Falun Gong

Falun Gong:  expense of the health system to many people and faltering
mutual support networks, the positive effects of Qigong practice and the support
networks resulting from membership will have been supportive for the spread of
the Falun Gong." However, the Falun Dafa is taught as a path which is more
than just the practice of Qigong; is seen a way of life. 1

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[Category]:

History

[Paper Title]:

Falun Gong

[Text]:

expense of the health system to many people and faltering mutual support
networks, the positive effects of Qigong practice and the support networks
resulting from membership will have been supportive for the spread of the Falun
Gong." However, the Falun Dafa is taught as a path which is more than just
the practice of Qigong; is seen a way of life. 1

Founder Li Hongzhi (a.k.a. Master Li) has said that, in the past, its secrets
were passed only from master to student. Hongzhi made the movement public in
China in 1992. It is now available to anyone. It currently has branches
throughout the world. It claims a membership of 70 million on China and 30
million elsewhere in the world. Theirs is not a religious organization in the
conventional sense of the term. They continually deny being a religion, cult or
sect. They are mainly "a network for transmitting information and
practices, in which people may dip on an incidental basis or more
regularly." 1

Falun Dafa was registered with the Qugong Research Association of China in
1992. However, it became obvious that Qugong's emphasis on "healing
illnesses and keeping fit, as well as displaying supernormal powers at
exhibitions" did not match Falun Dafa's emphasis on "genuinely guiding
people to higher dimensions." So Li Hongzhi withdrew the movement from the
Association. By this time, the Chinese government had become concerned about the
popularity of the Falun Dafa. The number of Falun Dafa practitioners had
exceeded the number of people in the Communist Party. In fact, Falun Dafa had
included many part members. The government refused them permission to join any
other association. Thus they have remained without legal protection or status in
China.

Li Hongzhi left China in 1996, and now resides in New York state. He speaks
at annual Experience-Sharing Conferences.

About 10,000 Falun Dafa members engaged in a peaceful gathering outside the
Communist Party headquarters in Beijing on 1999-APR-25. On 1999-MAY-9, three
students were fired from a university in Dalian City, China for practicing Falun
Gong. One student was expelled. In subsequent months, practitioners were
harassed in various areas of the country, as they were performing group
exercises. Some practitioners were told that their phones were being monitored
and that if they continued, their retirement pensions would be terminated.
Police and other officials started to break into practitioner's homes and
confiscate Falun Gong material. Some followers have been arrested and have
disappeared from sight. 12 Thousands of members demonstrated peacefully in about
30 Chinese cities.

The group was outlawed on 1999-JUL-22. The government accused it of
"spreading fallacies, hoodwinking people, inciting and creating
disturbances and jeopardizing social stability." 9 On JUL-23, Master LI
called on "all governments, international organizations, and people of
goodwill worldwide to extend their support and assistance to us in order to
resolve the current crisis in China." 11 On JUL-29, Chinese authorities
issued an arrest warrant for Master Li. According to the official Xinhua News
Agency, the Ministry of Publ

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