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Li Hongzhi (Chinese: 李洪志; pinyin: Lǐ Hóngzhì) (born in Gongzhuling city, Jilin, China) is the founder of Falun Gong (or Falun Dafa), a system of "mind-body cultivation" related to the qigong tradition.

Li Hongzhi introduced Falun Dafa on May 13, 1992 at the fifth middle school in Changchun, Jilin. From 1992 to 1994 he traveled throughout China, giving lectures and teaching Falun Gong exercises. In 1999 the Chinese government estimated the number of Falun Gong practitioners to be approximately 70 million. Since July 1999, the Chinese government has conducted a widespread persecution of Falun Gong. Today, he lives in New York City, United States.

Biography

Life in China

The Chinese authorities state Li studied at primary and junior high middle schools in Changchun between 1960 and 1969. After graduation, Li worked at an army stud farm, and then was as a trumpet player in a forest police unit in Jilin Province and afterwards served as an attendant at a hotel attached to the same unit. Between 1982 and 1991, he became a worker at the security department of the Changchun Cereals Company.

According to the biography of Li Hongzhi that appeared as an appendix to the Falun Dafa text Zhuan Falun, Li Hongzhi had been taught ways of "cultivation practice" (xiulian) by several Masters of the Dao and the Buddhist schools of thought from a very young age. This biography stated that he was trained by Quan Jue, the 10th Heir to the Great Law of the Buddha School, at fours years of age. Li was then trained by a Taoist master at age eight, by which time he had acquired "supernatural powers". Master Quan left him at age twelve, and he was then trained by a master of the Great Way School with the Taoist (alias of True Taoist), who had come from the Changbai Mountains.

Time Magazine also notes Li worked as a grain clerk in Liaoning province. He played trumpet in a troupe run by the forestry police in Jilin. "And then he wrote a very odd book that affected millions." Li Hongzhi founded Falun Gong, and introduced Falun Dafa on May 13, 1992 at the fifth middle school in Changchun, Jilin. From 1992 to 1994 he traveled throughout China, giving lectures and teaching Falun Gong exercises. According to Livia Kohn, expert on Daoism at Boston University, Li "claimed to be the reincarnation of a bodhisattva and promised practitioners complete recovery from all illnesses, supernatural powers, and the attainment of cosmic enlightenment."

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Nervous that Li had acquired considerable mass appeal, qigong regulators had difficulty reigning him in. The government pressured him to leave China, and he did so in 1997.

Life outside China

Li has lived in the United States of America since 1998.

Attention had been given to Li Hongzhi because of the content of his lectures, including his direct or indirect claims of having "supernatural powers". Maria Hsia Chang suggested that, based on Li's quotations, especially his direct or indirect claims of divinity, Falun Gong can rightfully be considered a religion.

Li had given open-ended responses when asked about his identity. When asked in May 1999 if he was a human being, Li responded: "You can think of me as a human being." When asked to name his teachers, Li replied that he had masters in two schools, but declined to divulge their names.

American critics

Rick Ross and Margaret Singer have claimed that Li Hongzhi meets their definition of a "cult leader". However, the proponents of such views have come under criticism within the academic community, and their claims are disputed.

Relations with the Chinese authorities

On July 29, 1999, shortly after the Chinese authorities banned Falun Gong, Li was put on the "wanted list":

Li Hongzhi organised and made use of the "Falun Dafa Research Society" and the Falun Gong organisation under his control to spread superstition and fallacies to deceive people, resulting in the deaths of practitioners. He also organised and plotted gatherings, demonstrations, and other activities to disturb public order without applying for permission according to law, and is thus suspected of having committed the crime of disturbing public order.

At that time, Li Hongzhi was living in the United States. A request for an arrest warrant was also sent by China to Interpol, and his passport was revoked, preventing him from traveling internationally. Interpol rejected the warrant, on the grounds that it would not intervene in the absence of charges "in matters of a political or religious character."

In China, Li's name remains "blacklisted" by the Great Firewall of China, and some Falun Gong practitioners are held in prisons or Laogai (forced labor) camps. Some of them have denounced him as part of their "re-education" process.

Awards and recognition

At the Asian Health Expo in 1992 and 1993 in Beijing, Falun Gong was successively nominated as the "Star Qigong". According to Falun Gong, Li Hongzhi received "The Award for Advancing Boundary Science" and "Qigong Master most Acclaimed by the Masses" at the Oriental Health Expo, Beijing in 1993.

In September 1999, Li was awarded honorary citizenship of the city of Atlanta, Georgia by its mayor. Li Hongzhi, in recognition of his work, has received many honors from state as well as congressional bodies in the United States.

Li Hongzhi was nominated for the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. Li was also nominated for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2001 by 28 members of the European Parliament, but failed to make the short list.

Personal controversies

Birth date

In 1999, the Chinese authorities alleged Li fraudulently changed his birth date. Li claims that he was born on May 13, 1951. The Chinese government claimed that he "changed his date of birth , in order to coincide with the birthday of Sakyamuni".

In an interview with Time, Li asserted that he merely corrected his birth date, which was recorded as July 7, 1952, due to a bureaucratic error made during the Cultural Revolution. Li admitted changing the date, but said he did not draw particular significance to the coincidence, claiming to be "just a very ordinary man".

Personal assets

The Wall Street Journal revealed that Li obtained a house in New York worth $293,500 in 1998 shortly after immigrating to the U.S., and then another worth $580,000 in New Jersey in 1999. These purchases were considered surprising in the context of Li's reportedly low income up to that point in time.

John Sun, a wealthy New York Falun Gong practitioner, claimed that he had tricked Li's wife into signing the purchase deeds for a house in New Jersey in an attempt to offer it as a gift, knowing that Li and his wife would refuse the lavish gift. He indicated that the gift was firmly refused once it became known to both of them, and that the subsequent transfer out of her name was processed by the township in October, owing to some delay by the local township in updating the associated records.

References

1. Faison, Seth (April 27, 1999) "In Beijing: A Roar of Silent Protesters" New York Times, retrieved June 10, 2006
2. ^ Why Li Hongzhi changes his birthdate, People's Daily, 23 July 1999
3. ^ Brief biography of Li Hongzhi: founder of Falun Gong and president of the Falun Gong Research Society, Chinese Law and Government v.32 #6 (Nov./Dec. 1999) p. 14-23 ISSN: 0009-4609
4. Time:Spiritual Society or Evil Cult? June 2001
5. Livia Kohn, Daoism and Chinese Culture, p. 196 (Massachusetts: Three Pines Press, 2001)
6. Joel P. Engardio, Spiritual CULTivation, New Times (Los Angeles), March 23 - 29, 2000
7. ^ Chang, Maria Hsia (2004) Falun Gong: The End of Days (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press) ISBN 0-300-10227-5
8. ^ Dowell, William (May 10, 1999) "Interview with Li Hongzhi", retrieved June 10, 2006
9. Don Lattin, Falun Gong Derided as Authoritarian Sect by Anti-Cult Experts in Seattle, San Francisco Chronicle, April 29, 2000
10. An Interview with Dr. Margaret Thaler Singer, Chinese Embassy in the USA
11. Rick Ross, Cult News
12. "Li Hongzhi is Wanted". China-Embassy.org. June 29, 1999.
13. "Wanted: Li Hongzhi", BBC News, 29 July, 1999
14. Interpol will not arrest sect leader, BBC News, August 3, 1999
15. "Governmental Awards and Recognition of Falun Dafa". Falun Dafa ClearWisdom.net. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |access date= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
16. Clearwisdom.net - Selected Photos: Worldwide Recognitions and Awards : Overseas Recognition and Proclamations
17. "Nobel Peace Prize deadline looms". CNN. January 30, 2001.
18. "Statement by Francis Wurtz MEP, on the 2001 Sakharov Prize selection". Confederal Group of the European United Left. 18 October, 2001. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
19. "I am just a very ordinary man". Time Magazine. August 2, 1999.
20. "American Dream Finds Chinese Spiritual Leader," Wall Street Journal, November 1, 1999
21. "Letters from Falun Gong practitioners to Wall Street Journal". Falun Dafa ClearWisdom.net. November 17, 1999.

External links

Li Hongzhi's teachings

• Videos of Li Hongzhi's nine day lecture in Guangzhou, China (English overlay) at falundafa.org
• "Some Thoughts of Mine", June 1999 at falundafa.org
• Book: Practitioners recollection about their Teacher at clearwisdon.net
• The actual teachings of Li Hongzhi at falundafa.org

Interviews

• William Dowell (May 10, 1999). "Interview with Li Hongzhi". TIMEasia.com.
• "Interview with Li Hongzhi in Sydney, Australia". May 2, 1999.
• Anthony Spaeth (August 2, 1999). "Interview: Li Hongzhi "I am just a very ordinary man"". TIMEasia.com.
• Jonathan S. Landreth and J.S. Greenberg (August 8, 1999). "Eye of the Storm". New York Times Magazine.
• "NTDTV Press Release: Summary of the Exclusive Interview with Mr. Li Hongzhi, Founder of Falun Gong". clearharmony.net. January 25, 2004.

• 1951 births
• Living people
• Chinese dissidents
• Religious leaders
• Falun Gong