The Uber Political Falun Gong

Another Falun Gong Leader Dead

2010-01-25T00:24:00.000-08:00

Leader of Falun Gong in Japan dead.

This is not the first time prominent Falun Gong disciple have bit the dust despite of their cultivattion. UPFG covered this 3 years ago.

Falun Gong is a "personality-drive cult"

2009-04-08T20:51:00.000-07:00

The Asian Pacific Post, after tasting the fruit of their silence, decided to stand up and honestly report what we in the community already know - Falun Gong is a cult.

(Testamony from Ross Institute)

Li Hongzhi’s teachings also include the spinning "falun," which is a mystical "wheel of law" that he claims to be able to insert into his disciples’ abdomens telekinetically.

Such fantastic and exclusive claims about a leader fit the classic profile of a personality-driven cult.
...
While Li Hongzhi talks about "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance," neither he nor his followers actually demonstrate any tolerance concerning critical questions or inquiry.

(RI also exposed Falun gong's racist teaching)

In Mr. Li’s world view, mixed-race people are part of a plot, contrived by the evil extraterrestrials. "By mixing the races of humans, the aliens make humans cast off gods," he told a gathering in Switzerland in 1998.

Falun Gong Forsakens Freedome of Speech While Losing Yet Another Lawsuit

2009-02-17T00:08:00.000-08:00

Falun Gong's press company Epoch Printing in Burnaby refused to deliver local newspaper contracted to him, because an article in support of Falun Gong was too balanced and not 100% anti-communist.

Here's what Chinese In Vancouver had to say:

Falun Gong blocks publishing a paper that carries a story seems to be
sympathetic to them? Now you know what free speech these people claim they
treasure and are fighting for. It’s free only if you concur with their
views.
...
[Cui] and other senior members of the Falun Gong group in Vancouver felt
that the newspaper’s front page story was detrimental to their
cause.
...
Cui and his cabal did not like the “balanced” approach in the story.

Meanwhile, Falun Gong has lost yet another lawsuit - this time over illegal sidewalk structure in Vancouver BC. This thing is such an eye sore, I have personally boycotted Vancouver. I will not visit Vancouver ever again, not until this BS is taken down.

Falun Gong Loses CA Supreme Court Appeal

2008-09-12T15:52:00.000-07:00

Appearantly after losing district court appeal over rejected application for San Francisco's Chinese New Years parade and street fair, due to previous rule violations, they appealed the decision to the California Supreme Court.

They lost again.

I guess they will appeal to the US Supreme Court, UN, then perhaps even powerful aliens in beyond deminsions...

Falun Gong Protest Tactics Alienate Communities

2008-07-31T02:24:00.000-07:00

According to The Gospel Truth: Falun Gong by Tim Hume of NZ Star Times:

- Violation of parade rules have caused them to be barred from participation.

- Falun Gong newspaper Epoch Times continues to deny their affiliation with Falun Gong despite of financial ties.

- Their agitprop theater continues to victimize people by hiding the performance's affiliation with Falun Gong.

- Sarah Matheson, Epoch Times AU’s chief reporter clearly states FLG’s overly political goal - “We’re trying to dismantle communism in China.”

Falun Gong Loses Yet Another Appeal

2008-06-30T16:50:00.001-07:00

When Falun Gong was told they are not welcomed to the San Francisco Chinese parade due to previous violation, they sued, lost, appealed, and lost again:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/03/BACJ11219N.DTL

As the sponsor of the events, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce is
constitutionally entitled to bar participation by anyone who would
"interfere with the message the chamber seeks to communicate," the First
District Court of Appeal in San Francisco said Friday.

Falun Gong BS Angers Crowd in Flushing, NY

2008-05-27T00:16:00.000-07:00

Chinese people in Flushing, NY finally had enough of Falun Gong's BS, and started protesting their presence:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GrhN9DU7Yk&feature=related

During the 3 day quake mourning period, Falun Gong actually started drumming in front of the Flushing library, spread their political BS about the quake being punishment from God, and perpetuating the hoax that the massive earthquake was predicted:

The "quake prediction" hoax was already debunked:

http://www.google.com/search?q=earthquake+predicted+hoax

Who In The World Is "Susan Prager"?

2008-04-23T19:12:00.000-07:00

This woman has been busy playing her part as the Outreach Director of a "Human Rights Torch Relay" across America, part of Falun Gong's public opinion war in America.

If this is truely a grassroot effort, I applaud her. However in this case it appears our government may have a hand in this Falun Gong-sponsored HRTR.

***Susan Prager is also the Communications Director of "Friends of Falun Gong", a quasai-government group with congressional link that has paid over 6 million dollars to promote Falun Gong's intensely anti-Chinese political message in America:

http://www.google.com/search?q=Susan+Prager+Communications+Director+Friends+Falun+Gong

Did the 6 million dollars pay for Falun Gong's "agiprop theater", and this faux torch relay? All as parts of an orchestrated effort to promote anti-Chinese hysteria as it seems.

Money Trail between US Government And Falun Gong

2008-03-25T13:26:00.000-07:00

In a previous blog the financial connection between Epoch Times and Falun Gong Associations were revealed. Now, are there more funding sources for Falun Gong?

Would you believe that US Congress may be funding Falun Gong? A quasi-government group found in the public records seem to suggest there's another one of those "Charlie Wilson's War" going on.

Here's the non-profit - Friends of Falun Gong. It is founded by former congressman Tom Lanto's wife, Annette Lantos, and Ambassador Mark Palmer, who is linked to National Endowment for Democracy:

http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2001/134/145/2001-134145670-1-9.pdf
(page 4, list of directors)

It appears over 6 million dollars have been funneled to Falun Gong via this group in 5 years:

http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2005/134/145/2005-134145670-028e40ed-9.pdf
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2004/134/145/2004-134145670-01d39938-9.pdf
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2003/134/145/2003-134145670-1-9.pdf
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2002/134/145/2002-134145670-1-9.pdf

So what is all this millions for? Public opinion? Ideological war? Foreign policy implement? Your guess is as good as mine.

Falun Gong's Dishonest China Reporting

2008-03-21T12:52:00.001-07:00

Here's another example of Falun Gong newspaper Epoch Times' biased and dishonest reporting about events in China:

http://en.epochtimes.com/news/6-11-29/48739.html

Above article mentioned a "house church" leader secretly being executed, and cherry picks the defendant's lawyer to quote. Don't all defense lawyer claim innocence?

Never mind the "truth", the fact is the "House Church", Three Grades of Servants, is in reality a cult of Christianity that was killing people:

http://www.apologeticsindex.org/202-three-grades-of-servants

"The Three Grades", and their rival "The Eastern Light" are unregistered/underground Christian sects banned by the Chinese government - because they were killing eachother in order to retain and compete for membership.

These "cult of Christianity", thou in name are Christian, do not even believe in the Bible. For example The Eastern Light believes Christ has returned to Earth - in the form of an invisible woman. The Three Grade's Leader, Xu Shuangfu, actually named himself as the Messiah reborn.
Contrary to what Epoch Times reported, an open trial determined his guilt and punishment.

UPDATE

Another report of this violent cult from NY Times:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E04E6D9153EF936A15752C1A9629C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

UK Media Labels Falun Gong Show "Propaganda"

2008-02-24T21:33:00.000-08:00

"Shen Yun: Propaganda as entertainment"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/02/25/btshen125.xml

This show is advertised as a Chinese spectacular - a kind of Eastern version of Cirque du Soleil. It is nothing of the kind.

Acrobatics, singing and dancing skills are used in the service of a propaganda exercise on the part of Falun Gong

the teachings of a man who believes that aliens live among us and that homosexuality and mixed-raced marriages are degenerate... seems a long way from the "truthfulness, compassion and forbearance" presented

politically motivated performance is being smuggled on to stages around Europe in the name of family entertainment

Falun Gong's Lying Politics Exposed Yet Again

2008-02-13T23:45:00.000-08:00

Looks like Hong Kong's Falun Dafa Association lied to the HK High Court. So much for Truthfulness:

http://www.rthk.org.hk/rthk/news/englishnews/20080213/news_20080213_56_467958.htm

The High Court has refused to review an Immigration Department decision to deny
entry to hundreds of overseas Falun Gong followers during last year's tenth anniversary of the handover. The judge said the association had deliberately
misled the court into believing there was an urgent need for a judicial review.

http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/menuitem.2c913216495213d5df646910cba0a0a0/?vgnextoid=d87d1eb93c318110VgnVCM100000360a0a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=teaser&ss=Hong+Kong&s=News

Hong Kong head of the Falun Gong had deliberately misled the High Court about his knowledge of a supposed ban on members of the movement

NY Times: Audience Walk Out Of Falun Gong "Agiprop Theater"

2008-02-08T16:09:00.001-08:00

From New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/06/nyregion/06splendor.html

members of the audience, in twos and fours and larger groups, began to walk out. At intermission, dozens of people, perhaps a few hundred, were leaving. They had realized that the show was not simply a celebration of the Chinese New Year, but an outreach of Falun Gong

Here's the definition of "agiprop":

political strategy in which the techniques of agitation and propaganda are used to influence and mobilize public opinion. Although the strategy is common, both the label and an obsession with it were specific to the Marxism

Irony abound. Thank you Gary Wong.

Toronto Star: Falun Gong New Years Show "Propaganda"

2008-01-28T10:01:00.000-08:00

From the Toronto Star:

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/295651

(Falun) Gong New Year event mere propaganda
You don't get well, but you do get the point at tacky New Year event
Jan 20, 2008
Susan Walker
...
The production is so heavily laden with Falun Gong messages as
to negate any pleasure the dancing and singing might have afforded.

Falun Gong Paper Epoch Times Caught Lying Again

2007-09-27T23:56:00.000-07:00

Here, Epoch Times is among the Falun Gong "Echo Chamber" that passed off photo of a woman suffering from advanced stage breast cancer as evidence of torture:

http://en.epochtimes.com/news/5-10-21/33602.html

Thank you to the physician blogger who exposed this propaganda:

http://rambodoc.wordpress.com/2007/09/17/is-the-falun-gong-going-wrong/

Epoch Times Reporters Gone Wild

2007-04-10T21:35:00.000-07:00

It seems FLG paper Epoch Times' reporters have been going wild lately - running around attacking people, accusing them of being "spies" when folks object to their propaganda.

Here are some examples:

Teresa Monroe Hamilton of noisyroom.net fame
Canadian progressive blogger Balbulican
And of course Yours Truly

Three of us have one thing in common - we've all been outed as Chinese spies by Epoch Times reporter Jana Shearer.

Also Jana and her kooky friends have become increasingly slanderous:

Not only are we Chinese spies, we are also double agents working for the Russians.
We ain't busy enough with multiple espionage gigs; we also blatantly operate a jihadist terror website "My Qaeda" (don't know what it is, honestly) - all under the watchful eye of the US Homeland Security. Yes, just one eye. How else can you explain this?

Is this an isolated case of reporter gone wild? Nope, other Epoch Times reporters have also Falun Gong Wild:

Epoch Times NY reporter Lorraine Kabacinski had demanded BF turn over his phone records showing contacts with the Chinese government, only to decline when said phone records were made available to her.
Epoch Times reporter Jan Jekielek accused BF of being "an agent", then retracted such slander after BF offered to meet him to clear things up. No Jan, your "okay you might be an agent" half-ass apology is not accepted.

And you think Epoch Times' lack of journalistic integrety stops here? Guess again, it appears even Epoch Times editors are in on it.

So much for Truth, Compassion, Forbearance...

Falun Gong Declares War On Major Religions

2007-04-02T23:18:00.000-07:00

This doomsday message seems to suggest Falun Gong's collective schizophrenia is getting worse.

What Falun Gong's "Living Buddah" said about "the last leg of their journey" is from FLG's official website:

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2007/3/1/83138.html

For quite some time now, the old forces and all of the meddling deities in the Three Realms that play a negative role have been having a terrible impact.
...
Among them are so-called "gods" who control the major religions of man, and who I asked to leave the Three Realms when I first began to impart the Fa
...
especially when it comes to those meddling gods that control religions and are hostile towards Fa-rectification and Dafa disciples' saving of sentient beings: disintegrate them completely.

Falun Gong Leaders Are Dying - So Much For "Healthy Exercise" Or "Live Forever"

2007-03-24T21:31:00.001-07:00

The most faithful, cultivate more than the ordinary world combined - prominent "leadership" level FLG disciples are dying from untreated and untreatable diseases?

How is that possible? Okay not to speak ill of the dead, perhaps their "cultivation" has "consummated", and they are laughing at me way up there in their "Dafa Heaven"?

You be the judge:

February 07 - German FLG leader Zhu GenMei (my pinyin is bad) dead after refusing treatment for diabetes and died from complication of the disease.

June 06 - Lilly Fong, the FLG doctor who proselytized "FLG's amazing healing power", died from pancreatic cancer. When she finally checked into the hospital in June, the only treatment left was pain management.

March 06 - FLG's NTDTV executive Li GuoDong - one of Master Li's favorite pupil, died of liver cancer. Not even The Buddha Reincarnate could save him.

These deaths continue to be hush-hush; no public memorial or even a word from Master Li. I usually don't see anything on the Net for months - but the latest February FLG leadership death is hitting the blogs only after one month.

I guess some FLG disciples have decided maybe they should seek medical attention, after all.

Falun Gong's CIA Connection

2007-03-16T09:25:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder how a bunch of people supposedly into meditation and detachment ever got so organized?

If the name "Robert Helvey" doesn't ring a bell you need to check it out for yourself :

http://www.google.com/search?q=Falun+Gong+Robert+Helvey+NED

(backgrounder: after Reagan's failed "War on Drugs" South American policy and CIA blunders, funding for CIA's covert activities were redirected to the National Endowment for Democracy, the NED - to overtly conduct what CIA conducted covertly.)

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_308.shtml

[Col. Robert] Helvey "was an officer of the Defence Intelligence Agency of the Pentagon, who had served in Vietnam and, subsequently, as the US Defence Attache in Yangon, Myanmar (1983 to 85), during which he clandestinely organised the Myanmarese students to work behind Aung San Suu Kyi and in collaboration with Bo Mya's Karen insurgent group. . . . He also trained in Hong Kong the student leaders from Beijing in mass demonstration techniques which they were to subsequently use in the Tiananmen Square incident of June 1989" and "is now believed to be acting as an adviser to the Falun Gong

Deceitful Falun Gong Media Outlets Deny Their Roots

2007-03-02T22:04:00.000-08:00

Why would Falun Gong propaganda departments (opps, media outlets) like Epoch Times, NTDTV, Sound of Hope, ever deny their association with Falun Gong? Maybe they are ashamed of Master Li's teachings like "Jesus only saves white people"?

Recently, Falun Gong radio Sound of Hope's Chicago manager Yi Liu denied SoH's association with Falun Gong, while US congressional researcher documented SoH's link with Falun Gong:

"FLG followers are affiliated with several mass media outlets, including Internetsites. These includeThe Epoch Times, a newspaper distributed for free in eight languages and 30 countries (with adistribution of 1.5 million); New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV), a non-profit Chinese language station based in New York with correspondents in 50 citiesworldwide; and Sound of Hope, a northern California radio station founded by FLG members."

Also last month, Epoch Times' Chairman Stephen Gregory denied Epoch's association with Falun Gong while the money trail between Epoch and Falun Gong leadership is an open secret.

In a conversation with a reporter who looked into FLG, I got this response:

For a movement that prides itself on "seeking out the truth," they certainly seem to do a lot of "spinning."

Frankly I'm not suprised. If FLG disciples wish to claim "Truthfullness", they better stop these unethical, dishonest behavior.

Epoch Times Sensationalist Tendencies

2007-02-15T13:04:00.000-08:00

Recently 6 Falun Gong disciples in Singapore went thru the ringers to fight a civil infraction and got the book thrown at them:

So how did tickets that're usually given to fake Rolex hawkers on the streets ever got blown up so much, the judge was pissed off and imposed the maxium fine?

Epoch Times.

Appearantly Falun Gong's paid-for media outlet Epoch Times sent a reporter, Jaya Gibson, to Singapore, got a lawyer, and proceeded to generate news for Falun Gong by fighting this ticket.

As you can see, it's not that they couldn't find a lawyer. The fact of the matter is Jaya Gibson is also a Falun Gong disciple, and he drove their lawyer into a mental breakdown after reading Falun Gong's bible for 7 hours straight.

Here's Jaya Gibson's own words. Count how many times Jaya used the term "evil".

[March 13, 2007 - It seems Jaya is so proud of his truth clarifying blog post, he has deleted it. But you can still see it from Singabloodypore's mental break down link above.]

Falun Gong Loses Yet Another Lawsuit

2007-02-14T13:05:00.000-08:00

After being banned from the San Francisco Chinese New Year parade for violating the parade's rule, Falun Gong resorted to questioning San Francisco Asian community leader's collective loyalty:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20070214-1113-ca-falungong-parade.html

"Superior Court Judge Patrick Mahoney sided with the Human Rights Commission's conclusion that the Chinese Chamber of Commerce was within its rights to keep Falun Gong out of the parade."

This is not the first time Falun Gong have employed frivolous lawsuits to supress and silence innocent critics, nor is this the first time Falun Gong have used the "Chinese spy everywhere" Anti-Chinese hysteria to slander the community as a whole.

Another Example of Falun Gong's Hidden Propaganda

2007-02-12T23:10:00.000-08:00

Recently Falun Gong media outlet Epoch Times announced formation of Doctors Against Organ Harvesting, and talked about these doctors and their organization.

Sounds kosher, right? Wrong. A little bit of digging revealed all the doctors in DAOH are Falun Gong disciples. Heck, every one listed in the contact page is a Falun Gong disciple, just Google their names with the keyword "Dafa". For example:

PR Manager, Elisabeth Reynolds

BTW, Elisabeth Reynolds is also a staffer of the Epoch Times. How ironic that Falun Gong's symbole is a full circle.

Falun Gong Loses Another Frivolous Lawsuit

2006-12-10T02:58:00.000-08:00

Here's yet another example of Falun Gong's harrasement of critics. The goal of these frivolous lawsuits are not to prevail but to harass and silent critics. Here's what Quebec Superior Court justice Jeannine Rousseau wrote in her ruling against Falun Gong:

[39] Amongst the characteristics of Master Li's teachings are the rejection of science as being misleading and dangerous, the promise of supernatural powers, amongst which a rotating wheel in the stomach of practitioners to purify them, constant health, rejuvenation, and the ability to see into other spatial dimensions.

[40] It is a controversial movement, which does not accept criticism.

Experts Discussion: "What Is Falun Gong?"

2006-11-16T21:07:00.000-08:00

In depth discussion about the true nature of Falun Gong from Guns And Butter:

Nov 01, 2006

The Falun GongFalun Gong: Is it an exercise group, a meditation group, a cult, a well-financed anti-communist group - you decide. Live show with Samuel Luo, whose parents are both prominent members; and China commentator and co-chair of the U.S./China Peoples Friendship Association, David Ewing; with listener call-ins.

Falun Gong's Teaching On Racial Purity

2006-11-02T23:15:00.000-08:00

How did stuff like this go unnoticed in a self-proclaimed Christian nation, and how could Christians worship in the alter of Falun Gong politics? One can not serve two Gods right?

Here's what Falun Gong's Master Li said:

"The races in the world are not allowed to be mixed up."

"Jesus told people not to spread the teaching in the East. I have also found no oriental people in Jesus' paradise."

Also, Master Li believes interracial children are result dharma-ending degeneration:

"the races are mixed up and it has brought about an extraordinarily serious problem."

“if one is not from his race or does not belong to his people, [Jesus/Buddah] will not take care of him. This is the truth, and it is not that I’m making up something here. What I am telling everyone are heavenly secrets. All interracial children were born in the Dharma-ending period. People are not to be blamed for it, because everyone is drifting in the tide, and nobody knows the truth.”

So Who Promoted Falun Gong In China? Why?

2006-10-17T12:58:00.000-07:00

Short answer: CCP power struggle.

Falunn Gong was promoted by the CCP in 1990's, while CCP was going thru this "making saint" period where aging cadres were trying to renew their infludence and build a power base with Falun Gong - the same cadres that once were Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution:

http://atimes.com/china/CA30Ad01.html

"In the following months the authorities collected more evidence of a Falungong plot. The sect's leader, Li Hongzhi, had been in Beijing briefly to finalize plans for the April demonstration. The actual organizer of the Zhongnanhai siege was a retired general, Yu Changxin. (On January 6, 2000, the 74-year-old general was sentenced to 17 years in jail, which at his age amounted to a life sentence.)

Furthermore, the very organization of the sect pointed to a politically motivated force. It was structured on the model of the Chinese Communist Party, with cells and an underground central committee, local stations in every province and three lines of cadres ready to replace those who would be arrested in case of a crackdown."

Dr. Penny's research on Falun Gong

2006-09-12T16:21:00.000-07:00

Australia National Congress researcher Dr. Benjamin Penny looked into Falun Gong as a popular movent and FLG's political history in China:

http://www.nla.gov.au/grants/haroldwhite/papers/bpenny.html

"The Zhongnanhai protest clearly caught the Chinese leadership as much by surprise as it did the foreign press. The date 25 April 1999 was, of course, only about six weeks before the 10th anniversary of the brutal suppression of the students’ occupation of Tiananmen and most eyes, local and foreign, were fixed firmly on that. Some of the later, much more extreme, official reaction to Falun Gong can perhaps be put down to the state of mind of the leadership at that very particular time.

This unusual protest did not, of course, come out of nowhere. The specific and particular spur for it actually took place outside Beijing itself, in nearby Tianjin. On 11 April a small magazine aimed at youngsters called Teenage Science and Technology Outlook published an article by He Zuoxiu called ‘I’m Opposed to Qigong Practise by Teenagers’ which inter alia, was critical of qigong in general and Falun Gong in particular. He, one of China’s most eminent physicists, who is famous for helping design China’s hydrogen bomb in the 1960s, described as nonsense a Falun Gong claim that an engineer, by practising Falun Gong, was able to separate his ‘true’ spirit from his body and enter a steel-smelting furnace. At another point, He writes, ‘I mentioned that a postgraduate in my institute had two relapses of mental disorder each time after he practised Falun Gong’.3 In response, several thousand Falun Gong practitioners protested outside the offices of the magazine. Their protests were met with action by police, and some people were detained. In my introduction I noted the difficulties with different sources of information on Falun Gong. Here is a case in point. Falun Gong sources, including the very sympathetic Danny Schechter, author of the recent book Falun Gong’s Challenge to China : Spiritual Practice or ‘Evil Cult’?, say that it was riot police who were involved and that 45 people were arrested.4 The journalists of Asiaweek magazine say that ‘police’ detained five people.5 The day after the protest, The South China Morning Post quoted ‘a demonstrator’ in the Beijing gathering to the effect that ‘50 people were detained by police; someone was also beaten up’.6 Whatever the case, the response of Falun Gong was to seek redress from the leadership of the country by going to them and, albeit very quietly and politely, making it clear that they would not be treated so shabbily."

Why Falun Gong Was Banned In China

2006-08-23T11:58:00.000-07:00

Here's a San Francisco man's blog on this issue:

http://www.falungonginfo.org/fgban01.html

The Death of 1,404 Falun Gong Practitioners

According to the Chinese government, 1,404 Falun Gong practitioners died unnecessarily before the ban in July, 1999. These deaths were caused mainly for two reasons: not seeking needed medical treatment and suicide. As documented in the book Li Hongzhi & His "Falun Gong": Deceiving the Public and Ruining Lives, the deaths took place in 29 provinces or cities in China. Among these deaths, 1,218 practitioners died because they did not seek medical treatment when needed, 37 died during practicing the exercises, 109 committed suicide and 40 died of other causes.1

On the 23rd of July, one day after the Falun Gong was banned, Li Hongzhi in New York issued the following statement:

I have enabled more than 100 million people to achieve health. Countless terminally ill patients have recovered and have become healthy. This is a fact. As for those who are critically ill or mentally ill, I have always advised against them learning Falun Gong. Yet some people nonetheless insisted on learning it without my knowledge. In those situations, is it fair to say that this kind of individual who died of his own illness was actually a practitioner of mine?2

While Li takes credit for helping countless “terminally ill patients” to become healthy, he argues that those other 1,404 critically ill or mentally ill patients who died were not qualified to be his practitioners, therefore he shouldn’t be responsible for their deaths.

The Harassment of Innocent Critics of the Falun Gong

“Seriously disrupting public order” was the other main charge the Chinese government used to justify its ban on the Falun Gong. According to the government these serious disruptions included blocking “government institutions and news agencies.”11 Although no list was made of these disruptions, the protest on April 25, 1999, in which more than 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners surrounded the Chinese leaders’ compound in Beijing, was certainly one of them.

Falun Gong practitioners claim that their April 25, 1999 protest was a response to the government’s mistreatment of the group. Citing the banning of Falun Gong books in July 1996, and an investigation of the group in the early 1997, practitioners claim that their mistreatment was directed by some “communist leaders” who were concerned about the Falun Gong because of its popularity. According to this view, the April 25th protest was the only way for the practitioners to express their concern.

Were Falun Gong practitioners being mistreated by the government before the protest on April 25th? Published information indicates that the Chinese Culture and Publication department did ban Falun Gong books, as well as other books, on July 24, 1996 because they violated the law against spreading superstition, and that the Public Safety Bureau had investigated the activities of the Falun Gong in 1997. However the ban of Falun Gong books was not enforced and these books continued being printed and sold throughout China. The investigation by the Public Security department ended within the same year without taking any action against the Falun Gong.

The best evidence to prove that before April 25th Falun Gong practitioners were freely practicing their exercises without mistreatment from the government can be found on the Falun Gong websites. In one article – published five months before the April 25th protest by a major newspaper in China – the public was told about an event involving 5,000 practitioners doing their morning exercises in a park, while city officials visited the practice site.12 Further evidence of an environment friendly to the Falun Gong is demonstrated by a March 4, 1999 award given by the Harbin Public Safety Bureau to a Falun Gong general assistant center located in the provincial city of Harbin. This public award, crediting Dafa practitioners for not keeping found money, was given less than two months before the April 25th protest.13 With examples like these showing that Falun Gong was being freely practiced in China at the time we have to ask the question: Why did 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners gather to protest in Beijing on April 25, 1999?

During the Qigong boom of the 80’s and 90’s hundreds, if not thousands, of Qigong masters emerged. Because of the popularity of Qigong, many masters gained fame and fortune, especially those who claimed to have supernatural power. Li Hongzhi was surely the most prominent among these masters. His claims were beyond all others, and his group was the most visible. While positive reports and advertisements of these Qigong masters flooded the media, there were concerned people trying to warn the public about the fraudulent claims being made by these masters. Many of these Qigong critics were religious scholars, scientists and doctors who were outraged by the masters’ claims and their potential for doing harm. Unfortunately these critics were not organized or well funded, therefore their voices were seldom heard.

Although their voices were faint, the critics of fake Qigong masters did manage to get some publicity for their point of view from time to time. On April 11, 1999, a retired theoretical physicist, professor He Zuoxiu, published a short article which charged that by practicing Falun Gong a young student he knew suffered mental illness. The article appeared in Science and Technology for Youth, an obscure magazine published by Tianjin College of Education, 100 miles southeast of Beijing. Eight days after its publication, Falun Gong practitioners whose feelings had been hurt by this “extremely irresponsible article” besieged the publisher’s office in a protest.14 They presented three demands to the magazine company: 1) publicly apologize to the Falun Gong organization, 2) retrieve all magazines and destroy them, 3) publish an announcement to stop anyone from reprinting the article. Days went by and, in response to a total refusal by the publisher to meet their demands, the Falun Gong protesters increased their numbers dramatically.

By April 23rd, with more than 6,000 Falun Gong practitioners now encircling its offices, the publishing company had met its breaking point – they called in the police. Later that afternoon about four hundred police came and forced the Falun Gong practitioners to leave. About one dozen practitioners who refused to leave were arrested, but the conflict didn’t end there. That night and the next day about 2,500 Falun Gong practitioners encircled the Tianjin city hall demanding the release of those practitioners. After their demand was refused they and many others went to Beijing on the 25th, directly putting pressure on the central government leaders by surrounding their compound. According to the report of one of the practitioners’ representatives who talked to the government official on that day, their demands were that the central government: 1) require the Tianjin police to release the Falun Gong practitioners as soon as possible, 2) lift the ban against publishing Zhuan Falun, 3) allow a fair and lawful environment to practice Falun Gong.15

These demands from the practitioners clearly show that the Beijing protest was triggered by the Tianjin incident. While the practitioners demanded a “fair and lawful environment,” what they really were demanding was that the government use it’s power to stop anyone from criticizing Li Hongzhi and the Falun Gong. Yet they have never acknowledged that what they did was a violation of the law. Their prolonged protest against the Tianjin magazine company amounted to harassment against one of its critics and it was illegal.

The Tianjin incident was not the first time that Falun Gong practitioners had harassed critics before the April 25th protest. Ever since June 17, 1996, when the Guangming Daily published a critical article about the Falun Gong, practitioners had been harassing their critics by besieging media companies and demanding apologies. As reported by the Asia-week magazine, there were 77 incidents in China where Falun Gong practitioners had literally besieged their opponents over what they said was unfair coverage.16 Although these protests were not violent, they did interfere with business activities, while also issuing a veiled threat – no one can criticize master Li and the great law he teaches without suffering the consequences.

Wall Street Journal's Pulitzer winning backgrounder on the political nature of Falun Gong

2006-05-11T17:29:00.000-07:00

It's a fairly balanced reporting, eg. Chinese government is not let off the hook either.

http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2001/international-reporting/works/falungong9.html

By early June, the number of protesters outside Beijing TV had grown to 2,000 – all peaceful and orderly but shocking to authorities in Beijing, which hadn't seen a significant demonstration since the student protests in Tiananmen Square a decade earlier. With the ninth anniversary of those demonstrations rapidly approaching -- still a sensitive time on China's political calendar -- leaders ordered the television station to end the Falun Dafa protest at any cost.

The station quickly complied. To show goodwill, it handed out 2,000 boxed lunches and promised to air a sympathetic portrayal of the group. The next day, the show ran as promised, the protests dispersed and quiet returned to the Chinese capital.

Mr. He was incensed at the acquiescence. He did more research and found out that the party had regularly yielded to Falun Dafa protesters. Several media outlets -- estimates range as high as 14 -- had been besieged by Falun Dafa adherents angry at reports casting doubt on its claim to foster good health through exercise. In almost every case, the media had backed down, printing or airing apologies to Falun Dafa.

...

Falun Dafa enjoyed a banner year in 1998. Though its founder, Mr. Li, had emigrated to the U.S., he returned often to coordinate activities and stayed in close contact with practitioners through a tightly knit organization. Critics such as Mr. He continued their pinprick attacks, but the party's do-nothing policies coupled with Falun Dafa's militancy had marginalized them.

"The government was mostly supportive of us," says Zhang Erping, a Falun Dafa spokesman who lives in New York. "Many top leaders seemed to support us."

This impression was understandable but wrong. Most of China's leaders didn't accept or agree with Falun Dafa; their crude governing apparatus had simply kept them in the dark. That was about to change, not because leaders had become wiser, but because Falun Dafa was to make a tactical mistake.

As 1998 wound down, Mr. He decided to write a short commentary for a small student magazine called Science and Technology Knowledge for Youth. The article, "Why Young People Shouldn't Practice Qigong," was one of his typical blasts at all forms of qigong, which he said was more suitable to older, less-active people. Halfway through the article, he mentioned Falun Dafa and then, in a key phrase that angered the group, referred to Mr. Li in a mildly derisive term as its toutou, or "boss."

The response came quickly. The day after the magazine was printed, protesters arrived at its offices on the campus of Tianjin Normal University, located about 100 miles east of Beijing. From April 20 to 23, as many as 6,000 occupied the university, demanding a retraction. "The publishers called me," Mr. He says, reaching over to touch his green plastic rotary phone. "And asked me what was going on. I told them that as a science publication, they had better not print a retraction."

The magazine stood firm. Angry Falun Dafa members then made their fateful decision to seek help from the very top echelons of the party.