Li Hongzhi Net Worth

Background and career

Li Hongzhi (Chinese: 李洪志; born 1951 or 1952) is a Chinese religious leader. He is the founder and leader of Falun Gong, or Falun Dafa, a United States–based new religious movement. Li began his public teachings of Falun Gong on 13 May 1992 in Changchun and subsequently gave lectures and taught Falun Gong exercises across China.

Li's first public demonstration was at the 1992 Oriental Health Expo in Beijing. Reportedly, Li "apparently" helped a paralysed and wheelchair-bound man to walk again, as well as having cured "difficult and complex illnesses of all kinds". The fair's director subsequently announced Falun Gong as being the "star cultivation system". The event helped cement Li's popularity, while journalistic reports of Falun Gong's healing capabilities grew.

In his lectures and books, Li presented himself as a leader possessing extraordinary supernatural abilities, including levitation and invisibility. According to Li's writings, he can create invisible copies of himself called "Fashen", which monitor and ensure the proper cultivation of his followers. He also teaches that he can install a supernatural Falun (Dharma Wheel) in his followers' lower abdomen, which he says help purify them and improve their health. Li also teaches 5 exercises that practitioners perform to maintain the Falun and support their cultivation.

Central to Falun Gong are the principles of zhēn 眞, shàn 善 and rěn 忍 (which translate approximately as truthfulness, benevolence, and forbearance), which Li describes as the fundamental characteristics of the universe. Assimilation to the supreme nature of the universe, Zhen-Shan-Ren, is the foundation of cultivation practice. This involves upgrading one's xīnxìng 心性 (mind-nature) by abandoning negative attachments and assimilating oneself to "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance". The five meditative exercises are regarded as complementary to this process of self-improvement.

Li's movement had gained significant popularity as a health-enhancing practice in the 1990s, including in certain government and qigong circles during the qigong fever. However from the early 1990s, qigong as a science became increasingly a target of criticism by both authorities and media for failing to provide replicable conclusive proof for its paranormal claims. As the Chinese authorities' attitude toward the broader qigong movement changed, Li moved to the United States in 1995 to avoid conflicts with authorities and began teaching Falun Gong abroad. He settled in the U.S. as a permanent resident in 1998. Falun Gong was later suppressed by the Chinese government in 1999 and was branded a "heretical organization," followed by a multifaceted propaganda campaign, systematic torture, illegal imprisonment, forced labor, and alleged forced organ harvesting.

Li has been also associated with performance arts group Shen Yun ("Divine Rhythm"), and the media organizations The Epoch Times and New Tang Dynasty Television, which operate as extensions of Falun Gong. They have promoted Falun Gong's philosophical beliefs and unfounded conspiracy theories. Li has stated that he believes extraterrestrial aliens from other dimensions walk the Earth and are responsible for introducing technology, war, and immorality. Li says that he is a being who has come to help humankind from the destruction it could face as the result of rampant evil. When asked if he was a human being, Li replied "You can think of me as a human being."