Editing Falun Gong (section)

==Categorization==
Scholars describe Falun Gong as a [[new religious movement]].{{refn|name=New religious movement|"New religious movement":
*{{cite book |last=Sun |first=Yanfei |year=2026 |title=Religious Change in Post-Mao China: Toward a New Sociology of Religion |pages=123–138 |publisher=[[The University of Chicago Press]] |isbn=9780226845876}}
*{{cite book |last=Junker |first=Andrew |year=2019 |title=Becoming Activists in Global China: Social Movements in the Chinese Diaspora |pages=23–24, 33, 119, 207 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1108655897}}
*Barker, Eileen. 2016. ''Revisionism and Diversification in New Religious Movements'', cf. 142–143. Taylor & Francis. {{ISBN|978-1317063612}}
*Oliver, Paul. 2012. ''New Religious Movements: A Guide for the Perplexed'', pp. 81–84. Bloomsbury Academic. {{ISBN|978-1441125538}}
*Hexham, Irving. 2009. ''Pocket Dictionary of New Religious Movements'', pp. 49, 71. InterVarsity Press. {{ISBN|978-0830876525}}
*Clarke, Peter. 2004. ''Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements''. Taylor & Francis. {{ISBN|978-1134499694}}
*{{Cite book |last=Ownby |first=David |title=Controversial New Religions |title-link=Controversial New Religions |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-19-515682-9 |editor-last=Lewis |editor-first=James R. |editor-link=James R. Lewis (scholar) |edition=1st |location=New York |language=en |chapter=The Falun Gong: A New Religious Movement in Post-Mao China |editor-last2=Petersen |editor-first2=Jesper Aagaard|pages=195–196 |ref=OWNBY-195-196}}}}<ref name="NRM">Examples include:a.) Hexham, Irving. 2009. ''Pocket Dictionary of New Religious Movements'', pp. 49, 71. InterVarsity Press. {{ISBN|978-0830876525}} and b.) Clarke, Peter. 2004. ''Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements''. Taylor & Francis. {{ISBN|978-1134499694}} and c.) Partridge, Christopher. 2004. ''Encyclopedia of New Religions: New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities'', 265–266. Lion. {{ISBN|978-0745950730}}.</ref> While commonly described by scholars as a new religious movement, adherents may reject this term.{{sfn|Ownby|2004|pp=195–196|ref=OWNBY-195-196}} [[Yuezhi Zhao]] describes Falun Gong as "a multifaceted and totalizing movement that means different things to different people, ranging from a set of physical exercises and a praxis of transformation to a moral philosophy and a new knowledge system."<ref name="zhao" />

In the cultural context of China, Falun Gong is generally described either as a system of qigong, or a type of "cultivation practice" (''xiulian''), a process by which an individual seeks spiritual perfection, often through both physical and moral conditioning. Varieties of cultivation practice are found throughout Chinese history, spanning Buddhist, Daoist, and [[Confucian]] traditions.<ref name=Pennyreligion/> Benjamin Penny writes "the best way to describe Falun Gong is as a cultivation system. Cultivation systems have been a feature of Chinese life for at least 2,500 years."<ref name="pennyharrold">Benjamin Penny, "[http://www.nla.gov.au/grants/haroldwhite/papers/bpenny.html The Past, Present, and Future of Falun Gong]" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080325202921/http://www.nla.gov.au/grants/haroldwhite/papers/bpenny.html |date=25 March 2008 }}, Lecture given at the National Library of Australia, 2001.</ref> Qigong practices can also be understood as a part of a broader tradition of "cultivation practice".<ref name=Pennyreligion/>

In the West, Falun Gong is frequently classified as a religion on the basis of its theological and moral teachings,<ref name=Madsen/> its concerns with spiritual cultivation and transformation, and its extensive body of scripture.<ref name=Pennyreligion/> Falun Gong practitioners themselves have sometimes disavowed this classification, however.<ref>{{Cite web |title=China (includes Tibet, Hong Kong, and Macau) |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2002/13870.htm |access-date=2025-08-11 |website=U.S. Department of State}}</ref> This rejection reflects the relatively narrow definition of "religion" in contemporary China. According to David Ownby, [[religion in China]] has been defined since 1912 to refer to "world-historical faiths" that have "well-developed institutions, [[clergy]], and textual traditions"—namely, Buddhism, Daoism, [[Islam]], [[Protestantism]], and [[Catholicism]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Unofficial Religions in China: Beyond the Party's Rules
| last = Ownby| first = David
| publisher=Congressional-Executive Commission on China
|date=23 May 2005
|url=https://www.cecc.gov/sites/chinacommission.house.gov/files/documents/roundtables/2005/CECC%20Roundtable%20Testimony%20-%20David%20Ownby%20-%205.23.05.pdf
|website=cecc.gov|archive-date=17 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220617140215/https://www.cecc.gov/sites/chinacommission.house.gov/files/documents/roundtables/2005/CECC%20Roundtable%20Testimony%20-%20David%20Ownby%20-%205.23.05.pdf}}</ref> Moreover, if Falun Gong had described itself as a religion in China, it likely would have invited immediate suppression.<ref name=Pennyreligion/> These historical and cultural circumstances notwithstanding, the practice has often been described as a form of Chinese religion.<ref>{{harvp|Penny|2012|p=226}}: "Falun Gong is a new form of Chinese religion, even if its adherents themselves may not recognize it as being religion at all."</ref>