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On heels of the ongoing global turmoil and recent shocking events, I’ve come upon the word ‘brainwash’ quite a few times this year. Strangely enough, the Hollywood seems to be tackling on this theme as well, as elements of ‘brainwashing’ are seen in 20th Century Fox’s newly-released Maze Runner and the coming-soon Hunger Games 2.

My virgin encounter with the concept of ‘brainwashing’ was through ‘1984’ by George Orwell and my first impression was that the word ‘brainwash’ doesn’t sound very English (not to mention that the idea of ‘washing’ is literally unscientific, for brain is not a dirty garment that could be washed). I had soon become very curious: what is ‘brainwashing’ exactly? Where did the word take its roots?

Interestingly, the word ‘brainwash’ was not originally an English word. It is, in fact, a calque of Chinese words "洗脑" (direct translation: ‘wash brain’), meaning ‘thought reform’ or ‘coercive persuasion’ – a psychological concept first used by the People’s Volunteer Army, aiming to induce war prisoners to give up their political beliefs and transform into ‘right-thinking’ mindset. According to internet sources, the Chinese at the time twisted Daoist custom of ‘cleansing the heart and mind’ (洗心) to suit their political needs.

The Oxford English Dictionary chronicled its earliest-known usage of the word ‘brain-washing’ (http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/22549?redirectedFrom=brainwashing#eid) in an article written by newspaperman Edward Hunter in Miami News, published in October 1950. The journalist wrote a series of articles on the theme of Chinese brainwashing, trying to explaining why some American soldiers defected to the Chinese side. The word ‘brain-washing’ soon became common in the mainstream English and is used more and more frequently in our every-day language.