Who is “Master Li,” the Chinese exile and Falun Gong leader that has built a religious, media and entertainment empire within the United States? By Rick Alan Ross
Falun Gong is a controversial tax-exempted religious organization based within the United States led by Chinese exile Li Hongzhi. Li, who is known to his followers as “Master Li” also controls a web of related enterprises, which have become the focus for both the media and law enforcement in recent months. This includes a heavily promoted dance company called “Shen Yun” and a right-wing newspaper “The Epoch Times.”
Shen Yun allegedly exploits and abuses its members, who are overwhelming devotees of Falun Gong and a key executive at The Epoch Times is now being prosecuted for financial crimes and fraud.
The New York Times reported that Shen Yun “dancers recounted performing through dislocated kneecaps, sprained ankles or other serious injuries, unwilling to seek medical treatment because the group’s belief system regarded such care as a crutch of the unfaithful.” And that “most described feeling used by a religious movement.”
Leaders within Shen Yun reportedly told “young performers that each show was an urgent spiritual mission, and they led them to believe that anyone who spoke out against the movement would face dire consequences.”
25 former dancers, musicians and instructors were interviewed by The New York Times about “a pattern of abusive behavior” they claimed “spanned nearly two decades and occurred as hundreds of performers cycled in and out of the dance company.” Many said, “they pushed themselves to their physical and mental limits because they were taught that performing a flawless Shen Yun show would save their audiences from an approaching apocalypse. It was a message that was constantly reinforced in lessons that instilled a fierce sense of obligation, as well as mistrust of the outside world.”
The Times reported that “nearly all the performers were sent to Shen Yun by family members who were ardent Falun Gong practitioners.” Some arrived at the Falun Gong headquarters known as “Dragon Springs” on Long Island in New York before they turned 12 and were reportedly “unable to leave the compound without special permission and were typically limited in how often they could see their families.” One former Shen Yun performer explained, “Master told us he had endless magical powers. We were little children, and we believed.”
Is it financially impossible for Shen Yun and Li Hongzhi to properly compensate and take care of its dancers and staff?
In 2019 Radio France Internationale (RFI) reported that “with an average ticket price of $80 per ticket, total box-office proceeds could amount to some $168 million over the five-month performing season.” And that tax records revealed that Shen Yun had “net assets of over $3 million in 2008. Ten years later, in 2017, this amount had grown to $95.7 million. Shen Yun seems to make between $10 and $20 million per year.”
Where does all the money go?
NPR reports that the chief financial officer for the Epoch Times is charged with “laundering at least $67 million in illegally obtained funds.” The alleged scheme began in 2020, “Epoch Times’ revenue jumped from almost $15.5 million the year before to over $70 million, according to federal tax filings.”
Prosecutors claim that Weidong Guan, also known as Bill Guan, “conspired with others to benefit himself, the media company, and its affiliates by laundering tens of millions of dollars in fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits and other crime proceeds.”
The Chinese government has described Falun Gong as an “evil cult”? But Falun Gong and Li Hongzhi say that this label and other criticism represents “religious persecution.”
How can we determine if a group or movement is a destructive cult?
In the 1980s psychiatrist and author Robert Jay Lifton developed a seminal definition to describe destructive cults. This description focuses on three objective core criteria, which today form the nucleus for virtually any definition of a destructive cult.
1. A charismatic leader who increasingly becomes an object of worship as the general principles that may have originally sustained the group lose their power. This leader is the defining element and driving force of the group. He or she lacks any meaningful accountability and typically is an authoritarian dictator.
2. The leader methodically employs a systemic process of coercive persuasion or thought reform to gain undue influence over his or her followers.
3. The leader then uses that undue influence for the economic, sexual, and other exploitation of group members.
Falun Gong followers believe that Master Li possesses supernatural powers. He claims to know “the top secret of the universe” and has stated that “no religion can save people” but the “almighty Fa,” which he exclusively represents. Li is therefore supposedly savior of humanity.
Li teaches his followers that the earth would have been destroyed, but he saved it. He also claims that “gods” will destroy those he disapproves of and that his followers must practice his program of “spiritual cultivation” or risk obliteration.
One horrific event, which took place on China illustrates the depth of devotion Falun Gong members possess. On January 23, 2001 seven Falun Gong practitioners protesting “religious persecution” set themselves on fire at Tiananmen Square. This included a 12-year-old girl and her mother who died. Two survivors, Hao Huijun and her daughter Chen Guo, were hospitalized with extreme injuries.
Chen Guo told Reuters, “I hope those who still believe in this cult can be awakened and throw it away. I don’t want to see another victim like me.” Her mother explained, “we were obsessed at that time”. And she concluded, “We all suffered a great deal, brought about by the obsession.”
Meanwhile Li Hongzhi and his family have become quite wealthy, purchasing millions of dollars in real estate as they garner considerable influence.
Cult expert, author and psychologist Margaret Singer said that a Falun Gong practitioner will “actually say Don’t Think. Just recite the Master’s teaching.’” Singer succinctly summarized, “If you want a good description of a cult, all you have to do is read what [Falun Gong followers] say they are.”
