since the end of this course, he has become timid and always afraid of doing something wrong.
Every time he buys food for his parents, or buys milk tea for his classmates, he is afraid of buying the wrong one, so he always has to call each other to confirm over and over again.
He also wanted to get rid of and become more trusting in himself, but it was "difficult".
After learning about the "coaching technique" course, he found that the youth class was more relaxed than the adult class, combining the first stage and the second stage of the adult class.
But he did not tell his parents his true views on the "Youth Leadership Class" because parents trust such courses. If the truth is told, it may lead to more quarrels.
In the summer of 2021, 14-year-old Li Hua also participated in a similar course.
She once wanted to take a "vacation" in this five-day summer camp, temporarily escaping from online classes and homework, but ushered in high-intensity training.
She has to sing, dance, play games, and finish homework every day. Sometimes she wakes up at five or six in the morning, lacks sleep, and is “tired than studying at school”.
Many games in the course will be criticized by the instructor no matter what the students play.
Some games make up extremely dangerous game scenes.
The fictional game scene Li Hua encountered was climbing a mountain on a rainy night with lightning and thunder. During this link, Li Hua obviously felt his breathing accelerated and cold sweat.
She cries every day, "If you don't cry, you can't get in.
After the class, Li Hua slowly recalled the details of the course and found that many games had no practical meaning. They just set up an extreme scene to guide the students into the situation. The students cried and fell emotionally during the game, and finally taught another "what everyone knows" "reason.
She asked her relatives that compared to the adult class, the juvenile class only lacks the link to inspire the "starfish".
Shen Cheng, from Jiangsu Province, has been paying attention to "coaching technology" since 2016 and is one of the core members of the victims' mutual assistance WeChat group.
There was an 18-year-old girl who asked Shen Cheng for help. Her aunt enrolled her in the summer camp of "cultivating future leaders", and repeated the slogan "I want to be a leader" in class.
When Shen Cheng talked to her mother about the harm of "coaching skills", her mother replied, "You think things too seriously" and "I believe that the children will gain something through this training."
Shen Cheng concluded that most of the parents of young students are confused by the propaganda language of this type of course, and they will apply for the young people.
Find the "cure" for life's problems in the training class
Shen Cheng found that some students who are addicted to "coaching skills" encounter difficulties in life and feel confused, hoping that the course can help solve problems. For example, couples do not want to improve their relationship, and introverts want to improve their eloquence and improve bad emotions. .
A girl who works in an Internet company has been invited by her classmates to join the course many times, but she refused.
Until she fell in love, this classmate took two students from the "coaching technique" course, and the three of them accompanied her to the cafe and comforted her for more than an hour.
She felt the "kindness of others" and agreed to attend class.
This introverted girl is working alone in a big city. She said that in the "coaching technique" class, she can feel the connection of the "big family" that is rare in daily life, and is "very moved".
The instructor will guide the students to exchange privacy, share secrets, and hug each other. When graduation, the old students smile and send blessings and flowers to the new students.
She even expected to have a best friend after the class, "the best friend will share the secret".
Later, she learned that the kind conversation in the cafe was just one of the ways that veteran students pulled people's heads.
These trainees who hope to find the "antidote" in the training class are more harmed in the course of the class.
A family member of the victim's mutual assistance WeChat group said that this course is designed to invite others to attend classes when they are vulnerable and confused, which is "very wicked."
It is difficult to count how many people and how many families there are, because the "coaching technique" courses are affected.
Shen Cheng's victim mutual assistance WeChat group, from 2016 to present, has about 2,000 people joined.
Among them, Shen Cheng has contacted at least 200 couples divorced because of the "coaching technique" course.
Some trainees were mentally disordered after participating in training courses.
In 2011, the boss of a housekeeping service company in Kunming suffered a mental disorder on the spot during a "coaching technique" training class. He was later treated at the Yunnan Provincial Psychiatric Hospital. After judicial identification, he suffered from schizophrenia.
After the illness, the housekeeping service company ceased business, and the patients were unable to take care of themselves and required special supervision.
Her family sued the training organization and demanded that the other party bear civil liability for compensation.
In the verdict, the family members provided evidence that the training institution had jumped from building twice before.
Professor Chen Tianjia introduced that the source of the "coaching technique" course was an organization called Lifespring in the United States. It also caused controversy in the United States. Some students enjoyed the class and believed that their psychological problems were relieved to a certain extent, and some students were weak or had underlying diseases. Unable to withstand the pressure of the course, some were insane and some committed suicide.
According to information, in the United States, there are more than 30 lawsuits against Lifespring, including involuntary labor and illegal death.
These victims continue to file legal proceedings to force Lifespring to shut down.
Poison wrapped in chocolate icing
Chen Tianjia concluded that the psychological manipulation technology of "coaching technique" has made participants' minds extreme.
Participants' personality was reshaped, self-worth, self-esteem, and normal social identity changed dramatically, which was essentially psychological abuse.
In his view, these abused participants may become fanatical defenders of "coaching skills", thinking that they are here to "save" others.
Moreover, the impact of training courses will accompany the trainees for the rest of their lives.
For example, when listening to certain music and seeing some scenes, the trainees will recall the scenes of the training sessions in the past, and they will feel painful.
These pains need to be digested by the trainees and their families.
Many students and their families recalled that in the first stage, there were obvious positive changes in the students, but soon the situation turned from better to worse.
Lin Qing and her husband started a lighting company in Shenzhen. Her husband is a science and engineering background. The couple worked hard together to buy a house and settle in Shenzhen.
Lin Qing recalled that her husband didn't do housework before. After attending the first-stage training course, he went home to help Lin Qing wash underwear, write love letters, and fold clothes. He mopped the floor at home at 3 in the morning.
But in the second stage, during class, her husband was beaten on the ground and the collar of his clothes was torn.
Lin Qing found that her husband became extremely excited and had the idea of making quick money. She planned to list a company with only 10 employees and asked all her family members to listen to him.
Li Cheng also found that his father could quickly enter a state of excitement, and his temper was irritable.
When his family was lying in bed, Li Cheng's father directly slapped him.
Li Cheng repeatedly advised his father not to attend class. His father described Li Cheng as "adverse son" and "arrogant", refused to provide Li Cheng with the living expenses of college, and hit Li Cheng on the head with an iron rod.
Many family members of the victims' mutual aid group are distressed about how to persuade their families not to attend training courses.
In order to prevent her husband from attending class, Lin Qing deleted the WeChat of her tutor and classmates from her husband's mobile phone.
It was always accepted that Lin Qing would not give face to her man. When the confrontation between the two sides was the fiercest, the husband closed the kitchen door and threatened Lin Qing with a kitchen knife.
Some people were "inspired" by themselves in the process of persuading their family members to leave the training class.
A student with a master's degree in science and engineering in Beijing once called the police to deal with the training institution because his girlfriend was attending classes. Later, his girlfriend paid the tuition fees for him.
A student who had attended a class told a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily that the evaluation of "coaching skills" courses should be "as neutral as possible", which has both advantages and disadvantages.
She recalled that 10 years ago, she was "inspired" to attend classes reluctantly, and her tutor asked her to change her mindset, "it is not the problem of the classroom environment, it is your problem."
Learning to find problems from herself is what she learned from class.
This kind of neutral perspective is common among veteran students.
They are aware of the hazards of this course, but they claim to be confident that they can manage this course and only learn positive content.
Shen Cheng retorted that the "coaching technique" course is like a poison wrapped in chocolate icing. Normal people know that the poison will choose not to eat it, but when someone pats their chest and says that only the chocolate icing will be licked off, this person will never be poisoned. Either there is a problem with the cognition, or the salesperson who sells poison.
Regulatory difficulties
It is not easy to crack down on "coaching skills" courses.
Such courses are often accompanied by the spread of Christian heresies in the United States, and mainstream American society calls them MLM cults.
Chen Tianjia told the China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily that in China, the "coaching technique" course does not have deified chiefs, the degree of organization is loosely organized, and there is no obvious evidence to spread superstition and heresy, and it does not satisfy Article 300 of the Criminal Law against "cult organizations." Definition.
In addition, students need to hand in their mobile phones before classes, and the signing of an agreement does not allow the course content to be disclosed, and it is difficult for law enforcement agencies to grasp the course content.
Defining such training institutions as MLM organizations is also a difficult problem.
According to the Anti-MLM Law of the People’s Republic of China, after the successful development of “new people”, the organization will provide “elders” with remuneration including material rewards, and “new people” must also pay fees when joining the organization. Line relationship.
But in the "coaching technique" course, the trainees inspire "Haixing" without payment. The trainees "feel that doing these things is more worthwhile and happier than how much money they get." The payment of "Haixing" is a "training fee". Level relationship.
In 2019, the Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau filed a case to investigate Shenzhen Zhongding Business School, which became the first domestically cracked case of a new type of MLM under the name of "coaching technique" that implemented mental control through illegal and harmful training.
In an interview with the Southern Metropolis Daily, the police handling the case introduced that as a new type of training model, "coaching skills" have become a vacuum zone for supervision, and daily supervision is still lacking.
After the case, such courses are still spreading everywhere.
Shen Cheng discovered that some students called the police after they woke up, but they could not show clear evidence.
Shen Cheng concluded that the cost of running a "coaching technique" course is very low. You only need to register a company, hire one or two tutors, and rent an office to recruit students.
As for training funds, venues, and props, it is entirely possible to inspire veteran trainees to provide them.
Among the victims interviewed by reporters from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily, some were about to enter the third year of junior high school, some fresh graduates were invited by their bosses to participate in courses, and some had just graduated three years ago, and they specially applied for their first credit card in order to pay tuition fees.
Liang Yi, a psychological counselor with 10 years of experience in participatory training, believes that a benign psychological course will not personally judge, criticize, or attack the participants. It will protect the participants. If the participants experience bad emotions, they must Reject in time, ask for help and leave.
He said that in the context of profit-seeking, the prosperity of "coaching skills" courses allows people who have no ethical bottom line and psychology knowledge to start classes as long as they get a set of methods.
In fact, the threshold for organizing psychological group activities is very high. They need to take care of the inner world of each participant, be patient, understand psychology, and have long-term experience.
Chen Tianjia suggested that victims can follow the example of the group of victims in the United States in the last century and file legal proceedings. "If there are more cases, the follow-up will have experience."
(At the request of the interviewee, Li Hua, Hu Ding, Shen Cheng, Xue Ying, Lin Qing, and Li Cheng are pseudonyms)
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Wei Xi and intern Lu Siwei Source: China Youth Daily
September 01, 2021 05 Edition