Editing Brainwashing (section)

==China and the Korean War==
{{See also|Thought reform in China}}
The Chinese term {{translit|zh|xǐnǎo}} ({{lang-zh|t=洗腦|s=洗脑|first=t}} {{lit|wash brain}})<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict&wdrst=0&wdqb=%E6%B4%97%E8%85%A6|title=Word dictionary – 洗腦 – MDBG English to Chinese dictionary|website=mdbg.net|access-date=31 January 2011|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304191659/http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict&wdrst=0&wdqb=%E6%B4%97%E8%85%A6|url-status=live}}</ref> was originally used by early 20th century Chinese intellectuals to refer to "modernizing" one's way of thinking.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mitchell |first1=Ryan |title=China and the Political Myth of 'Brainwashing |journal=Made in China Journal |date=July–September 2019 |volume=3 |url=https://madeinchinajournal.com/2019/10/08/china-and-the-political-myth-of-brainwashing |access-date=1 June 2024 |archive-date=1 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240601072751/https://madeinchinajournal.com/2019/10/08/china-and-the-political-myth-of-brainwashing/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The term was later used to describe the coercive [[persuasion]] used under the [[Maoist]] government in China, which aimed to transform "reactionary" people into "right-thinking" members of the new Chinese social system.<ref>{{cite book|last=Taylor|first= Kathleen|author-link= Kathleen Taylor (biologist)|title=Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=D3tYeMLc4hQC|access-date=2010-07-02|year=2006|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford, UK|isbn=978-0-19-920478-6|page=5}}</ref> The term [[pun]]ned on the [[Taoist]] custom of "cleansing/washing the heart/mind" ({{lang-zh|c=洗心|p=xǐxīn}}) before conducting ceremonies or entering holy places.{{efn|''xīn'' can mean "heart", "mind", or "centre" depending on context. For example, {{ill|xīn zàng bìng|zh|心脏病|lt={{lang|zh-Latn|xīn zàng bìng|nocat=yes}}}} means [[Cardiovascular disease]], but {{ill|xīn lǐ yī shēng|zh|心理医生|lt={{lang|zh-Latn|xīn lǐ yī shēng|nocat=yes}}}} means [[psychologist]], and {{ill|shì zhōng xīn|zh|市中心|lt={{lang|zh-Latn|shì zhōng xīn|nocat=yes}}}} means [[Central business district]].}}

The earliest known English-language usage of the word "brainwashing" in an article by a journalist [[Edward Hunter (U.S. journalist)|Edward Hunter]], in ''Miami News'', published in 1950.<ref name="Crean">{{Cite book |last=Crean |first=Jeffrey |title=The Fear of Chinese Power: an International History |date=2024 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]] |isbn=978-1-350-23394-2 |series=New Approaches to International History series |location=London, UK |page=82}}</ref> Hunter was an [[Anti-communism|anticommunist]] and worked for the [[CIA]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Edward Hunter, Author and Expert On 'Brainwashing' |newspaper=The New York Times |date=1978-06-25 |page=28 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/06/25/archives/edward-hunter-author-and-expert-on-brainwashing.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210411161630/https://www.nytimes.com/1978/06/25/archives/edward-hunter-author-and-expert-on-brainwashing.html |archive-date=2021-04-11}}</ref><ref name=MarksJohn1979>{{cite book|last=Marks|first=John|author-link=John D. Marks|title=The Search for the Manchurian Candidate: The CIA and mind control|url=https://archive.org/details/searchformanchur00john|access-date=2008-12-30|year=1979|publisher=Times Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0-8129-0773-5|chapter=Chapter&nbsp;8. Brainwashing|chapter-url=http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/lsd/marks8.htm|quote=In September&nbsp;1950, the ''[[The Miami News|Miami News]]'' published an article by Edward Hunter titled '"Brain-Washing" Tactics Force Chinese into Ranks of Communist Party'. It was the first printed use in any language of the term "brainwashing", Hunter, a CIA propaganda operator who worked undercover as a journalist, turned out a steady stream of books and articles on the subject. }}</ref> Hunter and others used the Chinese term to explain why, during the [[Korean War]] (1950–1953), some American [[prisoners of war]] (POWs) cooperated with their Chinese captors, and even in a few cases [[List of American and British defectors in the Korean War|defected to their side]].<ref>{{cite news|first=Michael|last=Browning|title=Was kidnapped Utah teen brainwashed?|work=[[The Palm Beach Post]]|issn=1528-5758|date=2003-03-14|quote=During the Korean War, captured American soldiers were subjected to prolonged interrogations and harangues by their captors, who often worked in relays and used the "good-cop, bad-cop" approach – alternating a brutal interrogator with a gentle one. It was all part of "Xi Nao" (''washing the brain''). The Chinese and Koreans were making valiant attempts to convert the captives to the communist way of thought.}}</ref> British radio operator [[Robert W. Ford]]<ref>{{cite book|author=Ford, R.C.|author-link=Robert W. Ford|title=Captured in Tibet|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|location=Oxford [Oxfordshire]|year=1990|isbn=978-0-19-581570-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author-link=Robert W. Ford|author=Ford, R.C.|title=Wind between the Worlds: Captured in Tibet|publisher=SLG Books|year=1997|isbn=978-0-9617066-9-2|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/windbetweenworld00ford }}</ref> and British army Colonel [[James Carne]] also claimed that the Chinese subjected them to brainwashing techniques during their imprisonment.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1953/02/23/83712037.pdf|title=Red germ charges cite 2 U.S. Marines|date=23 February 1954|access-date=16 February 2012}}</ref>

The U.S. military and government laid charges of brainwashing in an effort to undermine confessions made by POWs to war crimes, including [[Allegations of biological warfare in the Korean War|biological warfare]].<ref>{{cite book|first1=Stephen|last1=Endicott|first2=Edward|last2=Hagerman|title=The United States and Biological Warfare: Secrets from the early Cold War|url=https://archive.org/details/unitedstatesbiol00endi |url-access=registration |publisher=Indiana University Press|year=1998|isbn=978-0-253-33472-5}}</ref> After Chinese radio broadcasts claimed to quote [[Frank Schwable]], Chief of Staff of the [[1st Marine Aircraft Wing|First Marine Air Wing]] admitting to participating in germ warfare, United Nations commander General [[Mark W. Clark]] asserted: "Whether these statements ever passed the lips of these unfortunate men is doubtful. If they did, however, too familiar are the mind-annihilating methods of these Communists in extorting whatever words they want ... The men themselves are not to blame, and they have my deepest sympathy for having been used in this abominable way."<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1953/02/24/93602632.pdf|title=Clark denounces germ war charges|date=24 February 1953|access-date=16 February 2012}}</ref>

Beginning in 1953, [[Robert Jay Lifton]] interviewed American servicemen who had been POWs during the [[Korean War]] as well as priests, students, and teachers who had been held in prison in China after 1951. In addition to interviews with 25 Americans and Europeans, Lifton interviewed 15 Chinese citizens who had fled after having been subjected to indoctrination in Chinese universities. (Lifton's 1961 book ''[[Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of "Brainwashing" in China]]'', was based on this research.)<ref>{{cite book|author=Wilkes, A.L.|title=Knowledge in Minds|page=323|publisher=Psychology Press|year=1998|isbn=978-0-86377-439-3}}</ref> Lifton found that when the POWs returned to the United States their thinking soon returned to normal, contrary to the popular image of "brainwashing."<ref name="Home_by_Ship">{{cite journal|title=Home by Ship: Reaction patterns of American prisoners of war repatriated from North Korea|journal=American Journal of Psychiatry|date=April 1954|first=Robert J.|last=Lifton|volume=110|issue=10|pages=732–739|pmid=13138750|doi=10.1176/ajp.110.10.732}}</ref>

In 1956, after reexamining the concept of brainwashing following the Korean War, the U.S. Army published a report entitled ''Communist Interrogation, Indoctrination, and Exploitation of Prisoners of War'', which called brainwashing a "popular misconception". The report concludes that  "exhaustive research of several government agencies failed to reveal even one conclusively documented case of 'brainwashing' of an American prisoner of war in Korea."<ref>{{cite book|author=U.S. Department of the Army|title=Communist Interrogation, Indoctrination, and Exploitation of Prisoners of War.|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|id=Pamphlet number 30-101|date=15 May 1956|location=Washington, D.C.|url=http://palmm.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/fau%3A32574/datastream/OBJ/view/Communist_interrogation_indoctrination__and_exploitation_of_prisoners_of_war.pdf|pages=17, 51|access-date=7 March 2019|archive-date=4 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804001206/http://palmm.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/fau%3A32574/datastream/OBJ/view/Communist_interrogation_indoctrination__and_exploitation_of_prisoners_of_war.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>