A presentation by: Jaimee Skidmore, Lacey Kondracki, and Pat Murray

The Founder: Li Hongzhi  Date of Birth: May 13 th, 1951/ July 7 th, 1952  Born in Gongzhuling, Jilin Province, China  Educated in China.  Believed in supernatural powers.  Claimed to study qigong since the age of 4  Developed Falun Gong and taught it to followers.  Known as “master” or “teacher”  Exiled from China.  Moved to Queens, NY.

Hongzhi established The Research Society of Falun Gong in 1992 and named himself president Published many books, videos, and tapes in order to financially support Falun Gong teaching workshops

History of Falun Gong  the practice of Falun Dafa is made public by efforts of Master Li Hongzhi.  Prior to 1992, Falun Dafa had been verbally passed down through the years.  Unknown starting date.  Believed to be one of the oldest practices of meditation in China.  Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucianism Influences  In 1999, Falun Gong banned from China.  Currently in 2006, Falun Gong is practiced throughout the world including China, Europe, the United States, and Canada.

Falun Gong: The Practice Physical and Mental Meditation Exercises known as Falun Dafa. To Cultivate One’s Mind, Body, and Overall Spirit Focus of All Energy on Abdomen Region of Body Between 3 million to 100 million practitioners Focuses on the virtues of Benevolence, Forbearance, and Truthfulness.

Ultimate Concern To become enlightened to the truth of human life and to cultivate oneself to higher levels of existence. According to Hongzhi, aliens are trouble to humanity and force people to rely on technology.

Ultimate Concern Cont’d Hongzhi’s view on interracial marriages: “Falun Gong is a cultivation of energy that allows its people to expand to the horizons of a higher existence. This higher existence is referred to as heaven. Within heaven, the yellow people, the white people, and the black people have corresponding races. Therefore, interracial children have no place in heaven” Hongzhi’s final goal is to “enable people to attain … complete the practice, and in the end they can free themselves from the worldly state … from the dimension that human beings think they know” (Time Asia 1999:3)

Falun Gong: The Symbolism  Influenced by Buddhist and Taoist religions  Swastikas symbolic of good fortune in Buddhist school.  Yin-Yang symbolic of good vs. evil in Taoist school.  All objects within the symbol appear to be in motion to signify energy in motion.  Entire symbol represents the universe and the cosmos.

Falun is a Chinese word meaning “wheel of law” Gong translates to “cultivate energy and capabilities” Falun Dafa is similar to Chinese Qigong Falun Gong practitioners do not worship a particular person, god, or object Spirituality is practiced through meditation

The Persecution

In 1998, China’s Falun Gong is publicly spoken out against by He Zuoxiu. -Marxist, Chinese Academy of Science delegate In 1999, the Falun Gong in China was labeled as a cult and thus banned from practice under Chinese Socialist Government. “Cult groups refer to those illegal groups that have been found using religion, Qigong, or other thing as a camouflage, deifying their leading members, recruiting and controlling their members and deceiving people by molding and spreading superstitious ideas, and endangering society” - Chinese Criminal Law Article 300 The practice of Falun Gong in China went against the ideals of the government.

The Response Peaceful protests that bring together Falun Gong practitioners by the masses. Hongzhi remains the main teacher of Falun Gong and serves his people voluntarily. Falun Gong has gained in popularity and has permanence in educational institutions such as Yale University. Falun Gong followers in China have received tremendous support from people around the world.

Recent Events Chinese Leader Hu Jintao visited Yale University on April 21 st, 2006 and was met by peaceful protestors who supported Falun Gong. Protestors urged the Communist leader to stop the persecution of the Falun Gong practitioners and provided human rights to all of China.