Falun Gong

Falun Gong
The Falun Dafa emblem
Traditional Chinese法輪功
Simplified Chinese法轮功
Literal meaningDharma Wheel Work
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinFǎlún Gōng
Wade–GilesFa3-lun2 Kung1
IPA[fàlwə̌n kʊ́ŋ]
Hakka
Pha̍k-fa-sṳFap-lùn-kûng
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationFaat-leùhn Gūng
JyutpingFaat3 leon4 gung1
IPA[fat̚˧ lɵn˩ kʊŋ˥]
Southern Min
Hokkien POJHoat-lûn-kong
Eastern Min
Fuzhou BUCHuák-lùng-gŭng
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese法輪大法
Simplified Chinese法轮大法
Literal meaningGreat Dharma Wheel Practice
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinFǎlún Dàfǎ
Wade–GilesFa3-lun2 Ta4-fa3
IPA[fàlwə̌n tâfà]
Hakka
Pha̍k-fa-sṳFap-lùn Thai-fap
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationFaat-leùhn Daaih-faat
JyutpingFaat3 leon4 daai6 faat3
IPA[fat̚˧ lɵn˩ taj˥ fat̚˧]
Southern Min
Hokkien POJHoat-lûn Tāi-hoat
Eastern Min
Fuzhou BUCHuák-lùng Dâi-huák

Falun Gong (UK: /ˌfɑːlʊn ˈɡɒŋ, ˌfæl-, -ˈɡʊŋ/ FAH-lun GONG, FAL-, -⁠GUUNG, US: /- ˈɡɔːŋ/ -⁠GAWNG)[1] or Falun Dafa (/ˈdɑːfə/ DAH-fə; lit. 'Dharma Wheel Practice') is a new religious movement.[9] Falun Gong was founded by its leader Li Hongzhi in China in the early 1990s. Falun Gong has its global headquarters in Dragon Springs, a 173-hectare (427-acre) compound in Deerpark, New York, United States, near the residence of Li Hongzhi.[10][11][12][13]

Led by Li Hongzhi, who is viewed by adherents as a deity-like figure, Falun Gong practitioners operate a variety of organizations in the United States and elsewhere, including the dance troupe Shen Yun.[14][15] They are known for their opposition to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), espousing anti-evolutionary views, opposition to homosexuality and feminism, and rejection of modern medicine, among other views described as "ultra-conservative".[16]

The Falun Gong also operates the Epoch Media Group, which is known for its subsidiaries, New Tang Dynasty Television and The Epoch Times newspaper. The latter has been broadly noted as a politically far-right[30] media entity, and it has received significant attention in the United States for promoting conspiracy theories, such as QAnon and anti-vaccine misinformation, and producing advertisements for former U.S. President Donald Trump. It has also drawn attention in Europe for promoting far-right politicians, primarily in France and Germany.[12][21][31][32]

Falun Gong emerged from the qigong movement in China in 1992, combining meditation, qigong exercises, and moral teachings rooted in Buddhist and Taoist traditions.[33][34][35] While supported by some government agencies,[36][37] Falun Gong's rapid growth and independence from state control led several top officials to perceive it as a threat, resulting in periodic acts of harassment in the late 1990s.[34][38][39] On April 25, 1999, over 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners gathered peacefully outside the central government compound in Beijing, seeking official recognition of the right to practice their faith without interference.[40][41]

In July 1999, the government of China implemented a ban on Falun Gong, categorizing it as an "illegal organization". Mass arrests, widespread torture and abuses followed.[42][43] In 2008, U.S. government reports cited estimates that as much as half of China's labor camp population was made up of Falun Gong practitioners.[44][45] In 2009, human rights groups estimated that at least 2,000 Falun Gong practitioners had died from persecution by that time.[46] A 2022 United States Department of State report on religious freedom in China stated that "Falun Gong practitioners reported societal discrimination in employment, housing, and business opportunities".[47] According to the same report: "Prior to the government's 1999 ban on Falun Gong, the government [of China] estimated there were 70 million adherents. Falun Gong sources estimate that tens of millions continue to practice privately, and Freedom House estimates there are seven to 20 million practitioners."[47]

  1. ^ Wells, John C. (2008), Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.), Longman, ISBN 978-1405881180
  2. ^ Junker, Andrew. 2019. Becoming Activists in Global China: Social Movements in the Chinese Diaspora, pp. 23–24, 33, 119, 207. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1108655897
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  8. ^ Ownby, David (2004). "The Falun Gong: A New Religious Movement in Post-Mao China". In Lewis, James R.; Petersen, Jesper Aagaard (eds.). Controversial New Religions (1st ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 195–196. ISBN 978-0-19-515682-9.
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  11. ^ van der Made, Jan (13 May 2019). "Shen Yun: Fighting Communism - and making a stack on the side". Radio France Internationale. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  12. ^ a b Zadrozny, Brandy; Collins, Ben (20 August 2019). "Trump, QAnon and an impending judgment day: Behind the Facebook-fueled rise of The Epoch Times". NBC News. Archived from the original on 23 August 2019. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  13. ^ Campbell, Eric; Cohen, Hagar (20 July 2020). "The power of Falun Gong". ABC News. Archived from the original on 8 September 2022. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  14. ^ Maloney, Carolyn. "In Recognition of Shen Yun; Congressional Record Vol. 168, No. 41". congress.gov. Archived from the original on 20 June 2023. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  15. ^ Knutsen, Elise (5 July 2011). "Shen Yun Performance Brings Out Stars And Awareness". The Observer. Archived from the original on 17 March 2023. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  16. ^ * Junker, Andrew (2019). Becoming Activists in Global China: Social Movements in the Chinese Diaspora. Cambridge University Press. p. 99. ISBN 978-1108482998. Archived from the original on 5 April 2023. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  17. ^ Kaiser, Jonas (2019). "In the heartland of climate scepticism: A hyperlink network analysis of German climate sceptics and the US right wing". In Forchtner, Bernard (ed.). The Far Right and the Environment: Politics, Discourse and Communication. Routledge. p. 265. ISBN 978-1351104029.
  18. ^ Weisskircher, Manès (11 September 2020). "Neue Wahrheiten von rechts außen? Alternative Nachrichten und der 'Rechtspopulismus' in Deutschland" [New truths from the far-right? Alternative news and 'right-wing populism' in Germany]. Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen (in German). 33 (2). De Gruyter: 474–490. doi:10.1515/fjsb-2020-0040. ISSN 2192-4848. S2CID 222004415. In Deutschland existiert eine Vielzahl an alternativen Nachrichten-Plattformen von Rechtsaußen. Der Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2019 nennt Junge Freiheit, Compact online, PI News und Epoch Times als Plattformen mit der häufigsten Nutzung (Newman 2019: 86). [In Germany there is a large number of alternative news platforms from the far-right. The Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2019 names Junge Freiheit, Compact online, PI News and Epoch Times as the platforms with the most frequent use (Newman 2019: 86).]
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  20. ^ Alba, Davey (9 May 2020). "Virus Conspiracists Elevate a New Champion". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 1 December 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  21. ^ a b Hettena, Seth (17 September 2019). "The Obscure Newspaper Fueling the Far-Right in Europe". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Archived from the original on 2 July 2020. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  22. ^ Aspinwall, Nick (2 November 2020). "Guo Wengui and Steve Bannon Are Flooding the Zone With Hunter Biden Conspiracies". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 2 March 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  23. ^ Farhi, Paul (20 August 2020). "A 'loud mouth' writer says the White House broke its own briefing-room rules. So he did the same". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 31 December 2020. Retrieved 6 November 2020. Last week, McEnany admitted representatives from two far-right outfits, the Gateway Pundit and Epoch Times
  24. ^ Aspinwall, Nick (6 November 2020). "As Taiwan Watches US Election, It May Need Time to Trust a Biden Administration". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 12 February 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2020. That's likely due in large part to the presence of influential Chinese-language far-right media on the island, such as the Falun Gong-backed Epoch Times
  25. ^ Newton, Casey (12 May 2020). "How the 'Plandemic' video hoax went viral". The Verge. Archived from the original on 8 April 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2020. it won approving coverage from far-right outlets including the Epoch Times, Gateway Pundit, and Next News Network.
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  27. ^ Sommer, Will (19 October 2019). "Bannon Teams Up With Chinese Group That Thinks Trump Will Bring on End-Times". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 7 January 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2020. New Tang Dynasty is part of the Epoch Media Group, a collection of far-right media outlets linked to Falun Gong
  28. ^ Callery, James; Goddard, Jacqui (23 August 2021). "Most-clicked link on Facebook spread doubt about Covid vaccine". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 29 September 2022. Retrieved 22 December 2021. Facebook's data on the first quarter of this year shows that one of its most popular pages was an article by The Epoch Times, a far-right newspaper that has promoted QAnon conspiracy theories and misleading claims of voter fraud related to the 2020 US election.
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  34. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :7 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  35. ^ "Falun Gong: Popular spiritual practice". SFGate. 6 April 2008.
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  39. ^ Penny (2012), pp. 49–56
  40. ^ Penny (2012), pp. 1–3
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  47. ^ a b United States Department of State. 2022. "China 2022 International Religious Freedom Report". Online Archived 29 October 2023 at the Wayback Machine.