Qigong ‘master’ investigated over claims he healed 50,000
Print Edition
A CHINESE qigong “master” is being investigated by health authorities in the eastern province of Jiangxi over claims he healed more than 50,000 people.
Officials in Luxi County told The Beijing News that Wang Li, 61, didn’t have a medical license or qualifications to treat patients.
And today, a court is to start hearing a case where one of his students accuses him of fraud.
Zou Yong, a mining businessman in Jiangxi, says Wang cheated him out of more than 7.7 million yuan (US$1.25 million) for tuition.
Zou told the Legal Evening News that he was one of thousands of students attempting to learn how to obtain Wang’s “magic power.”
Zou claimed to have paid 7.4 million yuan (US$120,580) for a luxury car Wang had ordered in early 2008, and given him 333,333 yuan in a red envelope, as Wang had instructed, at a ceremony to accept him as a student in December 2009.
Zou said he found none of Wang’s mentoring had worked after learning from him for about two years.
Wang’s performances won him fame among Chinese movie stars, singers and businesspeople.
His most popular performance was catching snakes out of an empty basin using qigong, a practice of aligning breath, movement and awareness for exercise, healing and meditation.
In an online video, Wang can be seen holding an empty basin while wearing only his underpants.
The “master” orders his audience to burn paper under the basin and then he catches snakes out of it.
Wang claims in the video that he is using his “awareness” that allows him to “catch every second to travel to a mountain thousands of miles away with extremely high speed.”
Wang tells his audience: “The paper you burnt is a tiny piece of my soul. I reached a far mountain and on the top of it, I pulled huge stones downwards and discovered deep holes beneath them so I can catch the snakes.”
From behind bars
Wang told the newspaper in a recent interview that he left home at the age of seven and learned the skill from a Taoist. He said he was jailed during the “cultural revolution (1966-1976)” but used his qigong to fetch wine, fish and meat from behind bars.
He said he had healed more than 50,000 people with his skills and Chinese herbal medicine.
His secretary recalled that once Wang was “infected by seven brain tumors” when he was healing a patient and it took a long time to cure his own disease.
In his photo collection, Wang is seen with celebrities including Internet entrepreneur Jack Ma and movie star Vicki Zhao, who paid him a visit at his five-story villa in Jiangxi recently.
Wang is reported to have close connections with local government officials.
A China Central Television program said the Luxi county government borrowed money from Wang several times, at a rate similar to Chinese banks. Wang would press for return of the money by a strict deadline.
At his villa, Wang has a Rolls Royce and three Hummers.
He told the newspaper that one of the Hummers was bought from the American military and he used it to pick up the celebrities at the airport to ensure their safety.
But there are growing doubts about the “master.”
CCTV reported that Wang’s qigong performance was just a magic show which could be replicated by many magicians.
Huang Zhaojun, a fellow prison inmate, told the newspaper that Wang was often beaten in jail as he bragged too much. Huang said he never saw him catching any snakes.
Zou, the student taking him to court today, told reporters Wang gave him ancient books he said had been passed down through many generations and told him to learn from them.
Zou said he later found the books being sold on the Internet, at 11 yuan each.
He asked Wang for his money back but Wang refused and said Zou would die in a month with every part of his body decaying.
Zou, however, is still very much alive, the newspaper reported.
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