On Falun Gong's Founder
I. Has Mr. Li or Falun Gong Amassed Wealth?
The Chinese Government has been using all kinds of means to persecute and defame Falun Gong. One of its accusations is the groundless claim that Falun Gong has accumulated wealth using “illegal” and “unfair” means. Chinese authorities have been trying hard to find fault with Falun Gong in its financial aspects, but they simply cannot find any incriminating evidence. Its accusations without support, the Chinese Government has proceeded to take liberty with words and events, reshaping them to fit its agenda.
It would seem that for the Government’s indictment of Falun Gong to be complete, it must identify a chief culprit, a ringleader per se. With such a villain conjured, the whole story of the supposedly dangerous Falun Gong practice becomes more recognizable, more familiar. When the story assumes the form of familiar narratives, it is all the more easily grasped by the public. The unwitting consumer is given something he or she can easily, passively swallow: it was all about money and power. So goes the Chinese Government’s story of Mr. Li Hongzhi and his Falun Gong.
1. Lecture Sessions
One of the bigger distortions surrounds Mr. Li’s lecturing sessions, conducted over two and a half years (1992-1994). Not too long ago the Beijing Bureau of Public Security established a special committee in order to find evidence for the Government’s accusation that Falun Gong made 2 million Yuan (about US$250,000) in 13 teaching sessions. But the result was that they could not find any supporting facts for this purpose. For instance, they investigated the Second Institute of the Ministry of Aviation, which had sponsored two Falun Gong teaching sessions in Beijing. The former working staff who had handled the financial activities handed in a clear account: each teaching session lasted for 9 days, the total number of students attending the two teaching sessions was no more than 3000. Among these 3000 people, 75% percent were veteran students (i.e., those who had attended previous teaching sessions). The fee for veteran students was 20 Yuan (US$2.50), and the fee for new students was 40 Yuan (US$5). Some of the income was used to pay for the space’s rental, and some was paid to the China Qigong Science Research Society (CQSRS, hereafter abbreviated to “Qigong Research Society”)--a government sponsored organization for administrating qigong activities in China; Falun Gong Research Society was under its supervision before 1996. The remaining money, which was no more than 20,000 Yuan (US$2,500) was taken by the Falun Gong research society. The Falun Gong research society had to pay for the expenses of its own working staff, the teaching materials handed out in teaching sessions, and transportation. The remaining sheer income was rather miniscule. In fact, the two teaching sessions held in the Second Institute of the Ministry of Aviation were rather large ones among the 13 teaching sessions held in Beijing. So the scales of the income from the other teaching sessions are fairly easy to imagine; they would be significantly lower. Thanks to fact that the working staff of the Second Institute of the Ministry of Aviation has kept its original accounts, a strong rejection of the Government’s false charges still exists.
When Falun Gong was introduced in 1992, the teaching sessions were all held directly by Qigong Research Society. All the income was administrated by Qigong Research Society. It would regularly pay for various expenses from the total income, and then it would give a limited amount to the Falun Gong Research Society according to the contract. For each session (which lasted about 9 days), the Falun Gong Research Society would receive about 4000 to 5000 Yuan (US$500 to $625). Then the Falun Gong Research Society would have to pay for its internal expenses from this amount. At that early time, there were about 250 students in the first teaching session, and 350 students in the second teaching session. Many of them were veteran students (the charge for them was 20 Yuan, about US$2.50). In total, there were 1500 students in the first 4 teaching sessions; 850 of them were new students. The money that the Falun Gong research society received from these 4 teaching sessions was about 20,000 Yuan (US$2,500). At that time, the Falun Gong practitioners who assisted with the teaching sessions all felt that it was very difficult to make ends meet with this small income.
The facts are very clear. There were 13 teaching sessions held in Beijing. In total, about 13,000 students attended them. More than half of them were veteran students. The total raw income was no more than 300,000 Yuan (US$37,500). Part of it was used to pay various expenses, part of it was handed over to Qigong Research Society, and the rest went to the Falun Gong Research Society, which had to pay for its internal expenses. According to a regulation set up by Mr. Li, all income from classes was to be used in theoretical research on cultivation principles, scientific experiments, establishing centers for practicing, etc. No such income was to go to Mr. Li, himself, and no individuals were to use this income. All financial records were to be kept by local chapters. So it is obvious how much Falun Gong Research Society could have made. It is rather unfortunate that the original accounts were not kept except for the two sessions in the Second Institute of the Ministry of Aviation, as the exact amount is hard to obtain. But many people who took part in these teaching sessions can still remember how large the auditoriums were, how many seats there were in these auditoriums, and what was the rough numbers of students. They can serve as witnesses. So it is really a ridiculous accusation that the Falun Gong research society made 2 million Yuan off of these teaching sessions.
One should be reminded that the fees charged by the Falun Gong teaching sessions were the lowest in China. The amount charged to each student by Falun Gong was only about 1/3 to 1/2 of the amount charged by other qigong teaching sessions. Because Falun Gong charged so little, other Qigong masters repeatedly asked Qigong Research Society to intervene and require Falun Gong to increase its charges. If Mr. Li Hongzhi had wanted to make more money, this would have been a good opportunity to increase do so. But Mr. Li insisted on the lowest fees in order not to bring financial burden to students. His goal was to make Falun Gong available to people from all walks of life, excluding nobody by virtue of income or economic background. In fact, Mr. Li only cared about teaching Falun Gong principles to his students to make them better and healthier people. That is why Mr. Li earned the hearts of so many people.
2. Pocketing Revenues?
Certain “files” crafted by the Chinese Government also allege that Mr. Li pocketed all the money from his teaching sessions, and that revenues were never donated to others. The facts say just the opposite. Mr. Li has lived up to the strict requirements for handling funds that he set for himself and his students early on. Consider the following case of donation, for each of which there are still receipts and certificates of proof.
On December 27, 1993, Mr. Li made a technical presentation on qigong at the ‘93 Oriental Health Exposition in Beijing. The total income for that was 4,000 Yuan. All of it was donated to the China Foundation of Heroes and Justice.
On May 14 and 15, 1994, the China Foundation of Heroes and Justice invited Mr. Li to lecture twice on scientific qigong research in the auditorium of Beijing Police University. The total income was nearly 60,000 Yuan, and it was entirely donated back to the Foundation. Meanwhile, Mr. Li gave 1000 copies of his book China Falun Gong to the Foundation as gifts for libraries. The total cost of the books was 6,600 Yuan. Deeply moved by the principles of Mr. Li’s practice, two people from his Beijing Police University class also made donations. They anonymously donated 100,000 Yuan and 1,500 Yuan, respectively.
On August 27, 1994, Mr. Li held a class in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Region. The total income for that class was 70,00 Yuan, and it was donated in its entirety to the Region’s Red Cross.
Mr. Li not only donated many times to China Foundation of Heroes and Justice--he also paid his respects to the heroes who fight for justice in other ways. In August 1993, the Central Propaganda Department and the Ministry of Police jointly organized the Third National Convention for heroes fighting for justice. The Foundation invited Mr. Li to provide health consulting for these heroes. This invitation received great support from leaders of Qigong Research Society, including its General Secretary, Zhang Jian, Deputy Secretary, Guan Qian, and the Director of the Cultivation Methods Committee, Fei Quande. On August 31, Mr. Li took some students to treat these hundred heroes. The Ministry of Police sent a letter of appreciation to the Qigong Research Society, citing that out of the hundred heroes, other than the one who did not have any serious injury, all others showed various degrees of obvious improvements in their health.
On September 21, 1993, People’s Police published a photo of Mr. Li, taken by the Deputy Chief of the Beijing Police Department, Li Xiaojing. With the photo was a quote from Mr. Li, saying, “All heroes who have been verified by the China Foundation of Heroes and Justice are qualified to receive free consulting from this practice.” On May 16, 1994, China Laws Daily quoted the General Secretary of the China Foundation of Heroes and Justice, Mr. Zhou Shishang, stating that “the virtue promoted in China Falun Gong by Mr. Li Hongzhi agrees with the fundamental principles of our Foundation.” It is not hard to see that Mr. Li is supportive to people that fight for justice, and neither is it hard to see that his support was done in an honest and upright manner. This, of course, should come as no surprise, as Mr. Li consistently conducts himself according to the principles of “truthfulness, benevolence, and forbearance.” Every upright person can draw a just conclusion about this issue of Mr. Li’s allegedly pocketing all funds from his lectures.
3. Tax Evasion?
Another groundless accusation has also surfaced and holds that Falun Gong evaded taxation. The Falun Gong teaching sessions in different parts of China were all held by Qigong Research Society and other related, official organizations. Falun Gong Research Society only took care of teaching. There were clear contracts, and these stated that the organizations holding the teaching sessions were responsible for paying all the various taxes and related expenses. Therefore, the organizations would take 40% of the total income. Other qigong masters would typically only relinquish 10-20% of the total income. Therefore, Falun Gong was highly welcomed by related organizations to hold teaching sessions, and these groups were very cooperative. These hosting organizations were always responsible for handling tax matters. The income of the Falun Gong Research Society was the income after taxation.
Mr. Li Hongzhi stopped holding teaching sessions after the publication of his major work, Zhuan Falun, at the beginning of 1995. The number of Falun Gong practitioners then increased at an astonishing rate, to the extent that Mr. Li was not able to meet in person with practitioners in China because they numbered so many. In the past several years, Mr. Li has taught only outside of China, giving numerous public lectures in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, Sweden, Germany, Singapore, Switzerland, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. His lectures have usually lasted 4-6 hours, and each is attended by anywhere from 500-3500 people. There was absolutely no admission fee for anybody in any of these lectures. But practitioners all recognized the profundity and preciousness of his teaching. There is a qigong master who charges US$1000 for a lecture in the West, and many charge from US$400 on up for a onetime six-hour class. If Mr. Li had really wanted to make money, he could have become a millionaire with just one lecture. Doing so, however, would be antithetical to Mr. Li’s principles as well as those of Falun Gong.
4. Selling Books and Audio/Video Tapes
The accusation that Falun Gong accumulated wealth from selling books and audio and videotapes is also untenable. The first edition of the Falun Gong exercise-teaching videotapes was recorded and sold by the Qigong Science Research. Falun Gong Research Society was not even involved in this undertaking. The second edition was made and sold by the Publishing House for Physical Education. Again, Falun Gong Research Society was not even involved. At that time, there was a flexible verbal agreement: when there was income, the Publishing House for Physical Education would give an appropriate amount to Falun Gong Research Society. Later, a higher quality, newer edition was made and sold by Beijing TV Art Center. It was a legal publication that went through all formal procedures. The contract stated that the publishing house was to give some of the income to the Research Society as royalties. It was also decided that Falun Gong Research Society was allowed to sell the videotape among practitioners when there was a need for the teaching sessions. The retail price of the videotape was the lowest among the genre. It was only about 1/3 to 1/2 the price of other qigong videotapes. The videotape sold at 55 Yuan (US$7).
During the Falun Gong teaching sessions in different places, many local students volunteered to help. Sometimes, because of students’ demands, local manufacturers had to be asked to make some exercise-teaching videotapes; these were then sold to students without any profit.
Falun Gong books were published in order to make it easier for more people to learn Falun Gong. In order to publish the first book, China Falun Gong, Mr. Li Hongzhi, himself, had to borrow 40,000 Yuan from an individual to pay the publishing house. The debt was paid off only after the books were sold. Then the Falun Gong Research Society had to find money to publish the second edition of China Falun Gong. It was not like some treasury existed for the Society or Mr. Li to draw upon. In 1995, when the Falun Gong Research Society tried to get the book Zhuan Falun published, many publishing houses dared not to publish it for fear that it might not sell well. At that time, the Chinese Broadcasting Publishing House had been in financial difficulties for a long time, and they took a big risk, deciding to publish Zhuan Falun. Because the books sales were excellent, it enabled the Chinese Broadcasting publishing house to overcome its financial difficulty. The books of Falun Gong were all published by following official regulations. The publishing house would pay the author royalties, and this was usually stated in the contracts. At some Falun Gong assistance centers, many contact people were enthusiastic about helping new practitioners obtain books. So they bought some books and then sold them at the exact same price. They did it voluntarily, and they did not make any profit from it whatsoever. Doing so would have been antithetical to the principles of Falun Gong.
It was the publishing house’s own business as to how much it sold the books for to book distributors. The Falun Gong Research Society and assistance centers did not get involved in these matters. In July 1996, Chinese authorities prohibited the publication of Falun Gong books. The Chinese Broadcasting Publishing House thus stopped printing the books, and the contract was terminated. Yet Falun Gong books were still in great demand. Pirate versions consequently appeared in many places. These publishers had nothing to do with Falun Gong, as they violated the law--something antithetical to Falun Gong practice. Mr. Li has told his students on several occasions to destroy any pirated versions they have obtained; illegal books undermine society. Some companies in Shandong and Wuhan had signed contracts with Falun Gong Research Society for publishing Falun Gong audio/video tapes and books. It was also a normal publishing affair, just like the relationship with the Chinese Broadcasting Publishing House. These companies published Falun Gong books according to normal procedures and it was their own, normal business. They had nothing to do with Falun Gong, save for an agreement to print some of its books. The contents of the contracts always conformed to state policies and laws. As to the books’ circulation, that was the business of those companies.
5. Luxury Homes and the Good Life?
Some people have contrived the story that Mr. Li Hongzhi owns three luxurious houses. More imaginative Chinese media took pictures of a Manhattan skyscraper and reported in China’s news that this was but part of the real estate Mr. Li had amassed abroad. One learns also from Chinese media that Mr. Li has accumulated sports cars, enjoys fine wine and frequents brothels. Various scandalous stories have been engineered, all seeking to viciously defame Mr. Li. Their source repeatedly turns out to be none other than the twisted imagination of Mr. Li’s persecutors. We can set the record straight here: each we have seen is completely nonsense, just like the other “news” stories. This is obvious to anybody who knows Mr. Li or who takes the time to investigate things for himself.
Mr. Li had a simple dormitory during the decades he lived and worked in Changchun (northeastern China). How could Chinese people have their own houses during the 1970’s, 80’s, and early 90’s? Later, because of construction, Mr. Li could no longer live in his dorm, and so he had to find another dwelling place. Those veteran practitioners who had been to his home all know that it was a place without lit stairways and with water only available at certain times. Slandering someone who lived in such a place is simply mocking his modest life.
It has also been alleged that Mr. Li had a luxurious house in Beijing. This, too, is rather far-fetched, as there he only lived intermittently, and in a common two-bedroom apartment. Mr. Li prefers to live a simple life, in keeping with his teachings. He currently resides in New York, with his wife and daughter.
We can imagine plenty of other elaborate homes and indulgent lifestyles the Chinese media would like to attribute to him. While these might evoke the ire of some uncritical readers in China, they have no business being disguised as “news,” much less being spread around the world. Their intent, just as with the other depictions of Mr. Li gushing from China, are clearly vengeful and politically laced. One need only recall Chinese President Jiang Zemin’s giving US President Bill Clinton a copy of the book, Li Hongzhi: The Man and His Evil Deeds, to know how deeply invested China’s leadership is in this campaign. There representations of Mr. Li could not be further from the truth. But then again, truth seems to carry no weight for the Chinese Government in this affair.
Mr. Li had this to say regarding his "amassed wealth":
Let me take this opportunity to say a little more because there are some reporters here. Some people wonder, “Is Li Hongzhi a millionaire?” You can regard me as a millionaire, a billionaire, or a trillionaire. That is fine, because what I have is worth more than all the money and wealth in the world. (Long applause)
In fact, if you look at that from another angle, does it matter whether I have money? Even if I had money, I wouldn’t care about it. For example, there are 100 million students studying the Fa, and if I asked all of you now to give me a dollar—think about it—if all of you gave me a dollar, then I would be a hundred-millionaire. Moreover, since all of you are willing to give it to me at any time, you can just regard me as a hundred-millionaire! Some people have gone everywhere to probe me and to investigate how much I have made from selling the books. I can tell all of you that the royalties were a few thousand Yuan each time my books were published by the official publishers in China. The entire total was just over 20 thousand Yuan, which is about a few thousand U.S. dollars. That’s all. Since the publishers are state-owned, they don’t offer royalties like the publishers in other countries. That’s all they pay you. For books published in other places, they pay the author a royalty of 5%, 6%, 7% or at most 8% once the contract is signed. What I got was very little, but I basically live on the royalty money. I’d like to tell you: Don’t be attached to this matter. It’s useless for you to investigate it. Why would I put forth so much effort just to make money? All I would need would be to tell all of you to give me ten dollars, then I would be a billionaire. What a fast and easy way that would be! You all would be happy to give it to me and I could receive it openly. Why would I resort to putting forth so much effort? I think that sometimes people have impure intentions. They take things in a very narrow-minded and stupid way. [1]
II. Changing Birthdate
The
Chinese Government claimed that Li Hongzhi changed his date of birth to May
13th, 1951. Li Hongzhi does not deny this, and says that he was
simply correcting a misprint of his birthday on his birth certificate. Note
that it is actually not uncommon for people to have had their birthdates
confused in China. This continues to happen even in fairly recent times in
China.
The reason the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has publicized this is because May 13th is that of the historical Buddha Guatama Siddhartha (Sakyamuni), and the CCP has says that Li Hongzhi changed his birthday with the purpose of having it match the Buddha’s, and that Li claims to be a reincarnation of the Buddha.
Mr. Li Hongzhi has, however, never said that he is a reincarnation of Buddha, and instead has insisted otherwise. This is how Li responded to the claims that he changed his birthday to match that of the Buddha:
“During the Cultural Revolution, the government misprinted my birthdate. I just corrected it. During the Cultural Revolution, there were lots of misprints on identity. A man could become a woman, and a woman could become a man. It's natural that when people want to smear you, they will dig out whatever they can to destroy you. What's the big deal about having the same birthday as Sakyamuni? Many criminals were also born on that date. I have never said that I am Sakyamuni. I am just a very ordinary man.”[2][Note: Former President Jiang Zemin has also said that Li Hongzhi claimed to be the reincarnation of Jesus.[3] Again, this is untrue.] So, while it is certainly true that Li Hongzhi had his date of birth adjusted, it is impossible to ascertain whether it was indeed an innocent correction to a misprinted birthday or whether as the CCP said he was changing his date of birth falsely to match the Buddha’s.
The CCP did attempt to prove that their side of the story was true when its state run media ran an article on July 28, 1999, about the nurse who allegedly delivered Mr. Li on what the CCP claims was his real birthday (July 7, 1952). The article, "Pan Yufang Testifies That Li Hongzhi Lied about His Birthday,” reads as follows: