The #1 Chinese life coach has been arrested and accused of fraud. His company sued the media that had accused him of “brainwashing.”
by Zhao Zhangyong
“China’s Tony Robbins.” This was how media called Yang Taoming, a life coach from Ningbo, Zhejiang province. Like Tony Robbins, he taught the rich and the famous and led them to firewalking, or walking barefoot on extremely hot stones without burning their feet. Some ended up with burned feet, though, and joined the ranks of dissatisfied customers who complained to China Anti-Xie-Jiao Association and the police. Last month, Yang was detained for fraud with thirty co-workers.
Meanwhile, a civil lawsuit his company filed last year against several media and anti-cult activists who had accused Yang of “brainwashing” is still pending. The company Ningbo Attractive Culture Communication Co., Ltd. was established in 2012 with the original name of Ningbo Yinzhou Turbine Culture Communication Co., Ltd. In 2015, it registered the trademarks “Yang Taoming” and “Attractive Yang Taoming.”
In 2019, the company was deregistered. A new company called Zhejiang Attractive Culture Communication Co., Ltd. was incorporated, and became the owner of the trademarks and the plaintiff in the defamation lawsuit.
Yang has taken courses from Tony Robbins and has appeared with him and other American top life coaches in public events—or so he claims, showing pictures of the events.
Reportedly, his courses in China were attended by more than 60,000 students, who paid from 5,800 to 600,000 yuan, i.e., from US $825 to $85,425. Yang became famous for his courses on how to become a top seller. He claimed that a properly trained salesperson can sell a hair for 60,000 yuan ($8,500).
For his happy customers, including members of the CCP and prominent businesspersons, Yang offered not only great suggestions on aggressive business practices but also a confidence and a spiritual purpose in life, enhanced by the firewalking experiences. Some students were also taught fire-eating exercises similarly to those performed in circuses. For his critics, Yang was a fraud charging high prices for worthless courses.
The story of Yang’s rise and fall confirms that the Chinese elite is not satisfied with the platitudes of Xi Jinping’s thought and is prepared to pay good money to those who promise a different and more satisfactory approach to life. It also confirms that life coaching and other alternative forms of self-help and spirituality, once tolerated, are now being repressed by the police one after the other.
