Qigong ‘masters’ struggle to survive (2)

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Qigong ‘masters’ struggle to survive (2)

(Global Times) 08:27, August 20, 2013

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Li Shudong, director of the non-profit United States Health Qigong Federation, agreed.

"I got to know Wang Lin from recent reports. I'm convinced that what he practices is not qigong at all. It's all just cheap tricks," Li told the Global Times. He has settled down in San Francisco for over 20 years and teaches tai chi at Stanford University and for leading technology companies like Intel, Google and Apple.

In Wang's hometown of Luxi county, most locals know him as a rich man with political connections, rather than as a "qigong master."

"I heard of his name and he is rich but I have no idea what he does," a courier responded.

"The people he dealt with were either officials or celebrities, not ordinary people. Few residents knew of his "extraordinary" powers," another resident, Zhang, told the Global Times.

Similar tricks

Many agreed that besides supernatural powers, these famous people were attracted by Wang's vast social connections. "They long for either health and longevity, or career promotion and prosperity," He Zuoxiu, 86, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences who has long been fighting to uncover fake qigong masters, told the Global Times.

He concluded that these "masters" have learnt to deal with only a select group of people as they know public demonstrations would come under scrutiny and expose their tricks.

Compared with similar figures in the 1980s and 1990s, Wang and Li are small fry, He said.

Zhang Hongbao was one such founder of Zhong Gong, a spiritual movement based on qigong that was later declared an evil cult and banned in 1999 after amassing 3 million devotees, according to He. People then were fascinated by Zhang's claimed power to cure cancer and disabilities such as blindness and deafness.

Another "qigong master," Yan Xin, who boasted that he could put out forest fires and change the trajectory of missiles had up to 2 million disciples.

Regarding these people's path to success, experts say they share something in common. At first, they usually preached at leading universities and scientific research institutions, winning over certain intellectuals. Gradually, more and more ordinary people joined and were brainwashed.

"At that time, followers of the various qigong sects came from nearly every walk of life, even including some top officials," He said.

He noted that antiquated ideology still ran deep and superstition was rife in the 1990s, with people spending 100 yuan for a ticket to listen to a speech by fake masters, even though their monthly income was no more than 50 yuan.

But such a period could not reappear today, since the national awareness about science has been greatly improved, he concluded.

"In recent years, at regular intervals fake masters have appeared. Nevertheless, they are on a small scale and can hardly influence the social order or development. They are bound to fail," He said.

Doomed to fail

In late 1990, several sects were declared as cults and banned and their founders were on the warrants, including Zhong Gong. Some leaders fled overseas, some were arrested, others went underground and more changed career paths.

The life for these surviving "masters" was not easy.

In July 2006, Zhang Hongbao died in a car accident in the US. Relying on anti-China activities, other fake qigong occasionally appear in foreign media.

Online search results show that Yan Xin, who went to the US in 1990, still keeps promoting his spiritual therapy in Western countries, giving lectures and writing research papers. But his website yanxinqigong.net has not been updated since 2002.