What medicine is missing? Today's special book program will recommend to our reader friends a particularly worthwhile work of documentary literature, "China, Missing One Medicine." The author is the online writer Xuecun Murong. This book is based on his personal experiences as he risked going undercover in a pyramid selling organization for 23 days. It reveals and summarizes the tactics of pyramid schemes. Xuecun Murong wants to use this book to tell everyone what real pyramid selling is, how harmful it is, what the so-called "brainwashing" is like, and why so many people - including those with high levels of education - can be easily brainwashed. Let's listen to what Murong Xuecun has to say in the preface of this book:
Murong Xuecun is a post-70s online writer. In early 2002, he began publishing novels online such as "Chengdu, Tonight Please Forget Me," "Heaven Left, Shenzhen Right," and "Eden Cherry." In 2003, he was named an annual internet personality by China New Edge Edition. "Chengdu, Tonight Please Forget Me" has been adapted into the movie "Please Forget Me." At the end of 2009, Murong Xuecun went undercover into a pyramid selling group, performing a real-life version of "Infernal Affairs."
"China, Missing One Medicine"
(Part One) Prefatory Remarks
At the end of 2009, I infiltrated a pyramid selling gang in Shangrao, Jiangxi, living among them for 23 days. It was a world I had never experienced before, akin to the Spider Cave and Lion Camel Kingdom in "Journey to the West," or the strange place Alice reached after passing through the rabbit hole. Everything there was absurd, far beyond my imagination. Born during the Cultural Revolution and raised in China, I thought I understood human absurdity somewhat, but only after reaching Shangrao did I realize that my experience was merely a glimpse of the whole picture. The era of absurdity had never truly ended; it was right beside us.
During those dark 23 days, I saw good people being deceived by scammers, leading miserable lives; I saw people leaving their hometowns, wasting time on a lie; I saw ethics and emotions trampled upon, everyone deceiving their own loved ones; I saw frail elderly people and malnourished youths, who after undergoing evil indoctrination became more eccentric and impoverished, harboring deep hostility towards society; I saw tragedies of family destruction and severe consequences of brainwashing.
I kept asking myself: Why could such a foolish trick deceive so many people? Why do pyramid sellers dare to cheat so brazenly? Why does pyramid selling keep coming back despite repeated crackdowns, even using these crackdowns as excuses for their fraud?
Finally, I had to admit, this is fertile ground for pyramid selling. All pyramid sellers share the same characteristics: lack of common sense, no basic ability to discern; short-sighted and greedy, caring about nothing but money; they are ignorant, gullible, fanatical, stubborn, focusing solely on unrealistic goals while ignoring immediate facts. This is the portrait of a pyramid seller, and also the portrait of most of us. Pyramid selling is a societal illness, its roots deeply embedded in our culture, in the air we breathe, in the soil beneath our feet. As long as conditions are right, it quietly grows.
During those 23 days, I saw much and thought much. Now, I've written it all into a book. There's nothing extraordinary in this book, just ordinary people, ordinary events, and some common truths that everyone should know. Poet Vladimir Mayakovsky often wrote a sentence in his books: "For internal consumption." I hope this book becomes a bitter pill, planting a sobering antibody in people's hearts, helping them resist the virus of pyramid selling. This evil plague has raged for too long, and there seems to be no effective cure. But I hope I can contribute something.
Pyramid selling isn't anything new. Most Chinese have heard of it, and many have suffered from it personally. Television and newspapers report endlessly on it. People hear it so often that they take it for granted, treating it like a rotten apple. They neither question why it rots nor care how bad it has become. They simply wave it away and let it rot completely.
This is an open secret, happening right under everyone's nose, yet very few are willing to truly look at it. Pyramid sellers don't understand pyramid selling because their programmed minds have lost the ability to discern. Ordinary people don't understand either because they are too far removed and don't care. Even media professionals lack true understanding. They report on and film pyramid selling but often overlook its significance, rarely treating it as a real issue. No one understands the underlying principles: What exactly is pyramid selling? How does it brainwash people? How is brainwashing achieved? Why are pyramid sellers so fanatical about a stupid lie?
According to reliable statistics, by 2010, the number of pyramid sellers in mainland China had approached or exceeded ten million, and this number continues to grow. Most of these people are victims, ultimately gaining nothing, ending up empty-handed. After long-term exposure to evil teachings, they suffer varying degrees of "goodness insensitivity": distorted personalities, contempt for morality, hatred for society. The impending situation will be incredibly difficult: in the near future, right beside us, there will be ten million extremely poor and destitute individuals. Ten million.
The revised Criminal Law on February 28, 2009, added the crime of "organizing and leading pyramid selling," defining pyramid selling as "organizing and leading activities under the guise of selling goods or providing services, requiring participants to pay fees or buy goods/services to obtain membership qualifications, forming hierarchical structures in a certain order, directly or indirectly basing compensation or returns on the number of recruits, luring and coercing participants to recruit others, defrauding property, and disrupting economic and social order." This definition is long and tedious, but it is the most authoritative definition of "pyramid selling" so far.
(Part Two)
The legal definition of "pyramid selling" refers to events from the last century. Over twenty years, this virus has mutated multiple times and no longer resembles its original form. Nowadays, most gangs don't even provide any goods or services, engaging purely in fraud and recruiting members (as evidenced by the "pure capital operation" active in Guangxi and other places). In my view, the term "pyramid selling" itself is questionable. Since there is no "selling," there can be no "pyramid selling." It is clear fraud. It disrupts not only market order but also basic public decency; it doesn't just steal money but also harms people, corrupts minds, damages health, and destroys families. If we compare the morality of this era to a bleeding sick man, then pyramid sellers are sprinkling salt on his wounds.
According to the Criminal Law, the maximum sentence for ordinary fraud is life imprisonment, and theft can even be punishable by death. However, the social harm caused by "organizing and leading pyramid selling" is greater, and its impact on people is deeper, yet the sentencing is clearly too lenient. For ordinary pyramid selling behavior, the punishment is "imprisonment of less than five years or detention, along with a fine"; for serious cases, the punishment is "imprisonment of more than five years, along with a fine." In my opinion, such penalties seem overly merciful.
If possible, I hope this crime can be given a more accurate name (for example, by referring to foreign laws, naming it a "pyramid scam scheme"), separately listed as a crime in the criminal law, or categorized under "financial fraud" or "illegal fundraising." Compared to the enormous crimes committed, any penalty short of the death sentence would be insufficient.
Pyramid scam schemes are criminal acts in all countries. Although China banned pyramid selling activities in 1998, most citizens remain unclear and uninformed about this issue. Common misconceptions include:
1. Believing that pyramid selling is legal abroad but prohibited only in China.
2. Believing that pyramid selling is a progressive new phenomenon, while traditional retail sales are outdated.
3. Believing that pyramid selling itself is not bad, but due to low human quality, good things turn bad.
4. Believing that pyramid selling is divided into two types: legal pyramid selling and illegal pyramid selling.
5. Believing that pyramid selling can indeed make money, but the government doesn't allow it.
All of these are incorrect. What we usually refer to as "pyramid selling" is actually a "pyramid scam scheme," which is a criminal act anywhere and at any time. Except for the biggest masterminds behind the scenes, ordinary participants not only fail to make money but also lose everything—time, money, health, relationships, love, and sometimes even their lives.
Over the past twenty years, this virus has produced several generations of variants. Just the names I know amount to over twenty, including "chain selling," (pure) capital operations, direct marketing, direct franchise, framework marketing, network marketing, network franchises, interpersonal chains, interpersonal franchises, gas stations... Behind each name are countless groups, and each group consists of thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of people.
This is an economic cult, a terrifying epidemic. Over the past twenty years, millions have been ensnared, and trillions of funds have been lost. Countless families have been destroyed, countless brotherhoods have turned sour, countless people have been displaced, countless sins have been committed, and countless disasters have occurred...
However, this visible evil has failed to attract people's attention. Some see it as a minor ailment, others as a trick that only fools fall for. The media sensationalizes and reports on it, then forgets about it. People remain indifferent, indulgent, and permissive. And the pyramid sellers lurk in the dark corners around us, being deceived and deceiving others, leading lives worse than pigs or dogs, with bloodshot eyes glaring resentfully at the entire world.
In the first chapter of "Water Margin," Grandmaster Hong lifted the seal, releasing the Thirty-Six Celestial Demons and Seventy-Two Earth Fiends, initiating an era of turmoil and bloodshed. Millions died, and millions cried on the road. Strangely enough, this story closely parallels the rise of pyramid selling in China. Coincidentally, the place where the demons flew away was Longhu Mountain in Jiangxi, close to Shangrao. There, I witnessed firsthand how these reincarnated demons wreak havoc in the human world.
Many people share the same confusion: How can a perfectly normal person be brainwashed? My experiences prove that brainwashing is incredibly easy. With the right environment and sufficient time, brainwashing a person is no more difficult than formatting a computer disk. Human rationality appears strong but is, in fact, unreliable. Taming a wolf into a dog is hard, but turning a person into a fool is quite simple. To transform a normal person into a pyramid seller requires little effort.
(Part Three)
To brainwash, pyramid selling groups fabricate numerous lies, which can be categorized into three main types:
Firstly, "legality lies." To prove their legitimacy, every pyramid selling group strives to distance themselves from "pyramid selling" itself, portraying themselves as a "new phenomenon" supported by the state, introduced secretly and nurtured, with numerous industry standards and behavioral norms established for them. From the large amounts of membership fees to the small details like how much rice or garlic consumed per meal, everything is portrayed as sacred national law. During this process, they concoct numerous speeches by leaders, meeting resolutions, media reports, and other embellishments, pulling various halos over themselves. However, we know that not everything that glows is the sun; soap bubbles emerging from sewage can occasionally shimmer faintly.
Secondly, "grand mission lies." Here, they fabricate a dark social reality: economic crises, skyrocketing prices, deteriorating livelihoods, corporate bankruptcies... and worse still, China's entry into the WTO means foreign goods will flood in, causing companies that haven't gone bankrupt to do so, and those already bankrupted to go bankrupt again. It's a matter of utmost urgency. It's precisely due to these internal and external troubles that the state exceptionally introduced them to revitalize China, resist foreign powers, develop the economy, and benefit the people... In short, China's future depends on them. For this grand mission, most groups force their members to starve, even when starving to death, these pitiable individuals still believe they are saving the country.
Thirdly, "beautiful prospect lies." Each group tempts newcomers with profits hundreds or even thousands of times higher: invest 3800 yuan, get 3.8 million yuan in two years; invest 36800 yuan, get 15 million yuan... To prove this isn't a pipe dream, they fabricate numerous stories of success attributed to specific individuals, even identifying entrepreneurs like Jack Ma and Huang Guangyu as pyramid selling heroes. Originally, this is merely a monetary scam, but in the mouths of pyramid sellers, it also becomes a cradle for nurturing talent. After succeeding, the state will support them in becoming officials, support them in business, and even arrange free overseas studies for them. These claims are utterly unbelievable, yet every member believes them without question.
Besides lies, pyramid selling groups have a complete brainwashing procedure: First, create a vacuum environment, prohibiting members from accessing any outside information; then foster a warm family atmosphere, known as "the industry is one big family," relaxing vigilance and eliminating doubts; religious-like rituals and military-style discipline ensure unconditional obedience, evoking feelings of religious sanctity and fervor; finally, and most importantly, these lies must be repeated a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand times. Across the country, in every corner of cities, these absurd theories and words are constantly repeated, repeated, and repeated again. I've said it before: humans are weak creatures, and verbal violence is the greatest violence. This is an isolated dark cave. When the war club is raised high, even the hardest head is just a lump of flesh and blood.
In 1960, in Wudian Commune of Fengyang County, Anhui Province, there was a doctor named Wang Shansheng. At the time, it was the period of the Three Years of Natural Disasters, and many people suffered from edema, amenorrhea, and uterine prolapse. The commune cadres sought out Doctor Wang for treatment. He examined them and said it couldn't be treated because "one ingredient was missing."
That ingredient was food.
Fifty years later, there exists a societal illness that remains untreated, and the reason is also that one ingredient is missing. That ingredient is common sense.
In the eighteenth century, Thomas Paine wrote a pamphlet titled "Common Sense," a book as significant as the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was neither profound nor obscure, nor did it contain any extraordinary insights, yet it awakened many people from their slumber, making them start to face themselves and the world. In contemporary China, amidst the rampant spread of pyramid selling, what people lack most is this: common sense.
Common sense doesn't always excite, but it is indispensable. I hope this book can convey some common sense, and I hope it can raise the entire society's awareness of pyramid selling. Don't pretend it doesn't exist, and don't pretend you can't see it. Face reality, examine its causes in our air and soil, analyze its current status, and then take reasonable and humane measures. Pyramid sellers do bad things, but most of them aren't bad people. They need kind help rather than cruel punishment.
I hope to see hope. This hope is simple: let common sense walk in the sunlight, let the weak escape from suffering, and let evil stay far away from every kind heart. Related thematic articles: http://home.51.com/11917412/diary/item/10056957.html http://cyworld.ifensi.com/ps2/diary/diary_view.php?mh_id=2009832888&diary_date=20120307&postid=145695 http://dsakds83.blogbus.com/logs/196819248.html http://17011720.blog.hexun.com/73487772_d.html