Falun Gong

Falun Gong
The Falun Dafa emblem
Traditional Chinese法輪功
Simplified Chinese法轮功
Literal meaningDharma Wheel Work
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese法輪大法
Simplified Chinese法轮大法
Literal meaningGreat Dharma Wheel Practice

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 427-acre (1.73 km2) 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".[23][24]

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[38] 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.[11][29][39][40]

Like other religious movements, Falun Gong experiences repression in China. In 1999, the government of China implemented a ban on Falun Gong, categorizing it as an "illegal organization." A 2022 United States Department of State report on religious freedom in China concluded that "Falun Gong practitioners reported societal discrimination in employment, housing, and business opportunities".[41] 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."[41]

  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
  3. ^ Barker, Eileen. 2016. Revisionism and Diversification in New Religious Movements, cf. 142–43. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1317063612
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  5. ^ Hexham, Irving. 2009. Pocket Dictionary of New Religious Movements, pp. 49, 71. InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0830876525
  6. ^ Clarke, Peter. 2004. Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1134499694
  7. ^ Partridge, Christopher. 2004. Encyclopedia of New Religions: New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities, 265–66. Lion. ISBN 978-0745950730.
  8. ^ Ownby, David. 2005. "The Falun Gong: A New Religious Movement in Post-Mao China" in Lewis, James R. & Jesper Aagaard. Editors. Controversial New Religions, 195–96. Oxford University Press.
  9. ^ [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference JUNKER-2019-33-101 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ Van der Made, Jaan. 2019. "Shen Yun: Fighting Communism – and making a stack on the side". Radio France Internationale, May 13, 2019. Online. Last accessed July 6, 2020. Quote: "Dragon Springs Buddhists, Inc. in the town of Cuddebackville functions as its informal headquarters"
  13. ^ Campbell, Eric and Hagar Cohen. 2020. "The Power of Falun Gong". ABC News. Online.
  14. ^ Maloney, Carolyn. "IN RECOGNITION OF SHEN YUN; Congressional Record Vol. 168, No. 41". congress.gov. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  15. ^ Knutsen, Elise (5 July 2011). "Shen Yun Performance Brings Out Stars And Awareness". The Observer. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  16. ^ Zadrozny, Brandy. 2023. "How the conspiracy-fueled Epoch Times went mainstream and made millions". NBC News, October 13, 2023. Online.
  17. ^ Folkenflik, David. 2021. "Falun Gong, Steve Bannon And The Trump-Era Battle Over Internet Freedom". NPR. Online.
  18. ^ Zuylen-Wood, Simon van. 2021. "Maga-Land's Favorite Newspaper". The Atlantic. Archive.org.
  19. ^ Tolentino, Jio (19 March 2019). "Stepping Into the Uncanny, Unsettling World of Shen Yun". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 17 March 2021. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  20. ^ Braslow, Samuel (9 March 2020). "Inside the Shadowy World of Shen Yun and Its Secret Pro-Trump Ties". Los Angeles. Archived from the original on 10 March 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  21. ^ Andrew Junker (2019). Becoming Activists in Global China: Social Movements in the Chinese Diaspora. Cambridge University Press. p. 99. ISBN 978-1-108-48299-8. Archived from the original on 5 April 2023. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  22. ^ Roose, Kevin. 2020. "How The Epoch Times Created a Giant Influence Machine". The New York Times. Online.
  23. ^ [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22]
  24. ^ Dorrell, Taylor. 2022. "The Right-Wing Cult Behind Shen Yun". Columbus Free Press. [1].
  25. ^ 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 978-1-351-10402-9.
  26. ^ 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. 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).]
  27. ^ Cite error: The named reference Allen-Ebrahimian was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  28. ^ 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.
  29. ^ 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.
  30. ^ 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.
  31. ^ 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
  32. ^ 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
  33. ^ 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.
  34. ^ Pressman, Aaron; Morris, David Z. (7 August 2020). "This moon landing video is fake". Fortune. Archived from the original on 23 February 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  35. ^ 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
  36. ^ 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.
  37. ^ Waldman, Scott (27 August 2021). "Climate denial newspaper flourishes on Facebook". E&E News. Archived from the original on 28 September 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  38. ^ [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]
  39. ^ Roose, Kevin (5 February 2020). "Epoch Times, Punished by Facebook, Gets a New Megaphone on YouTube". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 6 February 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  40. ^ Cite error: The named reference :212 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  41. ^ a b United States Department of State. 2022. "CHINA 2022 INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REPORT". Online.

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