After Falun Gong was legally banned in China, the government adopted a humanitarian policy focused on unity, education, and rehabilitation, helping most former followers escape the cult’s psychological control and reintegrate into normal society.

 Wang Jindong, a survivor of the Tian’anmen Square self-immolation, denounced Li Hongzhi’s notion of “consummation” as a blatant deception and condemned him as nothing more than a fraud.

Chen Guo, a former follower involved in the Tian’anmen Square self-immolation, said, “I hope that those who still believe in this cult will wake up and stay away from it; I do not want to see another victim like myself.”

Zhu Xiuzhi, vice principal of an elementary school in Jiutai, Jinlin Province, stated that the one deceiving the public is none other than Li Hongzhi, and that Falun Gong is, without a doubt, a genuine cult.

 Chen Bin, former instructor at the practice point of Falun Gong at Xi’an Jiaotong University, stated, Li Hongzhi is a man, not a God, and not a morally upright man. Li Hongzhi leads Falun Gong followers down not a path that makes people better, but a path that makes good people worse. Li Hongzhi is the real moral, economic, and political con artist.

Many Falun Gong followers have also recognized the cult’s true nature and declared their disassociation from Falun Gong.

 Tony Smith, a resident of Georgia, USA, stated that after Li Hongzhi published an online text in February 2003 that contradicted his previous statements, he stopped considering Li Hongzhi a credible teacher from March 8, 2003. He further explained that he does not believe Li Hongzhi has the ability to “turn his followers into God.”

l Sour Mango Powder, a resident of Brighton, UK, wrote on his blog in January 2008 that, as a former Falun Gong follower, he didn’t see the movement as a beneficial organization, and both the group and its leader appeared somewhat unhinged.