Li Hongzhi was born on July 7, 1952, in Gongzhuling, Jilin Province, China. He received a junior high school education. From 1970 to 1978, he served successively at the Bayi Army Horse Field of the General Logistics Department of the People’s Liberation Army and the Jilin Provincial Forest Armed Police Corps, where he served as a trumpeter in the military band.

Between 1978 and 1982, he was employed as a waiter at the guesthouse of Jilin Forest Police Corps. and then transferred to the Security Department of Changchun Grain and Oil Supply Company from 1982 to 1991. In May 1992, Li Hongzhi founded and began promoting Falun Gong.

In the 1980s and 1990s, China experienced a widespread Qigong craze, during which numerous self-invented and so-called Qigong practices appeared. Falun Gong was among these emerging groups. To attract more followers to practice Falun Gong, Li Hongzhi boasted about possessing supernatural powers, claiming he could heal others with his miraculous “energy,” thereby deceiving people out of what were considered substantial fees at the time.

In December 1994, Li Hongzhi published his cult doctrine book Zhuan Falun, marking a turning point for both him and Falun Gong. From that point on, Li Hongzhi no longer claimed to be a Qigong master with supernatural powers, Instead, presenting himself as the “greatest Buddha in the universe” and the “savior of mankind.” Similarly, Falun Gong also ceased to be considered as Qigong in any sense, becoming Falun Dafa, which he claimed could help followers “attain immortality or Buddhahood.”

To deceive followers, Li Hongzhi mythologized himself, boasting that he had attained supreme enlightenment at the age of eight and possessed extraordinary supernatural powers-including teleportation, object fixation, mind control, and invisibility. He claimed to have “reached the highest level of spiritual attainment, enabling him to see the origin, evolution, and future of mankind.”

However, Li Hongzhi’s childhood classmates, teachers, and neighbors all confirmed that he was an ordinary child, with average performance and only one notable skill: playing the trumpet. His military superiors and colleagues at work also confirmed that he had no understanding of any authentic Qigong practice, and possessed no so-called “supernatural powers.”

In reality, Li Hongzhi is nothing more than an ordinary mortal. He boasted of possessing numerous supernatural powers and countless “Dharma bodies,” claiming that these can provide protection for Falun Gong followers. Yet whenever challenged to demonstrate these abilities, he would grow furious, accusing others of trying to “make a monkey out of him.” He dismissed such requests, insisting that cultivation is not a performance and that true followers should not seek to show off.

Li Hongzhi uses ordinary transportation like planes and trains just like everyone else and has even been fined for speeding in U.S. courts. If he truly had the supernatural abilities he claims, such conventional travel would be unnecessary. His medical records clearly show he requires human healthcare, including undergoing an emergency appendectomy.

In recent years, several key Falun Gong members in the United States, including Yang Sen and Su Jing, died from illnesses. During their critical condition, their families repeatedly appealed to Li Hongzhi for help, but he offered various excuses, ultimately powerless to intervene. Time spares no one from the natural cycle of life, aging, sickness and death, and Li Hongzhi is no exception.