Li Hongzhi

An unofficial biography appeared in the first of Li's major publications, Zhongguo Falun Gong, and was authored by journalist Zhu Huiguang. A second, official spiritual biography appeared in early editions of Falun Gong's primary text, Zhuan Falun, and was authored by the Falun Dafa Research Society.[3] These biographies placed emphasis on Li's spiritual development, with minimal details on Li's ordinary work or family life. The style and content of these biographies is consistent with the "centuries-old tradition of religious biography in China". As Benjamin Penny wrote, "as with its precursors [in Chinese history], this biography seeks to establish a genealogy of the figure whose life is recorded and to buttress the orthodoxy of his doctrine."[3] Both biographies were omitted from later printings of Falun Gong books, as Li explained that he did not want people to focus their attention on his own history or circumstances.[3]

These biographies state that Li was born on 13 May 1951, in the town of Gongzhuling, Jilin Province. The first account, by Zhu Huiguang, stated that Li's family lived amidst poverty, with his mother earning awage of only 30 yuan. In this edition, Li was described as developing a "spirit of bearing hardships and tolerating hard work" as he helped care for his younger siblings. The second, official version of his biography emphasized Li's average social background, stating that he belonged to "ordinary intellectual's family".[3]

Both biographies ascribe to Li innate virtues of compassion and discipline. The official biography focuses mainly on the lineage of Daoist and Buddhist masters who he says provided Li with instruction from an early age. At four, he was trained by Quan Jue, the Tenth Heir to the Great Law of the Buddha School.[4] By age eight, he had acquired "the superb great law with supernatural powers",[3] which was supposed to include invisibility, levitation, etc.[3] Master Quan left him at age twelve, to be replaced by Taoist master Baji Zhenren, who provided instruction in martial arts and physical skills.[2]

A third Master arrived in 1972 from the Great Way School. Zhendaozi (literally, "True Taoist"), came from the Changbai Mountains near the North Korean border.[4] Unlike Li's other spiritual tutors, the True Taoist wore ordinary attire, and taught Li the way of inner cultivation through Qigong, stressing xinxing (i.e. "mind or heart nature, moral character"). Li's training in this period mostly took place under cover of night, possibly due to the political environment of the Cultural Revolution.[2]

Zhu Haiguang's version of the biography notes that Li consistently refused to partake in the campaigns of the Cultural Revolution, never joining the Red Guards or communist organizations.[3]

A fourth Master — a woman from the Buddha School—began instructing Li in 1974. After training with these four Masters, Li's "energy potency had reached a very high level".[3] His personal development plateaued around this time, with the biography stating that Li was able "to see the truth of the universe, many more beautiful things which have existed there for a long time, as well as the origin, development and future of mankind".[3]

In 1982, Li moved to the city of Changchun for "civilian employment", the implication being that his previous work was with the military.[3] At some point in the 1980s, Li married and had a daughter.[2]

In 1984, Li began synthesizing the teachings he received into what would become Falun Dafa. The practice would not be exactly the same as what had been transmitted to him, as those systems were not suitable to be "popularised on a large scale". Li began observing the teaching methods of other qigong masters, and by 1989 had finalised his qigong system. For the next three years until 1992, Li was said to have begun testing the system with a small group of students.[3]

Falun Gong books published after 1999 no longer contain biographies of Li. These changes reflected a larger trend of Li retreating from the public eye.[3] Since 2000 he has rarely appeared in public, his presence almost entirely being electronic or re-routed through quotations on Falun Gong's websites.[3] Li Hongzhi's biography was removed from Falun Gong websites some time after 2001.[3]

The Chinese government began publishing biographies of Li after the suppression of Falun Gong began in July 1999. As such, details on Li's life published in the PRC can be understood as part of the government's publicity campaign against Falun Gong.[2][3] Their objective was to "demonstrate that Li Hongzhi was thoroughly ordinary and that his claims to exceptional abilities and experiences were fraudulent".[2]

According to Chinese government accounts, Li Hongzhi was born Li Lai, on either 7 or 27 July 1952.[2] As evidence of the claim, authorities quoted Pan Yufang, a midwife who stated that she vividly recalled delivering Li in July 1952.[3] Pan's account included the assertion that she used oxytocin to assist in the birth.[2] Falun Gong sources later argued that Pan's claiming the use of oxytocin eroded the veracity of her account, on the basis that oxytocin was not synthesized until the following year,[5] Li's parents divorced whilst he was a toddler, and Li and his siblings remained with his mother. In 1955 they relocated to Changchun.

Li is said to have attended primary and middle school in Changchun between 1960 and 1970.[2] As with most school-aged children in China, Li's formal education was interrupted by the Cultural Revolution. He did not attend high school, but ultimately completed high school through correspondence courses in the 1980s.[2] Chinese government accounts emphasize repeatedly that Li lacks a higher education, and was an undistinguished student, notable only for playing the trumpet.

After attaining his middle school diploma in 1970, Li was said to have held "a series of unremarkable jobs":[2] between 1970 and 1972, Li worked at an army horse farm; from 1972 to 1978, was a trumpet player in a forest police unit in Jilin Province, and subsequently worked as a clerk in the Grain and Oil Procurement company in Changchun.[2] Unnamed former classmates and co-workers cited in government accounts stress repeatedly that Li was unremarkable, that they never saw him practising qigong, and that they had no knowledge of the Buddhist and Daoist Masters Li claimed to have studied under.[2]

A group of early adopters in Changchun became disenchanted after Li forbade his followers from charging fees for the practice at the end of 1994, amongst other things. The group left the Falun Gong movement, and proceeded to send to government ministries a series of accusations against Li, among them that he had not shown any supernatural powers during his youth.[6] Falun Gong sent detailed rebuttals to the ministries.[6] Following the suppression of Falun Gong in 1999, Chinese authorities republished all these accusations, point by point.[6][7]

Freedom House analyst stated in U.S. CECC hearing in 2012, "Today, Chinese citizens who practice Falun Gong live under constant threat of abduction and torture. The name of the practice, its founder Mr. Li Hongzhi, and a wide assortment of homonyms are among the most censored terms on the Chinese internet. Any mention in state-run media or by Chinese diplomats is inevitably couched in demonizing labels. "[8]

In September 1994,[9] Li changed his date of birth in government records to 13 May 1951. According to Li, his date of birth had been misprinted as one of the pervasive bureaucratic errors of the Cultural Revolution, and he was merely correcting it.[6][10] Government records originally said that he was born on 7 July 1952,[11] although the Chinese government has sometimes given 27 July.[2]

A group of disenchanted followers alleged at the end of 1994 that the birth date had been correct all along, and that Li had only wanted to align it with the birth date of the historical Buddha Sakyamuni[6] (13 May 1951 fell on the 8th day of the fourth lunar moon, the celebration of Sakyamuni's birthday[12]). This accusation was repeated later by the Chinese authorities.[6][7] Li rejected the allegation as a "smear", and said "I have never said that I am Sakyamuni. I am just a very ordinary man.".[7][10] But he said "I'm not Jesus, and I'm not Sakyamuni, but the Fa has created millions and millions of Jesuses and Sakyamunis who have the courage to walk the path of Truth, who have the courage to risk their lives for the sake of the Truth, and who have the courage to devote their lives to saving sentient beings" (Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. Fa Conference, 22 July 2002 Li Hongzhi)[13]

Two points supporting Li's version are that bureaucratic errors of this nature were not uncommon during the Cultural Revolution,[7] and that the new date was never used to make any promotional claim or to bolster Li's spiritual authority. Moreover, as Falun Gong sources have noted, Li would have had to produce corroborating evidence of the 13 May birth date in order to successfully change the government records.[7]