Zhang Baosheng (; 1960 – 3 August 2018) was a Chinese ''

qigong ''Qigong'' (), ''qi gong'', ''chi kung'', ''chi 'ung'', or ''chi gung'' () is a system of coordinated body-posture and movement, breathing, and meditation used for the purposes of health, spirituality, and martial-arts training. With roots in ...

'' grandmaster during the peak of ''qigong''s popularity (so called "

qigong fever ''Qigong'' fever (, ''Qìgōng rè''), also known as the ''qigong'' boom, was a social phenomenon in the People's Republic of China during the 1980s and 1990s, in which the practice of ''qigong'' rose to extraordinary popularity, with mass daily ...

") in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Along with

Yan Xin Chris Yan (born 9 December 1988 in Xi’an, China) is an Australian table tennis player. He competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the men's singles event, in which he was eliminated in the preliminary round by Aleksandar Karakašević, and as ...

,Ownby, David. (2008) '' Falun Gong and the Future of China'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

he played a key role in bringing ''qigong'' into the Chinese public consciousness.

Biography

A miner born in

Benxi Benxi (, ) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, south-southeast of the provincial capital Shenyang. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,326,018 (1,709,538 in 2010) whom 809,655 ...

Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmost ...

Zhang was born in 1960. Drawing on Chinese media reports, Palmer writes that Zhang was called on by the local police to assist in solving criminal cases.Palmer (2007), p. 52 Some high-ranking Communist Party leaders in Beijing grew curious at reports of Zhang's alleged powers, and Zhang was one of the "Healers with Extraordinary Powers" invited into the

Zhongnanhai Zhongnanhai () is a former imperial garden in the Imperial City, Beijing, Imperial City, Beijing, adjacent to the Forbidden City; it serves as the central headquarters for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the State Council of the People' ...

leadership compound to treat the daughter-in-law of General Chen Geng.Palmer (2007), p. 53 On 18 May 1982, Zhu Runlong, editor-in-chief of ''Ziran'' magazine, introduced Zhang to Marshal

Ye Jianying Ye Jianying (; 28 April 1897 – 22 October 1986) was a Chinese Communist revolutionary leader and politician, one of the founding Ten Marshals of the People's Republic of China. He was the top military leader in the 1976 coup that overthrew ...

, who had masterminded the overthrow of the

Gang of Four The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes. The gang ...

after the death of Mao. Zhang was purported to have correctly 'smelled' the contents of messages written by Ye on folded slips of paper. From his wheelchair, Ye was reported to have "exclaimed his amazement and his support for Extraordinary Powers research." Zhang died in Beijing on 3 August 2018.

In popular culture

In the Hong Kong film ''

God of Gamblers Returns ''God of Gamblers Returns'' (), also known as ''God of Gamblers' Return'' and ''The Return of the God of Gamblers '', is a 1994 Hong Kong action-drama-comedy film written and directed by Wong Jing. It starred Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Sha ...

'', the minor protagonist Cheung Po-Sing () bearing a reference to Zhang is similarly reputed for allegedly possessing supernatural powers and is similarly recruited by the Chinese police for factfinding investigations. It is eventually revealed, that Cheung Po-Sing's ability has never been real, and the deceptive myth has been elaborately started by the protagonist in order to trick the antagonist into relying on a nonexistent supernatural power for cheating in a high-stakes poker game. The movie was released at the peak of hype surrounding Zhang's alleged supernatural abilities.

References

1960 births 2018 deaths Qigong practitioners People from Nanjing {{China-bio-stub