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March 22, 2012

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Guangdong sex-therapy center shut down

A SO-CALLED Tantra training center in a dilapidated house located deep inside a mountain in south China's Guangdong Province has been busted by local police and watchdog on suspicion that it brainwashed members and coaxed them into promiscuous sex as a therapy to relieve tension.

A woman member surnamed Cheng, who was assigned to lure people to register for the rather expensive training programs, has been detained by police, with the facility shut down.

Qin Mingyuan, the "master and mentor" who is believed to have established the facility, remains at large, police said.

The raid took place on Tuesday after an undercover investigative story by Yangcheng Evening News, a local Guangdong news outlet, drew public attention. A reporter from the newspaper pretended to be an interested client and participated in some courses to observe the facility's operations. The reporter also talked with some members and facility workers, including the woman under detention.

The media investigation showed the facility charged exorbitant rates for variously-themed "spiritual and body training" courses. During the classes, members, who were given strangers as partners, were invited to indulge in intimate movements such as blowing wind at and rubbing each others' body parts as part of the exercise. The reporter found that during some "advanced courses" which were even more costly, the students were even encouraged to have intercourse inside classrooms. The idea was to implant the belief of unrestricted sex practice in members' minds to achieve so-called liberty, peace and harmony of body and spirit, according to the report.

Tantra is the name of an inter-religious spiritual movement that originated in medieval India. Its principles were later developed to connect with massage and yoga practices.

Police and the local commercial market watchdog raided the "KHAOS International Mind Pacifying Village" on Tuesday. The facility was a shabby house located deep inside a local mountain, police said. The roughly decorated structure only had several rooms furnished with cheap mattresses. However, a 21-day course with accommodation was priced at 100,000 yuan (US$5,825) per person.

Records from Cheng's computer showed the facility had attracted at least 100 members for its recent programs, most of them office workers or business professionals from across the country, including from Shanghai and Macau, police said.


 

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