According to Zhang's official biography,
Superman, he was born in 1960 in
Anhui to very poor parents and was given away at a young age to a couple in
Benxi,
Liaoning. His adopted father was the
Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary of the
Xihu district of Benxi, and his mother was an artist. They both died around the year 2000. He graduated junior high school and took occupation as a miner. Tang Yu's claims attained credence because of the communist government's confirmation of his abilities. Yu was described by The
Sichuan Daily, an official
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) newspaper, as, "a child who could allegedly read
Chinese characters with his ears." Ye gave him a special passport allowing him access to important places, ordered him paid well, and given good living conditions. Zhang was further exposed in various Taiwanese news publication through the 1990s, some dubbing him a "low-level magician." Indeed many of his tricks can be explained through illusionist techniques. His supposed healings often resulted in a fluid or blob of some form appearing in his hand which he would claim he removed from the body. Before one treatment in 1990, he took a long shower in the hotel room. Afterwards, he removed pus from a patient's lesion. Curiously, after Zhang left it was observed that a new piece of soap had scratches on it, and it was theorized the pus was water and soap. Other skills that he was famous for such as spoon-bending, smoke from the fingers, and rejoining torn cards have long been exposed as common trickery. The rest of his abilities were explainable through sleight of hand and because each time he performed he left the room unattended often. He claimed this was due to
Qigong Rejuvenation and body regulation. He was also followed around by an entourage of followers that would provide distraction and confirm a trick successful even when it had not been. Zhang Baosheng became more and more discredited through the 1990s. The government was cracking down on such outlandish claims. In 1994, the
Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party issued, "Several Opinions on Strengthening the Popularization of Science," which promoted fact-based finding. Afterwards, several articles discrediting Zhang were published in China. In 1998, all testing with the Institute of Aeronautical Engineering of COSTIND ceased after 16 years, yet he was still allowed a place in the Space Research Centre.
Qigong became associated with the
Falun Gong. When the Chinese government started their
persecution of the Falun Gong in 1999, they associated with Zhang even less, and he then tried to remain out of the public eye. He was still very rich, well respected among the powerful of China, and his services were still in demand. His last public appearance was in 2002 at the farewell ceremony of
Wu Shaozu, who at one point ran the day-to-day of China's military-industrial research budget and approved research on Zhang. General Wu was forced to relinquish his post as head of the National Sports Commission due to the Falun Gong persecution. Zhang died in the early morning of August 3, 2018 in Beijing. His cause of death was a heart attack at age 58. In his later years, he lived unhappily in seclusion with a small circle. ==In popular culture==