Falun Gong or Falun Dafa ("Dharma Wheel Practice" or "Law Wheel Practice") is a Chinese spiritual practice that combines meditation and qigong exercises with a moral philosophy centered on the tenets of truthfulness,compassion, and forbearance (Chinese: 真、善、忍). The practice emphasizes morality and the cultivation of virtue, and identifies as a qigong practice of the Buddhist school, though its teachings also incorporate elements drawn fromTaoist traditions.
History[]
Falun Gong was first taught publicly in Northeast China in 1992 by Li Hongzhi. It emerged toward the end of China's "qigong boom"—a period which saw the proliferation of similar practices of meditation, slow-moving exercises and regulated breathing.
Persecution of Falun Gong[]
In the 1990s, the Chinese Communist Party viewed Falun Gong as a threat to the stability of China. This was only years following the Tiananmen Square Protests and the PLA crackdown. Further reasons it was considered due to its size, independence from the state, and spiritual teachings. Tensions between Falun Gong practitioners and public security forces in April 1999 when 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners gathered peacefully near the central government compound in Beijing to request legal recognition and freedom from state interference. This demonstration is widely seen as catalyzing the persecution that followed. On July 20, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party initiated a massive crackdown against the practitioners of Falun Gong. It blocked Internet access to websites that mention Falun Gong, and in October 1999 the practice was declared a"heretical organization" that threatened social stability. Falun Gong practitioners in China are reportedly subject to a wide range of human rights abuses: hundreds of thousands are estimated to have been imprisoned extrajudicially and practitioners in detention are subject to forced labor, psychiatric abuse, torture, and other coercive methods of thought reform at the hands of Chinese authorities. Falun Gong practitioners who are killed by authorities are later harvested for their organs. These organs are then transported to customers abroad via the black market organ trade.
As a result of the persecution, countless practitioners have fled abroad and continue to practice the method in relative safety.
International Reactions[]
Falun Gong protest in New York City. The movement has seen popularity among Westerners in multicultural cities.
Majority of the international community has condemned the Chinese government over the persecution of Falun Gong. The United States Congress has passed six resolutions - House Concurrent Resolution 304, House Resolution 530, House Concurrent Resolution 188, House Concurrent Resolution 218, - calling for an immediate end to the campaign against Falun Gong practitioners both in China and abroad. The first, Concurrent Resolution 217, was passed in November 1999. The latest, Resolution 605, was passed on 17 March 2010 and calls for "an immediate end to the campaign to persecute, intimidate, imprison, and torture Falun Gong practitioners."
New Tang Dynasty Television's China Uncensored often covers Falun Gong and its persecution on its episodes on YouTube.
Falun Gong Outside China[]
Countless Chinese who now reside abroad practice Falun Gong in their new countries. Various practitioners are found in the Australia, Europe, Canada, the United States; among other parts of the globe. Many of these overseas Chinese that escaped persecution call for the stop of the killings. They have also called to bring former Chinese president Jiang Zhemin to justice, who was responsible for the persecution of these practitioners. Falun Gong marches are held in many cities in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada that emphasizes Falun Gong is not a threat.
The Chinese Insurgency[]
With outbreak of violence in Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Hong Kong, and Manchuria; overseas Falun Gong practitioners have expressed their support towards the rebels. Furthermore, they hope to see a new Chinese regime that is more tolerant towards this practice.
In rebel-held territories, countless have already freely practiced without the fear of persecution.
Videos[]
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