The Man with the Qi

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The tall man with flashing brown eyes sat in a Manhattan apartment and chatted about wheels and extraterrestrials. As an associate translated, Li Hongzhi, 48, discoursed with TIME's William Dowell on the manipulation, for physical and spiritual betterment, of circles of internal energy called qi. Suddenly, however, conversation veered to a topic Li has thus far broached to none but his inner circle: aliens on earth. "One type of alien looks like a human but has a nose made of a bone," he confided; others resemble ghosts. The extraterrestrials, who arrived circa 1900, have not been idle. "Everyone thinks that scientists invent on their own," said Li, "when in fact their inspiration is manipulated by the aliens." The aliens intend to replace all humans with clones, he added. "In terms of culture and spirit, they already control men."

There are plenty of New Yorkers with equally unusual theories. But Li is the only one with millions of followers, thousands of whom took to the Beijing streets a week ago, sending a shudder through a shocked Chinese leadership.

For 12 hours, more than 10,000 devotees planted themselves eight-deep on the sidewalk surrounding the nation's Zhongnanhai government compound, demanding that their Falun Gong sect, led by Li, receive status as a permitted group. The silent sit-in was by far the boldest protest in Beijing since the butchering of the pro-democracy movement almost exactly a decade ago. And the regime's response was just as stunning. Rather than attack, it granted leaders an audience with Premier Zhu Rongji.

The protest introduced the world to a mystical movement little known outside Asia. China, once devoted to Confucianism and then to Maoism, is experiencing a vacuum of faith and values. The creed most successful in filling it since "freedom of religion" was announced in 1979 has been Buddhism. But others, from illegal Christian "house churches" to witchery, have also flourished. Falun Gong is a variant of Qi Gong, a blend of mind and body work (it also includes Tai Chi) that strives to harness an energy called qi. Qi Gong does not always rise to the intensity of faith, but charismatic "grand masters" have built up formidable followings on its principles.

Most formidable is Li's. In an interview weeks before the Beijing demonstration, he explained to TIME that he began studying Qi Gong at age 4 with masters "in the mountains," probably in Manchuria. In 1992 he went public with an amalgam of Qi Gong, Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism aimed at moral rejuvenation and a spiritual "cultivation," culminating in supernatural powers and "freedom from the worldly state." (Asked if he is a human being from earth, Li replied, "I don't wish to talk about myself at a higher level. People wouldn't understand it.") His regimen, promoted through books, tapes and videos, was wildly popular, eventually attracting a reported 60 million adherents--4 million more than the Communist Party.

The party, inevitably, took note. It repeatedly refused to approve Falun Gong conventions, and a year ago, Li left China at the apparent urging of authorities. He was hardly friendless upon arrival in the U.S.: in 1996 Houston's mayor proclaimed a Li Hongzhi Day--and there are Falun Gong chapters in eight countries and 21 American states. Li's finances seem robust, although it's unclear how much control he has over his organization.

That includes the Beijing protest. A deputy for Li, who was in Australia last week, told Time, "He had nothing to do with the demonstrations in China. They were spontaneous." Indeed, on the day of the protest, a visibly annoyed Premier Zhu received four delegates from the sect and reportedly demanded, "Who is your leader?" "We are all leaders," one replied. Zhu handed the group off to his Complaints Bureau for judgment on the issue of the group's official status and its other concern, the arrest of five members at an earlier regional demonstration.

The government's task is delicate. Zhu, painfully aware of the Tiananmen anniversary, recently ordered authorities to refrain from "crude" crackdowns on social unrest. The group, however, may be harmless to the regime. Li insists that "I want to teach people to be good, not to be involved in politics." Yet historically, secret societies and spiritual masters have challenged, and even toppled, Chinese dynasties, and President Jiang Zemin has stressed a need to "suppress cults and the use of religion to engage in illegal activities."

By Wednesday the government seemed to opt for a fairly hard line. It stepped up surveillance on Falun Gong members and called the demonstration "completely wrong." For now, Li's followers' decision to take to the streets appears to have backfired, and aliens had nothing to do with it.