Zhang Zhenhuan

Zhang Zhenhuan (Chinese: 张震寰; 1915–1994) was a general and political leader in the People's Republic of China. In his retirement, he was the founder and director of the China Qigong Science Research Society (CQRS), and was a notable proponent and defender of qigong during the 1980s and early 1990s.

Zhang was from Beijing. In 1935, he was part of a protest of Japanese occupation, the "129 event". In 1938 he joined the Communist Party of China. He was a political leader and military officer during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War. Later he served as Director of the National Defense Science and Technology Commission of the People's Republic of China and earned the rank of general.

Zhang Zhenhuan was one of the four "political pillars" of the qigong sector in China during the 1980s and 1990s. Others included Qian Xuesen, Wu Shaozu, Lv Bingkui—China's most influential figures in science, sports and Chinese medicine respectively. The fate of qigong in China was intimately linked to that of these four individuals.

Zhang headed, with Qian Xuesen as honorary Chairman, the China Somatic Science Society (CSSS), a national association founded in 1987 with the aim to federate the community of researchers working on 'somatic science', i.e. Extraordinary Powers. Around half of the 245 members were professional scientists. At the first meeting of the Society's board of directors Zhang stressed that the Society's establishment was a victory against the adversaries of Extraordinary Powers research:

Since the Sichuan Daily published the story on 'reading with ears' on 11 March 1979, many technological workers from around the country have been engaged in research on the Extraordinary Powers of the human body. For eight years, until the foundation of our Society was authorised, [this research] was not easy.This official authorisation marks a new stage in research on the Extraordinary Powers of the human body. Our organisation has been authorised, but our research work is far from finished. The anchor point of science is practice; the quest of scientific workers is truth. True science has no fear, and no force can stop it. In the past, some people have used their power to criticise research on Extraordinary Powers as 'idealist pseudo-science'. Now that the State Commission for Science and Technology has authorised the establishment of our Somatic Science Research Society, it is not a victory of 'idealism', but it is a victory of true materialism and Marxism, it is a victory of science. In truth, our work is a struggle to defend dialectical materialism, which leads to the victory of the Marxist theory of knowledge, and symbolises the spirit of sacrifice of the quest for scientific truth. ... Qian Xuesen has said: this research will have an effect on the question of the scientific revolution; it can be compared to a second Renaissance;... it has strategic repercussions for the twenty-first century ...

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