'Spiritual master' in death threat to reporter
Source: AFP |
July 25, 2013, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
BILLIONAIRES, movie stars, snakes and curses all figure in a scandal swirling around a Chinese spiritual adviser after he allegedly threatened a reporter who questioned his powers with death.
Wang Lin, 61, a self-proclaimed master of Qigong, a spiritual martial art, claims to be able to conjure up snakes from thin air, cure disease and retrieve an incinerated banknote intact from an orange.
He came to public attention in recent weeks when Jack Ma, the founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, reportedly visited him for reasons unknown.
Pictures soon circulated on Chinese social media of Wang with former Railways Minister Liu Zhijun, who was convicted earlier this month of corruption and given a suspended death sentence, martial arts movie star Jet Li, and various other senior officials.
The Beijing News ran an interview with Wang on Monday, saying that he claimed to have been assessed continuously by a team of 17 Japanese scientists for seven days and nights. The US intelligence agencies offered him 70 green cards to try to persuade him to emigrate, he said, but he rejected the offer because he "could not tear himself from his home town" in the eastern province of Jiangxi, the paper reported.
Wang claimed to have cured many patients including former Indonesia's President Suharto, the newspaper said, adding that he had made a fortune from his admirers. He owns a five-story villa and keeps a Rolls-Royce and three Hummers, The Beijing News report said.
However the paper questioned his powers, suggesting he had mastered sleight of hand rather than the supernatural.
Wang had been spotted buying snakes rather than summoning them with his spirit, it added, and accused him of building up his wealth through networking, especially with influential people and illegal moneylending.
The allegations infuriated Wang so much that he telephoned the author and cursed her. "I am telling you, you will die miserably, and your family will follow," the newspaper quoted him as saying.
Despite three decades of modernization, many people still cling to traditional beliefs and superstitions. In 2011, a woman in Jiangxi killed her infant grandson by tossing him into a well after a fortune-teller told her the child's zodiac sign would bring ruin to the family.
China's netizens have poured scorn on Wang. "How come Master Wang Lin could not predict that Jack Ma's visit would be a disaster?" said one posting on the Twitter-like Sina Weibo.
Wang Lin, 61, a self-proclaimed master of Qigong, a spiritual martial art, claims to be able to conjure up snakes from thin air, cure disease and retrieve an incinerated banknote intact from an orange.
He came to public attention in recent weeks when Jack Ma, the founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, reportedly visited him for reasons unknown.
Pictures soon circulated on Chinese social media of Wang with former Railways Minister Liu Zhijun, who was convicted earlier this month of corruption and given a suspended death sentence, martial arts movie star Jet Li, and various other senior officials.
The Beijing News ran an interview with Wang on Monday, saying that he claimed to have been assessed continuously by a team of 17 Japanese scientists for seven days and nights. The US intelligence agencies offered him 70 green cards to try to persuade him to emigrate, he said, but he rejected the offer because he "could not tear himself from his home town" in the eastern province of Jiangxi, the paper reported.
Wang claimed to have cured many patients including former Indonesia's President Suharto, the newspaper said, adding that he had made a fortune from his admirers. He owns a five-story villa and keeps a Rolls-Royce and three Hummers, The Beijing News report said.
However the paper questioned his powers, suggesting he had mastered sleight of hand rather than the supernatural.
Wang had been spotted buying snakes rather than summoning them with his spirit, it added, and accused him of building up his wealth through networking, especially with influential people and illegal moneylending.
The allegations infuriated Wang so much that he telephoned the author and cursed her. "I am telling you, you will die miserably, and your family will follow," the newspaper quoted him as saying.
Despite three decades of modernization, many people still cling to traditional beliefs and superstitions. In 2011, a woman in Jiangxi killed her infant grandson by tossing him into a well after a fortune-teller told her the child's zodiac sign would bring ruin to the family.
China's netizens have poured scorn on Wang. "How come Master Wang Lin could not predict that Jack Ma's visit would be a disaster?" said one posting on the Twitter-like Sina Weibo.
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