Contrary to the presumption of many people, Falun Gong came into existence rather lately. It was founded in 1992 in the city of Changchun, Northeast China, by an ordinary Chinese citizen, Li Hongzhi, who did so simply by piecing together some elements from Qigong with certain poses of the Thai dance. However, Li later proclaimed that Falun Gong was his innovation millions of years ago and that he had imparted Falun Gong to the people on several previous earths. At the beginning, Li Hongzhi explained that Falun Gong practice would keep practitioners free of disease and he held classes to teach Falun Gong to his followers and cured illness through his own energy and power. However, in that process, things went inevitably wrong, since his patients were persuaded not to go for any medical treatments, while being cured by Li himself. As a result, many of his patients died. In order to get out of trouble, Li soon gave up curing illness through his own energy and power. He began to ask his followers to learn his theory instead, which, as he put it, could cure their illness and help them escape from mortality and fly to a place what he described as heaven. Of course, every follower was supposed to buy his books and attend classes accordingly. From this business, he accumulated a huge amount of money and became a millionaire. To say the least, Li amassed $5.4 million through publication of Falun Gong materials and tax evasion.
