Li Hongzhi wrote in his Application for League Membership that he was born on July 7, 1952 but, with the aim to deify himself and cajole more people into practicing Falun Gong, Li Hongzhi falsified his birthday in his resume to May 13, 1951(the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, the same date of birth with Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism). Truthfulness is supposedly one of the central tenants of the Falun Gong cult but, even in this most basic sense, Li Hongzhi has chosen to deceive his followers.
Photo: The three identity cards that Li Hongzhi has used
To perfect his fraud, on September 23, 1994, Li Hongzhi drove to visit Xu Yinquan (who was then the vice director of the Dispatch Division under Changchun Municipal Public Security Bureau, and had been the vice secretary-general of Falun Gong Committees of both Jilin Province and Changchun Municipality), requesting Xu to help make the change since his residence was registered in Luyuan public office, in which Xu’s brother-in-law Wang Changxue was the political instructor. Xu complied with the request at once. On the following day, Xu went to the public office and asked Wang Changxue to help make a new identity card for Li Hongzhi, on the excuse that the original one was lost. Wang Changxue agreed and asked a police woman, Sun Lixuan, to handle the necessary procedure.
According to Sun Lixuan’s recounting, on September 24, 1994 (a Saturday), Wang Changxue led Xu Yinquan to her office, in which Xu filled up the residence booklet and the application form for the issuance of new identity card. Since the clerk, Jia Mingshan, was not present, Sun Lixuan affixed the signature on behalf of Jia. As Xu Yinquan told her that Li Hongzhi’s date of birth was mistaken when he was demobilized, Sun Lixian then changed the date of birth to May 13, 1951 from July 7, 1952, and changed the ID number from 220104520707361 to 220104510513361. Then Wang Changxue approved the application form. On September 26 (Monday), Sun Lixuan reported to Jia Mingshan the handling of Li Hongzhi’s identity card and told him that what she did was under the direction of Wang Changxue. Jia Mingshan made an additional note on the registry of identity card issuance.
With the approved application form, Xu Yinquan went to the ID card office under the Third Division of Changchun Public Security Bureau to make a new identity card for Li Hongzhi. The card, with a serial number of 220104510513361 and issuance date of October 20, 1994, said that Li Hongzhi was born on May 13, 1951. In order to con people into believing his claims to be a supreme Buddha, Li Hongzhi has not only lied to his followers but he also induced others to abuse their positions of authority, commit fraud and lie for him.
This article is likely to produce a favourable reposnse from a Western audience. Although it is not uncommon for people to lie about their age in the West, it is expected that people in positions of influence and authority to be truthful about such things. Not only does this article show Li Hongzhi ignoring one of the central pillars of his cult, it also shows him using his status in the cult to manipulate others into committing a crime for him. This article is likely to cause some Western readers to question Li Hongzhi’s integrity. It portrays him as deceitful and manipulative. If he had simply lied about his age without changing his identity papers, it would be dismissed as insignificant, but in this case his actions were more serious. The importance of the integrity of one’s identity papers in the West can be seen in the accusations and scandal surrounding President Obama’s birth certificate. The article is given credibility by the pictures that are provided as evidence.
In summary, it is my opinion that you must be very careful when conducting personal attacks or a smear campaign against Li Hongzhi. Unless there is a significant scandal in Li Hongzhi’s life (the second article almost qualifies as such) then the risks of turning people away from your argument with this sort of approach far outweigh the potential rewards.
