Editor's Note: Falun Gong, also known as "Falun Dafa," originated in China in the 1990s. Its leader, Li Hongzhi, claims that practicing Falun Gong can enhance physical health and lead to spiritual enlightenment, attempting to achieve his goals of financial gain and political ambition through mental control over his followers. He has claimed that humanity has been destroyed 81 times, the Earth is about to explode, and only he is the “last savior;” one should not take medicine when sick, only Falun Gong can solve the health problem. Falun Gong is the "Righteous Dharma" that supersedes everything else; master Li is the "Lord Buddha of Universe" to oversee human beings. He has countless "law bodies" and can solve problems anytime, anywhere... However, Li Hongzhi and his Falun Gong cult organization have been plagued by internal strife in recent years, with its members fighting over power and profit, leading to a murky atmosphere and continuous scandals. The China Anti-Cult Network now launches a series of reports exposing the inner workings of the Falun Gong organization, revealing its dirty secrets, and reminding people both at home and abroad to be vigilant and recognize the true nature of all cults.
Recently, the cult organization Falun Gong and its leader Li Hongzhi have once again become the focus of overseas media. The cause is the continuous exposure by Yu Chao, once Li Hongzhi's "proud disciple" and a core member of Falun Gong, who has repeatedly targeted Li Hongzhi in live broadcasts on the overseas social media platform YouTube. Many onlookers came online, actively discussing the matter.
▲Yu Chao in a live broadcast on his personal social media (Source: YouTube)
This is not the first time Yu Chao has directly confronted Li Hongzhi. In August 2023, "Minghui Net", affiliated with Falun Gong, published a notice, stating "some individuals who infiltrated the Dafa disciples early on, posing as Falun Gong disciples, have been openly causing confusion, self-promoting, and even publicly attacking the master and slandering 'Minghui Net'. Yu Chao, a Tsinghua University graduate residing in the United States, is such an undesirable being".
This is also the first time Falun Gong has publicly named Yu Chao. In fact, two years ago, Li Hongzhi had already written multiple articles about Yu Chao, from "The Stick Warning" to "Another Stick Warning" and then to "The Fierce Warning", all indirectly referring to Yu Chao without directly mentioning his name.
This time, Yu Chao frequently exposed the misdeeds of his "master" Li Hongzhi in live online broadcasts. Facing this disciple who had once taken care of everything for him, Li Hongzhi was well aware of the importance of the insider information Yu Chao possessed. He even had people around him inquire about Yu Chao's actual residence, attempting to silence him by various means. This forced Yu Chao to resort to a fake divorce to avoid Li Hongzhi's surveillance.
▲Yu Chao (Source: BBC)
Dark dealings, uneven distribution of spoils
According to leaks, the numerous properties Li Hongzhi purchased in the United States are all registered under the names of his mother, his wife and children. At the same time, Li Hongzhi has placed relatives in cushy positions within the Falun Gong organization, with his daughter Li Meige serving in a key position at the "Shen Yun Performing Arts" and his brother-in-law Li Jiguang serving as the vice president of the Epoch Times news group before his death. "Master Li" indeed treats his family with immense compassion, yet he is extremely wary of his disciples, causing them to feel disheartened. This is also a major reason why Yu Chao has “defected”.
What unspeakable secrets did Yu Chao reveal in his live broadcast that led Li Hongzhi to decisively eliminate him?
First and foremost, the source of money is under significant threat, which is also the lifeline of Li Hongzhi's development in North America.
As is well known, Falun Gong has established the "Shen Yun Performing Arts" globally, attracting many followers and the uninformed public to purchase tickets for their worldwide tours in countries like the United States and Canada. Such regular and large-scale tours have also enabled the "Shen Yun Performing Arts" to generate substantial income.
All income from the performances of the "Shen Yun Performing Arts" goes directly to Li Hongzhi, with financial management being handled by his wife, Li Rui. Not only do the performers not receive any compensation, but they are also required to physically transport cash to help Li Hongzhi evade taxes.
Moreover, Yu Chao revealed in a live broadcast that the management of the "Shen Yun Performing Arts" is shockingly akin to prisoner abuse. To ensure a constant supply of "talents," Li Hongzhi and his wife forcibly demand that followers send their underage children to the "Shen Yun Performing Arts" for training and selection.
Many Falun Gong followers blindly obey, sending their young and naive children directly to "Shen Yun", ostensibly for learning performance and undergoing a "spiritual baptism", but in reality, the children are subjected to concentrated detention and training. The dual torment of body and spirit has already caused many children to suffer from psychological disorders.
Yu Chao's explosive revelations have already caused a public uproar, with endless discussions. In their unscrupulous pursuit of performance revenue, these misdeeds not only threaten "Shen Yun's" performances and development in North America, potentially costing it this significant cash cow, but may also expose the leader Li Hongzhi to legal sanctions. Several veteran Falun Gong members in the United States are already preparing to launch a collective action to expose Li Hongzhi's crimes.
Media Chaos, Self-Created Platforms
In the past decade, Falun Gong has focused its efforts in North America. With the development of foreign video websites, besides mouthpiece websites like "Minghui", Falun Gong has also been continuously posting content on the overseas video website YouTube, promoting itself through online videos in an attempt to recruit new members.
They have established and developed their own account system and matrix on YouTube, with Internet Celebrity accounts that have a significant number of follower regularly posting content. All of this content comes from the orders of Li Hongzhi, and its main purpose, without exception, is to vilify China, promote the cult doctrines of Falun Gong, and deify its leader Li Hongzhi himself.
As the platform's revenue-sharing ratio continued to adjust, Li Hongzhi found that up to 45% of the income from YouTube videos was forcibly taken by the platform. Such action made it unacceptable for the greedy “master”. And Li Hongzhi, who does not allow others to share in the profits, decided to create his own platform.
Moreover, there are significant issues within the Falun Gong organization, including various factions. Yu Chao once stated that Li Hongzhi does not hold much actual control over platforms such as "The Epoch Times" and "Sound of Hope", and his daily involvement is low. Over time, this led to a loss of absolute control, and he also had doubts about the division of profits within these platforms. In order to maximize the accumulation of wealth, Li Hongzhi decided to develop his own platform and take full control.
A website and mobile application named "Clean World" (Ganjing World) is one of them. Over the past two years, Falun Gong has used various platform accounts they manage to heavily promote it, claiming it to be a clean video platform, a "pure land on earth, the gateway to a beautiful world."
However, the irony is, how "clean" is the "Clean World"? The content of the videos on this software can largely be categorized into two types: one is the so-called media launched by Falun Gong itself, such as "Epoch Times", "New Tang Dynasty", "Sound of Hope", "Vision Times", and accounts used on this platform by Falun Gong affiliated celebrities like Jiang Feng, Zhang Tianliang, and Wen Zhao.
Another category includes content related to gourmet food, fitness, beauty, and more on a global scale. These are obtained through technical tools such as "web crawlers" to scrape videos posted by relevant bloggers on various platforms around the world, used to feign the so-called diversity and activity of the "Clean World" platform.
▲The "Clean World" platform logo (Source: Yahoo News)
Constant conflicts, a struggle for survival
Li Hongzhi mandates his disciples to regularly share content from the "Clean World" with their friends and family to promote the platform. Additionally, Li Hongzhi also inserts advertisements into "Clean World", incidentally peddling various Falun Gong books and audio-visual products to swindle money.
Among them, many lifestyle and shopping channels are filled with all sorts of deceitful practices. For example, the skincare channel "Inner Beauty" has secretly collaborated with Falun Gong media outlets like "The Epoch Times" and "New Tang Dynasty Television", guiding viewers to purchase skincare products from their online stores, many of which are falsely touted to have miraculous healing powers and cure-all benefits.
Li Hongzhi is determined to keep the financial control of the content and platform revenue of the "Clean World" initiative firmly in his own hands. Yu Chao's betrayal has made him more wary of others, and issues involving financial gains are especially untouchable red lines for Li Hongzhi.
Yu Chao's revelations are just the tip of the iceberg of unrest within Falun Gong. Many core members are dissatisfied due to uneven distribution of spoils within the organization, and there's an undercurrent among the "disciples" who hope to earn more income. Li Hongzhi's launch of the "Clean World" initiative is also an attempt to better control those "voices."
Following Yu Chao's exposé, more and more YouTubers and onlookers have started to record and comment on related videos. Li Hongzhi is also afraid of the emergence of more “Yu Chaos”. Therefore, he has repeatedly used mouthpieces like “Minghui Net” to tell his disciples to stay away from YouTube and focus on the “Clean World”. In this way, even if more “Yu Chaos” appear in the future, his disciples can “turn a deaf ear to the outside world” and only see what master Li wants to show in the “Clean World”.
Clearly, as the conflict intensifies, more and more people are recognizing the evil deeds of Li Hongzhi and his Falun Gong. The “Clean World” is merely Li Hongzhi's last fig leaf, and the Falun Gong cult is ultimately destined for destruction.
