Zhao Weishan
| Zhao Weishan | |
|---|---|
| Founder of Eastern Lightning | |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
December 12, 1951 Acheng District, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China |
| Nationality |
 People's Republic of China |
| Profession | Teacher |
| Nickname(s) | Zhao Kun |
Zhao Weishan (Chinese: 赵维山; born December 12, 1951) is the founder of Eastern Lightning. In 1991, his "Yongyuan Church" was accused for being illegal by local government. Zhao moved to the United States in 2000, where he seeked for political asylum in June 2001.[1][2]
Biography
Since 1989, Zhao founded Eastern Lightning with a few other former members of the Shouters, when he started to claim to be the Almighty God. In 1991, the organization had more than a thousand members. After being investigated and prosecuted by local police station, Zhao left Heilongjiang and continued the organization in Qingfeng County, Henan.[3]
In 1993, Zhao selected 7 followers to be the core leaders of the church, together with himself, the Almighty God. He obtained the highest position in the organization.[4]
In 2000, he used Xu Weishan as his pseudonym under the track of police. He escaped to Tokyo and then to the United States.[5] In 2001, Zhao applied for political asylum in New York where he then established the new headquarters and website. Shortly, Eastern Lightning started to expand in Asian countries including Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as the United States and Canada.[6]
References
- ↑ Jason Kindopp, Carol Lee Hamrin God and Caesar in China: Policy Implications of Church-State Tensions 2004 0815796463 "Similarly, a disgruntled Protestant Christian named Zhao Weishan broke from his church to establish the Eastern Lightning cult, also in Henan."
- ↑ David Aikman Jesus in Beijing: How Christianity Is Transforming China 1596986522 2012 "Some time in the 1990s, the man regarded as the founder of Eastern Lightning, Zhao Weishan, came to the United States with a false passport and applied for—and in 2000 was granted—political asylum. He claimed that his religious faith was .."
- ↑ Emily Dunn Lightning from the East: Heterodoxy and Christianity in Contemporary China 2015 9004297251 "Other Chinese sources present a far more complex account of Eastern Lightning's origins. They charge a middle-aged man named Zhao Weishan 赵维山, once a physics teacher or railroad worker, with founding the movement. These sources ...was a member of the Shouters in the late 1980s. He left the group with other believers in 1989 to form an offshoot called the Church of the Everlasting Foundation (永存的根基教会 Yongcun de genjijiaohui), in which he presented himself as a “Lord of Ability” ( 能力主 nengli zhu). In May, 1992, a Chinese Christian magazine reported that a group called “the New Church of the Lord of Ability” (新能力主教会 Xin nenglizhu jiaohui) had been distributing tracts and cassette recordings in the southwest Henan since March 1991. "
- ↑ "调查手记：赵维山如何就成了"全能神"教主" (in Chinese). -{共識網}-. 2014-06-05. Retrieved 2015-06-19.
- ↑ "全能神教主赵维山 早就带着情妇出逃美国" (in Chinese). 2012-12-23. Retrieved 2015-06-19.
- ↑ "环球人物独家披露：邪教教主罪恶真相" (in Chinese). 環球人物. 2014-06-13. Archived from the original on 2014-10-14.