User:Tianyuf/Zhao Weishan

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.

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.

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.

In 2000, he used Xu Weishan as his pseudonym under the track of police. He escaped to Tokyo and then to the United States. 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.