Li Hongzhi's Absurd Lie About "400 Million Deaths"

Li Hongzhi has fabricated a rumor claiming that 400 million people died from COVID-19 in mainland China. This absurd lie has surprisingly garnered some skeptical believers. Think about it: if 400 million people had died, it would mean that one out of every 3.5 people would have perished. Who has seen such a high death rate around them? It’s clearly a blatant lie.

Tracing the origin of this rumor, it comes from Li Hongzhi’s public statement asserting that 400 million people died in China over three years of the pandemic. His website, in a seemingly serious analysis, claims to have proven this by investigating the increase in crematorium furnace data in China from 2020 to 2022. They assert that if 400 million died over three years, that would average 133 million deaths per year, which is 7.3 times the normal annual death rate. They estimate that crematorium capacity doubled and that the number of bodies being cremated daily was 3.6 times higher than usual after the pandemic restrictions were lifted, thereby concluding that the death toll was indeed 7.3 times higher than in normal years.

This reasoning is utterly preposterous. Firstly, the analysis is logically flawed; it assumes the conclusion (400 million deaths) and works backward to justify it. The claim that crematorium capacity doubled and that the number of daily cremations increased 3.6 times is obviously incorrect. Secondly, the data is fabricated. The assertion that China’s crematorium capacity doubled and that daily cremations increased 3.6 times has no factual basis. Thirdly, it generalizes from specific instances, using the number of cremations after restrictions were lifted to infer the death toll over three years, which is completely unfounded.

Any reasonable person would not believe such a lie. Given that this claim comes from Li Hongzhi, it’s not surprising. He is an academic underachiever who couldn’t even get into a third-tier university, a swindler from Northeast China who preys on people with limited education. He has always spouted whatever sensational lies he could think of to attract followers, without any concern for logical consistency. Additionally, although this is an obviously unbelievable lie, FLG media and numerous followers have echoed Li Hongzhi’s claims in unison, trying to turn a lie into the “truth” through repetition. This once again exposes the cult-like nature of FLG, where even the most outrageous statements by the leader are considered “truth.” Clear-minded individuals are advised to stay vigilant and discern right from wrong.