Editing Falun Gong (section)

==History inside China==
{{main|History of Falun Gong}}

Falun Gong developed during the China's [[qigong fever]].<ref name=":0" />{{Reference page|page=123}} Qigong practice had become a national phenomenon, and in the 1980s and 1990s people would gather in parks and other public places to practice qigong.<ref name=":0" />{{Reference page|page=123}} Some gatherings hosted thousands of people.<ref name=":0" />{{Reference page|page=123}} Qigong masters traveled around the country giving lectures, providing training, and establishing networks of qigong practice.<ref name=":0" />{{Reference page|page=123}}

===1992–1996===
Li Hongzhi introduced Falun Gong to the public on 13 May 1992, in Changchun, [[Jilin]] Province.<ref name=Ownbyfuture/> Several months later, in September 1992, Falun Gong was admitted as a branch of qigong under the administration of the state-run China Qigong Scientific Research Society (CQRS). Li was recognized as a qigong master, and was authorized to teach his practice nationwide.<ref name="Ownby (2003)">{{cite journal |first=David |last=Ownby |jstor=23615141 |title=The Falun Gong in the New World |journal=European Journal of East Asian Studies |date=September 2003 |volume=2 |issue=2 |page=306|doi=10.1163/15700615-00202006 }}</ref> Like many ''qigong'' masters at the time, Li toured major cities in China from 1992 to 1994 to teach the practice. He was granted a number of awards by PRC governmental organizations.<ref name=Ownbyfuture/><ref name="pennyharrold"/><ref name="Zfl">{{cite journal |url=http://www.trinity.edu/rnadeau/Chinese%20Religions/Li%20Hongzhi.htm |title=A Short Biography of Mr. Li Hongzhi |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041128133954/http://www.trinity.edu/rnadeau/Chinese%20Religions/Li%20Hongzhi.htm |archive-date=28 November 2004 |journal=PRC Law and Government |volume=32 |issue=6 |date=November–December 1999 |pages=14–23 |issn=0009-4609}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Zeng |first=Jennifer |year=2006 |title=Witnessing History: One Chinese Woman's Fight for Freedom |publisher=Soho Press |isbn=1569474214}}</ref>

According to academic David Ownby, Li became an "instant star of the qigong movement",<ref name="Ownby (2003)" /> and Falun Gong was embraced by the government as an effective means of lowering health care costs, promoting Chinese culture, and improving public morality. In December 1992, for instance, Li and several Falun Gong students participated in the Asian Health Expo in Beijing, where he reportedly "received the most praise [of any qigong school] at the fair, and achieved very good therapeutic results", according to the fair's organizer.<ref name=Ownbyfuture/> The event helped cement Li's popularity, and journalistic reports of Falun Gong's healing powers spread.<ref name=Ownbyfuture/><ref name=Pennyreligion/> In 1993, Li received a letter of appreciation from the Ministry of Public Security for providing treatment to around 100 police officers injured while on duty.<ref name="OW">{{harvp|Ownby|2008|p=89}}</ref>

Falun Gong had differentiated itself from other ''qigong'' groups in its emphasis on morality, low cost, and health benefits. It rapidly spread via word-of-mouth, attracting a wide range of practitioners from all walks of life, including numerous members of the Chinese Communist Party.<ref name=Lowe/><ref name="lum">{{cite report |first=Thomas |last=Lum |url=http://www.usembassy.it/pdf/other/RL33437.pdf |title=China and Falun Gong |id=Congressional Research Report #RL33437 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205064042/http://www.usembassy.it/pdf/other/RL33437.pdf |archive-date=5 February 2012 |publisher=Congressional Research Service |date=11 August 2006}}</ref>

From 1992 to 1994, Li did charge fees for the seminars he was giving across China, though the fees were considerably lower than those of competing qigong practices, and the local qigong associations received a substantial share.<ref name=Schechter/> Li justified the fees as being necessary to cover travel costs and other expenses, and on some occasions, he donated the money earned to charitable causes. In 1994, Li ceased charging fees altogether, thereafter stipulating that Falun Gong must always be taught for free, and its teachings made available without charge (including online).<ref>{{harvp|Ownby|2008|p=86}}</ref> Although some observers believe Li continued to earn substantial income through the sale of Falun Gong books,<ref>{{cite journal |first=Dai |last=Qing |title=Members of Falungong in an Autocratic Society |journal=Asia Quarterly |volume=IV |issue=3 |date=Summer 2000 |url=http://asiaquarterly.com/2006/01/28/ii-45/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402115951/http://asiaquarterly.com/2006/01/28/ii-45/ |archive-date=2 April 2012 |access-date=2011-10-20}}</ref> others dispute this, asserting that most Falun Gong books in circulation were bootleg copies.<ref name=wildgrass/>{{rp|224}}

With the publication of the books ''Falun Gong'' and ''[[Teachings of Falun Gong#Zhuan Falun, the Main Book of Falun Gong|Zhuan Falun]]'', Li made his teachings more widely accessible. ''Zhuan Falun'', published in January 1995 at an unveiling ceremony held in the auditorium of the Ministry of Public Security, became a best-seller in China.<ref>{{harvp|Schechter|2001|p=66}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Ownby|2008|p=72}}</ref> With its presentation of Li's religious teachings, ''Zhuan Falun'' marked Falun Gong's transition to a new religious movement.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Sun|first=Yanfei|title=Religious Change in Post-Mao China: Toward a New Sociology of Religion|date=2026|publisher=[[The University of Chicago Press]]|isbn=978-0-226-84585-2|location=Chicago}}</ref>{{Reference page|page=123}}

In 1995, Chinese authorities began looking to Falun Gong to solidify its organizational structure and ties to the party-state.<ref name=porterthesis/> Li was approached by the Chinese National Sports Committee, Ministry of Public Health, and China Qigong Science Research Association (CQRS) to jointly establish a Falun Gong association. Li declined the offer. The same year, the CQRS issued a new regulation mandating that all qigong denominations establish a Chinese Communist Party branch. Li again refused.<ref name=Palmer/>

Tensions continued to mount between Li and the CQRS in 1996. In the face of Falun Gong's rise in popularity—a large part of which was attributed to its low cost—competing ''qigong'' masters accused Li of undercutting them. According to Schechter, the ''qigong'' society under which Li and other ''qigong'' masters belonged asked Li to hike his tuition, but Li emphasized the need for the teachings to be free of charge.<ref name=Schechter/>

In March 1996, Falun Gong withdrew from the CQRS in response to mounting disagreements, after which time it operated outside the official sanction of the state. Falun Gong representatives attempted to register with other government entities, but were rebuffed.<ref>{{harvp|Palmer|2007|p=248}}</ref> Li and Falun Gong were then outside the circuit of personal relations and financial exchanges through which masters and their ''qigong'' organizations could find a place within the state system, and also the protections this afforded.<ref>{{harvp|Palmer|2007|p=295}}</ref>

===1996–1999===
Falun Gong's departure from the state-run CQRS corresponded to a wider shift in the government's attitudes towards qigong practices. As qigong's detractors in government grew more influential, authorities began attempting to rein in the growth and influence of these groups, some of which had amassed tens of millions of followers.<ref name=Ownbyfuture/> In the mid-1990s the state-run media began publishing articles critical of qigong.<ref name=Ownbyfuture/><ref name=Palmer/>

Falun Gong was initially shielded from the mounting criticism, but following its withdrawal from the CQRS in March 1996, it lost this protection. On 17 June 1996, the ''[[Guangming Daily]]'', an influential state-run newspaper, published a polemic against Falun Gong in which its central text, ''Zhuan Falun'', was described as an example of "feudal superstition".<ref name=Ownbyfuture/><ref name="Palmer249">{{harvp|Palmer|2007|p=249}}</ref> The author wrote that the history of humanity is a "struggle between science and superstition", and called on Chinese publishers not to print "pseudo-scientific books of the swindlers". The article was followed by at least twenty more in newspapers nationwide. Soon after, on 24 July, the CCP's [[Central Propaganda Department]] banned all publication of Falun Gong books (though the ban was not consistently enforced).<ref name=Palmer249/> The state-administered Buddhist Association of China also began issuing criticisms of Falun Gong, urging lay Buddhists not to take up the practice.<ref>{{harvp|Palmer|2007|p=263}}</ref>

The criticisms of Falun Gong were part of a larger movement opposing qigong organizations in the state-run media.<ref>{{harvp|Penny|2012|p=53}}.</ref> Falun Gong was not the only target of the media criticism, nor the only group to protest, but it was the most mobilized and steadfast response.<ref name="zhao" /> Thousands of Falun Gong followers wrote to ''Guangming Daily'' and to the CQRS to complain against the measures, claiming that they violated [[Hu Yaobang]]'s 1982 'Triple No' directive, which prohibited the media from either encouraging or criticizing qigong practices.<ref name=Palmer249/><ref>{{cite book |first=Sumner B. |last=Twiss |chapter=Religious Intolerance in Contemporary China, Including the Curious Case of Falun Gong |title=The World's Religions After 11 September |editor-first=Arvind |editor-last=Sharma |publisher=Greenwood |year=2009 |pages=227–240}}</ref> In other instances, Falun Gong practitioners staged peaceful demonstrations outside media or local government offices to request retractions of perceived unfair coverage.<ref name=Pennyreligion/> Many of Falun Gong's protests against negative media portrayals were successful, resulting in the retraction of several newspaper stories critical of the practice. This contributed to practitioners' belief that the media claims against them were false or exaggerated, and that their stance was justified.<ref>{{harvp|Ownby|2008|p=170}}</ref>

In June 1998, [[He Zuoxiu]], an outspoken critic of qigong and a fierce defender of Marxism, appeared on a talk show on [[Beijing Television]] and openly disparaged ''qigong'' groups, making particular mention of Falun Gong.<ref>{{harvp|Palmer|2007|pp=134, 252–256}}</ref> Falun Gong practitioners responded with peaceful protests and by lobbying the station for a retraction. The reporter responsible for the program was reportedly fired, and a program favorable to Falun Gong was aired several days later.<ref name="Jude Howell">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H80YZqSj7EEC&q=Governance+in+China+~+Jude+Howell&pg=PP1 |title=Governance and the Political Challenge of Falun Gong |last=Østergaard |first=Clemens Stubbe |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2003 |isbn=978-0742519886 |editor-last=Jude Howell |location=Lanham, Maryland |pages=214–223 |access-date=25 October 2020 |archive-date=5 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405191336/https://books.google.com/books?id=H80YZqSj7EEC&q=Governance+in+China+~+Jude+Howell&pg=PP1 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Dangerous">{{Cite book |title=Dangerous meditation: China's campaign against Falungong |last=Spiegel |first=Mickey |year=2001 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |location=New York |page=9 |isbn=156432270X |url=https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/2002/china/index.htm |access-date=25 April 2024 |archive-date=21 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321113113/http://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/2002/china/index.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Falun Gong practitioners also mounted demonstrations at 14 other media outlets.<ref name="Jude Howell"/>

In 1997, The Ministry of Public Security launched an investigation into whether Falun Gong should be deemed {{lang|zh-Latn|xie jiao}} ({{lang|zh|邪教}}, "heretical teaching"). The report concluded that "no evidence has appeared thus far".<ref>{{harvp|Palmer|2007|p=265}}</ref> The following year, however, on 21 July 1998, the Ministry of Public Security issued Document No. 555, "Notice of the Investigation of Falun Gong". The document asserted that Falun Gong is a "heretical teaching", and mandated that another investigation be launched to seek evidence in support of the conclusion.<ref name="Palmer267"/> Falun Gong practitioners reported having phone lines tapped, homes ransacked and raided, and Falun Gong exercise sites disrupted by public security agents.<ref name=Pennyreligion/>

In this time period, even as criticism of qigong and Falun Gong mounted in some circles, the practice maintained a number of high-profile supporters in the government. In 1998, [[Qiao Shi]], the recently retired [[chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress]], initiated his own investigation into Falun Gong. After months of investigations, his group concluded that "Falun Gong has hundreds of benefits for the Chinese people and China, and does not have one single bad effect."<ref>{{harvp|Penny|2012|p=56}}.</ref> In May of the same year, China's National Sports Commission launched its own survey of Falun Gong. Based on interviews with over 12,000 Falun Gong practitioners in [[Guangdong]] province,<ref name=Palmer/> they stated that they were "convinced the exercises and effects of Falun Gong are excellent. It has done an extraordinary amount to improve society's stability and ethics."

The practice's founder, Li Hongzhi, was largely absent from the country during the period of rising tensions with the government. In March 1995, Li had left China to first teach his practice in France and then other countries, and in 1998 obtained permanent residency in the United States.<ref name=Pennyreligion/><ref name=Palmer/><ref name="GallagherAshcraft2006">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ClaySHbUEogC&pg=PA174 |title=Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America: African diaspora traditions and other American innovations |last1=Gallagher |first1=Eugene V. |last2=Ashcraft |first2=W. Michael |publisher=Greenwood |year=2006 |isbn=978-0275987176 |page=174 |access-date=4 February 2012}}</ref>

By 1999, estimates provided by the [[State Sports Commission]] suggested there were 70 million Falun Gong practitioners in China.<ref name=Faison/><ref name="Schoff"/> An anonymous employee of China's National Sports Commission, was at this time quoted in an interview with U.S. News & World Report as speculating that if 100&nbsp;million had taken up Falun Gong and other forms of qigong there would be a dramatic reduction of health care costs and that "Premier Zhu Rongji is very happy about that."<ref name="BayFang" />

===Tianjin and Zhongnanhai protests===
By the late 1990s, the Chinese government's relationship to the growing Falun Gong movement had become increasingly tense. Reports of discrimination and surveillance by the Public Security Bureau were escalating, and Falun Gong practitioners were routinely organizing sit-in demonstrations responding to media articles they deemed to be unfair. The conflicting investigations launched by the Ministry of the Public Security on one side and the State Sports Commission and Qiao Shi on the other spoke of the disagreements among China's elites on how to regard the growing practice.<ref>{{harvp|Penny|2012|pp=55–56}}</ref>

In April 1999, an article critical of Falun Gong was published in [[Tianjin Normal University]]'s ''Youth Reader'' magazine. The article was authored by physicist He Zuoxiu who, as Porter and Gutmann indicate, is a relative of [[Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party|Politburo]] member and public security secretary [[Luo Gan]].<ref name=porterthesis/> The article cast qigong, and Falun Gong in particular, as superstitious and harmful for youth.<ref name="hezuoxiu">{{Cite web |url=http://www.cnfxj.org/Html/lgxd/2007-6/24/165513641.html# |trans-title=I do not agree with Youth Practicing ''Qigong'' |script-title=zh:我不赞成青少年炼气功 |author=He Zuoxiu |year=1999 |language=zh |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070714235247/http://www.cnfxj.org/Html/lgxd/2007-6/24/165513641.html |archive-date=14 July 2007}}</ref> Falun Gong practitioners responded by picketing the offices of the newspaper requesting a retraction of the article.<ref name="Palmer267">{{harvp|Palmer|2007|p=267}}</ref> Unlike past instances in which Falun Gong protests were successful, on 22 April the Tianjin demonstration was broken up by the arrival of three hundred riot police. Some of the practitioners were beaten, and forty-five arrested.<ref name=Schechter/><ref name=Palmer267/><ref name="Ownby171">{{harvp|Ownby|2008|p=171}}</ref> Other Falun Gong practitioners were told that if they wished to appeal further, they needed to take the issue up with the Ministry of Public Security and go to Beijing to appeal.<ref>{{harvp|Penny|2012|p=57}}</ref>

The Falun Gong community quickly mobilized a response, and on the morning of 25 April, upwards of 10,000 practitioners gathered near the central appeals office to demand an end to the escalating harassment against the movement, and request the release of the Tianjin practitioners. According to Benjamin Penny, practitioners sought 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".<ref name="pennyharrold"/> They sat or read quietly on the sidewalks surrounding the [[Zhongnanhai]].<ref name="Tong5">{{harvp|Tong|2009|p=5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Pomfret|first1=John|author-link1=John Pomfret (journalist)|last2=Laris|first2=Michael|date=1999-04-26|title=Silent Protest Draws Thousands to Beijing|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1999/04/26/silent-protest-draws-thousands-to-beijing/e0b7ee29-eec6-48ba-b6a6-5cd10980ec77/|access-date=2025-12-22|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

Five Falun Gong representatives met with Premier [[Zhu Rongji]] and other senior officials to negotiate a resolution. The Falun Gong representatives were assured that the regime supported physical exercises for health improvements and did not consider the Falun Gong to be anti-government.<ref name=Tong5/>

President [[Jiang Zemin]] was alerted to the demonstration by Luo Gan,<ref name=Zong/> and was reportedly angered by the audacity of the demonstration—the largest since the [[1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre]]. Jiang called for resolute action to suppress the group,<ref name=Tong2009/> and reportedly criticized Premier Zhu for being "too soft" in his handling of the situation.<ref name=Schechter/> That evening, Jiang composed a letter indicating his desire to see Falun Gong "defeated". In the letter, Jiang expressed concerns over the size and popularity of Falun Gong, and in particular about the large number of senior CCP members found among Falun Gong practitioners. He believed it possible foreign forces were behind Falun Gong's protests (Li Hongzhi had emigrated to the United States), and expressed concern about their use of the internet to coordinate a large-scale demonstration. Jiang also intimated that Falun Gong's moral philosophy was at odds with the [[Marxist–Leninist atheism|atheist values of Marxist–Leninism]], and therefore constituted a form of ideological competition.<ref>Jiang Zemin, Letter to Party cadres on the evening of 25 April 1999. Published in ''Beijing Zhichun'' no. 97 (June 2001)</ref>

Jiang is held by Falun Gong to be personally responsible for this decision to persecute Falun Gong.<ref name="peerman">{{Cite magazine|magazine=The Christian Century| date=10 August 2004| first= Dean | last= Peerman| title= China syndrome: the persecution of Falun Gong|url=https://www.christiancentury.org/article/2004-08/china-syndrome|volume=121 | issue=16|access-date=2023-05-19|archive-date=28 June 2009|archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090628140710/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_16_121/ai_n8702386/pg_4/}}</ref><ref name="Saich">{{cite book |first=Tony |last=Saich |title=Governance and Politics in China |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |edition=2nd |year=2004}}{{ISBN?}}</ref> Peerman cited reasons such as suspected personal jealousy of Li Hongzhi; Saich points to Jiang's anger at Falun Gong's widespread appeal, and ideological struggle as causes for the crackdown that followed. [[Willy Wo-Lap Lam]] suggests Jiang's decision to suppress Falun Gong was related to a desire to consolidate his power within the Politburo.<ref name="HP">{{cite web |last=Lam |first=Willy Wo-Lap |url=https://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/east/02/05/china.willycolumn/index.html |title=China's sect suppression carries a high price |work=CNN |date=9 February 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010211105808/https://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/east/02/05/china.willycolumn/index.html|archive-date=11 February 2001}}</ref> According to [[Human Rights Watch]], senior officials were far from unified in their support for the crackdown.<ref name=Dangerous/>

After the 1999 anti-Falun Gong campaign, the state imposed stricter controls on the remaining permitted qigong groups.<ref name=":0" />{{Reference page|page=137}} The qigong fever social phenomenon declined as a result.<ref name=":0" />{{Reference page|page=137}}