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'Sujiatun Concentration Camp' --A lie about organ transplants A Ridiculous Rumor "Sujiatun Concentration Camp" The Minghui and Dajiyuan websites have spread ridiculous rumors concerning a so-called "Sujiatun Concentration Camp" since March 8, 2006. What is truth? And is there really a "Sujiatun Concentration Camp"?

the Sujiatun District, close to the Xuesong Road, the high street of the district. To its east is the bigg est park in sout hern Suji atun Dist rict , Yingchun Park. To its west is the Xuesong Stadium, which has been the venue of many big sports events and cultural performances.

A lie full of loopholes

The so-called "cremator" mentioned by Falun Gong media is in fact a boiler room.

The boiler room has several transparent glass windows. Outside of the room are public lawns where patients, their relatives and nearby residents often come to take a walk. The so-called "3-meterhigh fence wall and electrified barbed wire fences" simply do not exist.

No patient has ever seen the "concentration camp"

the boiler room to check, and even probed their camera into the stokehole of the boiler. The journalists also opened all garbage bags to see if anything was suspicious. The results were the same there's nothing strange here.

After the interview, Hongkong's Takungpao and Pheonix TV both gave their reports, verifying the non-existence of the "secret concentration camp".

"How can this hospital house 6,000 people This is sheer nonsense." said Lu Mingxin, a 73year-old patient who stayed in the hospital during the week before 1 May. It was his second hospitalization there. He spent 20 days in the same hospital in spring 2003.

Neighborhood residents denounce it as A doctor studying the cerebral CT photo of a patient

nonsense

Gate of the hospital

On 20 March, the media of Falun Gong introduced one "witness" called Anne. She claimed that she was an employee of the Sujiatun Liaoning Thrombus Treatment Center of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine and that her ex-husband was once a cerebral surgeon of the hospital. According to her, since 2001, this "suburban village hospital" has been used to detain a large number of Falun Gong practitioners whose corneas or other organs were taken away and her husband took part in such surgeries.

Pedicabs outside the gate of the hospital

The Falun Gong media claimed that the hospital detained over 6,000 practitioners. In fact, the hospital has a little more than 300 beds and can in no way house over 6,000 people.

"Witness" Anne claimed that the hospital performed vivisection on the practitioners and was involved in illegal organ transplant. In fact, as a second-tiered hospital by Chinese classification, the hospital is not capable of "removing human organs" in terms of its medical expertise, equipment or doctor's authorization.

Old Qi, a pedicabman who has been picking up customers in front of the gate of the Sujiatun thrombus hospital for 20 years, said he never found anything wrong there, "If so many people were imprisoned here, shouldn't there be truckloads of food coming every day" "I am here every day. It is impossible to have a concentration camp here," said Wang Zhigang, who has owned Liangliang's Grocery just next to the hospital gate for five years.

On 31 March, the Dajiyuan website gave the other witness, an "old army doctor" who claimed that the "concentration camp" in Sujiatun had moved underground after media exposure.

To date, Falun Gong has been trying every means to play up the so-called "Sujiatun concentration camp".

Is the thrombus hospital in Sujiatun, Shenyang really a fearful "concentration camp"

A spokeswoman of US Embassy in Beijing was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that, "according to all the information we have been able to obtain thus far, the site is functioning only as a hospital." BBC, Reuters and other media also expressed similar views.

Conclusion Falun Gong is very good at fabricating rumors. Therefore, we solemnly call upon those friends who care about China to remain vigilant against the acts by Falun Gong and its affiliated media such as Minghui.com, Epoch Times, New Tang Dynasty TV and Sound of Hope Radio to fabricate rumors and instigate hatred. We hope that friends who care about China can learn more about China through diversified channels and come to China to visit as many places as possible. I am sure you will see a more accurate picture of China in this way.

Ward of the hospital

The Real Liaoning Thrombus Treatment Center of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine

Distant view of the hospital

A doctor testing the blood pressure of a foreign patient

The hospital treats thrombosis mainly through oral Chinese medicines acupuncture and massage therapy. This specialized hospital focusing on Chinese medicine cannot possibly perform such sophisticated surgeries.

"Witness" Anne claimed that the hospital sold organs of Falun Gong practitioners to Thailand and other places. Yet she failed to give any evidence or clue. As far as we know, organ donation between non-relatives is forbidden in Thailand, let alone organ import or sales.

The Liaoning Thrombus Treatment Center of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine is located in Sujiatun District of Shenyang City. It is a prestigious thrombosis hospital known for its thrombosis treatment with traditional Chinese medicine. It is called "the thrombosis hospital" in the local area.

The hospital covers an area of 21,000 square meters and has a building area of 25,000 square meters. It receives nearly 300,000 Chinese and foreign patients annually. The hospital has also hosted visits by many governmental and nongovernment delegations from the ROK, Japan, the UK, Australia, Malaysia and Singapore.

Personal investigations by US diplomats On 22 March, Douglas Kelly, visa officer of US Consulate General in Shenyang, made a thorough visit of the Sujiatun thrombus hospital, and expressed appreciation for the hospital's environment and medical condition.

On 14 April, Consul General David Kombluth of US Consulate General in Shenyang, US Embassy official Eric Richardson, Health Attache Dr. Graig Shapiro and two others paid a thorough three-and-a-half-hour visit to the hospital, including its lab of pharmacology, surgery room, canteen storage, garage, trash house, boiler room, chimney, archives as well as its neighborhood.

US diplomats visiting the hospital

A doctor doing massage treatment for a patient

"Witness" Anne claimed that her ex-husband was a cerebral surgeon of the hospital, and that he began to perform cornea removal surgery in 2001.

How could a cerebral surgeon perform a cornea removal surgery

Journalists of Japan's NHK visiting the hospital

On the same day, US Department of State released its report on the two investigations by US Embassy in Beijing and US Consulate General in Shenyang, stating that they "found no evidence that the site is being used for any function other than as a normal public hospital."

On-site coverage by overseas media

A doctor doing acupuncture for a patient

The hospital is located in the busiest area of

The boiler room

Infusion room

On 31 March, Japan's NHK, Hongkong's Takungpao and Pheonix TV made an on-site coverage of the Sujiatun thrombus hospital. Two NHK journalists opened all doors and windows of

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China s organ transplantation reform hailed by international community Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo,Y unnan Province. /CGTN Photo

A sensitive issue just a decade ago, organ donation and transplantation in China has seen a remarkable shift during the past few years. A total of 7,000 organs were voluntarily donated between January and July this year, according to a conference on organ transplantation held in China over the weekend.

Comparatively, the number in 2010 was just 34 for the whole year.

The conference, held in Kunming, southwest China s Yunnan Province, gathered top organ transplant professionals from major international organizations. They reviewed the achievements China has made and discussed how to strengthen international cooperation.

I think the reform in China is great, especially since January 2015 when they decided not to use organs from prisoners anymore. They are moving towards a proper direction now, Jose Nunez, an expert with the World Health Organization, told CGTN. China issued its organ transplantation regulations in 2007, the first official document of its kind, heralding the reform of the life-saving undertaking.

As of January 1, 2015, the government decided to stop obtaining organs from executed prisoners, which was hailed as a milestone move by the

in te rn at io na l c om mu ni ty . N ow voluntary donation is the only legal method and approximately 300,000 people are registered donors.

Huang Jiefu, the country s pioneer of the organ donation and tr an sp la nt at io n re fo rm , sa id th e acclaimed progress mainly relies on the st ro ng su pp or t of th e ce nt ra l government.

In 2016, several authorities jointly established a green channel to improve the efficiency of organ transportation and avoid unnecessary waste or damage.

During the first day of the conference, the experts witnessed how two kidn eys were tran spor ted to Kunming by a helicopter within 15 min ute s fr om a cit y ab out 150 kilometers away.

Despite the overall improvements, China still faces great

challenges in advancing the sublime cause.

In su ff ic ie nt ho sp it al s w it h doctors who can carry out such operations is an urgent issue that needs to be addressed. At present, there are a total of 173 hospitals that have the expertise to handle organ transplantation procedures across the nation. The number is expected to reach 300 within five years. Available organs are also in short supply despite the fast growth of donations.

China is now showing a strong willingness to enhance cooperation with the international community.

During a summit in the Vatican in February, Huang, on behalf of China, proposed to establish a WHO Task Force that would implement WHO guiding principles of practice to the field of organ donation and transplantation throughout the world.

The suggestion has received active

responses.

Meanwhile, allegations that China has been harvesting a large number of organs from innocent citizens are still prevalent in some coun trie s. Alth ough , expe rts have stressed that these are just rumors and said they are confident that China will continue to take the lead in pushing forward with reforms in the field.

What I ve seen in this visit is the Chinese people are embracing the notion of organ transplantation and I have no doubt that you will be able to achieve a very large number of voluntary donors. I think as Chinese tr an sp la nt pr of es si on al s be co me involved, and they will also reach out and be able to teach the rest of the world because Chinese experiences will soon be greater than the rest of the world, Nancy Ascher, president of The Transplantation Society, told CGTN.

Rumors debunked that China uses cult practitioners , prisoners "If a Chinese person donates organs, they should go to a Chinese person," Frasersaid.

Dr Campbell Fraser

Leading organ transplant experts are calling for international efforts to combat organ transplant tourism. They also dispelled rumors that China is using organs harvested from Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners.

Wang Haibo, Deputy Secretary of the China Organ Transplant Development Foundation, said at a conference hosted by the foundation in Beijing on Tuesday that China banned foreigner from receiving deceased organ transplant in China in 2007, but international society needs more extensive global collaboration to effectively combat transplant tourism.

"Organs are scarce resources and we need to protect the interests of Chinese patients," Wang said.

Wang's remarks were echoed by Campbell Fraser, an international organ trafficking researcher from Australia, who said that one of his concerns is how to stop foreigners from buying human organs in China.

Fraser told the Global Times that foreigners are now primarily traveling to Egypt and Pakistan to buy organs, as some Syrian refugees sold their kidneys in Egypt forcarrying their triptwo to Europe.

A helicopter kidneys landed in Kunming No.1 People

s

Form er he alth vice mini ster Huang Jiefu told the Xinhua News Agency previously that hundreds of foreigners used to come to China every year for transplant tourism before the Chinese government banned the practice in 2007.

Forum participants also dispelled rumors spread by Falun Gong, an organization China considers is a cult, that China is using organs harvested from its practitioners.

"The Falun Gong has never stopped using the rumor of 'organ harvesting' for the past 10 years the socalled organ harvesting is based on a story fabricated by its members or

hearsay it aims to tarnish China's image, fool the international community and hide its nature as a dangerous cult," said a statement sent by the China AntiCult Association to the Global Times on Tuesday.

"A number of Western politicians, academics and lawyers have used Falun Gong for their political objectives against the Chinese government Saying China had used prisoners' organs, is their way of claiming those executed were Falun Gong practitioners, and this is nonsense," said Fraser.

In 2015, China banned the use of executed prisoners' organs for transplantation.

"These people have no interest in helping others They're only interested in winning global support for their campaign against China," Fraser said, adding that the international transplant community should include China in the discussions.

Fraser also suggested that China

should share its organ transplantation research results with the international community.

Transparent data Chinese representatives, including Huang, were invited for the first time to the Pontifical Academy Summit (PAS) on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism at the Vatican in February.

Fraser said the invitation offers the world a glimpse of China's "comprehensive transformation process that is showing positive results."

Wang told the Global Times on Tuesday that the number of organ transplant activities in China in 2015 was 10,057, or 8.38 percent of the worldwide total.

The data was consistent with that which China submitted to the World Health Organization, Wang said, noting that "China is just as transparent on [organ transplantation] as the rest of the world."

organs

Wang said China has established the human organ allocation and sharing computer system, often referred to as the China Organ Transplantation Response System (COTRS), which requires all organ donors to pass through the COTRS allocation, ensuring that the allocation of organ donations is scientific, efficient and fair.

Wang also noted that China has also cracked down on violations of organ transplantation regulations and laws, given priority to medical personnel carrying organs for transplant purposes during check-in and security checks at airports, and encouraged people to register as organ donors.

Nearly 220,000 people have registered as organ donors in China as of March, and the number is expected to rise with the help internet technologies, according to the China Organ Donation Administrative Center.

Newspaper headline: Experts call for international efforts against organ tourism

Australian Officer Insufficient Credible Evidence to Support Falun Gong s Organ Harvesting Claim According to the Australian Parliament s website, Ms. Julie Bishop, Minister for Foreign Affairs, wrote in her reply to a petition from MP Dennis

Jensen that there is insufficient cre dib le e vid enc e to sup por t th e allegations of organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners in China .

Dennis Jensen has written to Au st ra li an Go ve rn me nt to dr aw attention to a petition submitted to the Sta ndi ng Com mit tee on Pet iti ons

regarding the treatment of Falun Gong practitioners in China, claiming that Falun Gong practitioners were victims of live organ harvesting in China.

Organ transplant claims rejected "In the days before the summit, the FLG embarked on a campaign of emailing participants," Fraser said. The content of the emails made false allegations against Chinese representatives.

An Australian expert in the human organ trade says there's been a massive drop in the numbers of foreigners coming to China for an organ transplant.

Campbell Fraser, from Griffith University, spoke at the Vatican Summit on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism last week and told chinadaily.com.cn that he had interviewed many patients "who attempted to buy an organ in China but were refused by the Chinese hospitals."

For the first time, Chinese representatives have been invited to the summit to discuss its experience of combating organ commercialism.

China has undertaken a 10-year reform process to reduce dependence on executed inmates as the primary source for organ transplants.

A public organ donation system has been launched in line with international practice, and in 2015 the country announced that the use of organs from executedinmates had ceased.

Using organs from executed inmates became a major source of criticism of China by some individuals or groups, such as Falun Gong. They even accused China of extracting organs from "prisoners of conscience".

Fraser said that the authors of these emails -- academics, lawyers, doctors, and politicians based primarily in Australia, Canada, USA and Europe are not "independent" researchers as they claim.

"They have the specific intention of attacking the Chinese government, and have decided to use so-called "organ harvesting" as their main weapon... as they think that it will be difficult to prove that it does not happen," Fraser said.

Fraser has investigated human organ trafficking since 2008 and has perso nally met ove r 10 00 p eople inv olv ed in the ill ega l bus ine ss, including doctors, buyers, sellers and br ok er s, an d co ns ul te d se ve ra l governments, health departments and

police organizations.

After conducting his own investigations, he said he has concluded that the FLG claims are fraudulent.

He also believed that the FLG met the criteria of a cult because they believe in one person with supernatural powers and "practitioners" refuse medical treatment for themselves and their children.

know that I am a threat to them, because I know what really happens in China," he said. "They are doing all they can to silence me, by trying to stop me attending and presenting at international conferences."

He said he was recently invited to both New York and Taipei to meet doctors who explained to him that they have a problem with FLG "practitioners" refusing treatment.

"In August 2016 the FLG tried to stop me speaking at the international transplant conference in Hong Kong.

When legal means failed, they attempted to physically stop me from speaking by shouting at me when I started to present.

What made this particularly ridiculous was that my presentation was not even specifically about China, it was about Special Interest Groups in general."

"There was even a case reported to me of a FLG practitioner refusing medical treatment for her young daughter," he said.

China is still implementing major reforms in organ transplantation, and significant progress continues to be made in this transformation process.

When academics have reported things against the FLG, Fraser says they are harassed.

Fraser said he hoped "the international transplant community will continue to support our Chinese colleagues in this vital work."

"The FLG harass me because they

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Who is Li Hongzhi single stroke in the air."

Li Hongzhi's arrest warrant Li Hongzhi has an old name Li Lai and an infant name Xiao Laizi. He was born on July 7, 1952, in Gongzhuling Town of Huaide County (now Gongzhuling City) in northeast China's Jilin Province.

From July 1960 to July 1966, he studied at Changchun Zhujiang Road Primary School.

From July 1966 to July 1969, he studied at Changchun No. 4 Secondary School.

From December 1970 to May 1978, he served as a trumpet player in a band of the Jilin Provincial Forestry Armed Police Corps.

In May 1978, he began to work as an attendant at a guesthouse run by the Jilin Provincial Forestry Armed Police Corps.

In April 1982, he began to work at Changchun Municipal Cereals and Oils Company and left the company in December 1993.

Dishonest Li Hongzhi In order to guise and mystify Falun Gong, Li Hongzhi fabricated his life story, tricking up to be a god and supernatural man.

In his fabricated resume, Li Hongzhi boasted to have completed his cultivation at the age of eight. In fact, Li Hongzhi was studying at Changchun Zhujiang Road Primary School at the age of eight.

On September 24, 1994, Li changed his date of birth from July 7, 1952 to May 13, 1951, a day happened to be the eighth day of the fourth lunar month in the Chinese lunar calendar which is believed to be the birthday of Sakyamuni, founder of Buddhism.

Li Hongzhi said, "If I said towards to air that I want to be transformed into certain object, I can turn into it in a second. I can also create anything as I wish just by a

Li Hongzhi fabricated a lot of absurd and uncanny stories about him in an aim of deifying him and deceiving others. In one of the fabricated stories, he said that he had the function of making himself invisible, boasting that nobody could find him as he just thought about "nobody can see me".

The Buddha figures that the Falun Gong practitioners purchased with high price and worshiped day and night appeared in 1992. The so-called Buddha was a patchwork of Li Hongzhi's photo with paper-cuts in the shape of lotus flower and backed with drawn light beams. The cassock that Li Hongzhi wore was theatrical costume bought from a toggery.

A Man Who Often Goes back on His Words Li Hongzhi frequently speaks of "truth, compassion and forbearance" and always pretend to be a noble and unsullied sage.

Nevertheless, he often capriciously denies stoutly what he has said, which completely exposes the nature of a rascal.

I knew nothing about the April 25 Incident of besieging Zhongnanhai compound when it occurred.

--I knew, so what? I even think there should have been more people to go!

Li Hongzhi himself plotted and organized the April 25 Incident in 1999. However, he alleged later that he didn't know it at that time as saying, "I was on the way to Australia from the U.S. when it happened in Beijing."Then he withdrew his previous remark after he was proved to be in Beijing during April 22 to 24, "At the time my disciples went to appeal to Zhongnanhai, Beijing, I was at a stopover in Beijing on the way to Australia and left there without knowing anything about what happened."

However, even his favorites disclosed the fact that Li Hongzhi had plotted and organized the besiegement of Zhongnanhai compound, which left no leeway for him. So he said publicly, "If an ordinary person doesn't undergo real trials, how could he reach consummation? It's better to test so many people than to test one by one at a time. Actually I think the participants are too few, with only over ten thousand people, far from enough."

The earth will soon explode!

The human race will be destroyed!

--I've never said such things.

Only cults say the earth will explode and the human race will be destroyed.

FADE PICTURE (see below)

Li Hongzhi once preached,

"This world is very empty due to explosion. Our planet should have been totally destroyed in an explosion last year."(record of Li Hongzhi's speech) "Our earth is not the only planet that has life in the universe and it doesn't exist for only once. At the same place of the earth there had been an earth in the past which was destroyed or exploded." (Falun Fofa -Lecture in Sydney, May 1999) About the destruction of the human race, he wrote in his book Zhuan Falun, "I once reviewed carefully and found that mankind has experienced 81 calamities in the past, and each time only a few people survived. "(Zhuan Falun, December 1994) "There have been many oracles and prophets in history who predicted that human kind would suffer from serious disaster nowadays. Human race at present is more evil than expected... The morality of human kind is declining quickly to the edge of danger." (Zhuan Falun, Vol. II, November 1995) "If you look back, human society today is very terrible! It's indeed full of all the ten sins." (Falun Fofa -- Lecture in Sydney, March 1997) I want to tell everyone around you that the present time is near the point of extinction of the human race.

The wise just stand aside, nor are they allowed to interfere. They not only don't interfere with the affairs of the human society, but they may not even take care of themselves in doomsday...I don't mean to exaggerate things to frighten you as to say that nobody is taking control. I want to tell all of you these things are absolutely true. No matter you worship Buddha or any statue of other religions, actually there in nothing on it... It's the point of extinction. It's like that when the time comes." (Interpretation of Falun Dafa, February 1995) Later Li Hongzhi found that Falun Gong's cult features have become very obvious with too many words about "explosion of the earth" and "destruction of the human race", so he began to deny stoutly these theories he once advocated at his utmost. He said at a dharma conference in Frankfort, "There are some religions that talk about doomsday. All of them are 100 percent cults." He spread on the Internet after the April 25 Incident that he had never said the earth would explode and the human race would be destroyed and that it would be a defamation if any one said he had spoken such words.

I have countless dharma bodies and I have the same dharma power like that of a Buddha.

I have neither asked anyone to regard me as a god, nor told anyone to call me master.

Worshiping Li Hongzhi as a hierarch is a feature of the cult Falun Gong and also an important means for him to manipulate the Falun Gong practitioners, so he always counterfeits himself as the supreme Buddha in the universe and boasted that he could create everything. He once said, "What I am doing today is to deal with human kind and substances. I can create everything.

Because other lives including plants and animals don't know dharma, I deal with them directly, that is, rebuilding and assimilating them directly." (Falun

Fofa -- Lecture at the First Dharma Confer ence in No rthern Americ a, January 1999) "What I teach is the biggest topdown Dafa in the universe that can create a living environment for everything in the universe including the spirits and human beings at various level." (Falun Fofa -- Lecture at the Dharma Conference in Europe, January 1999) By contrast, Sakyamuni "actually hasn't explained systematically the doctrine of cultivation, the features of the universe and the reason that people promote their level. That's why the upper god told (me): you have left people a ladder to the heaven Zhuan Falun...I have numerous dharma bodies who look the same as me ... with the same dharma power like that of a Buddha... They will look after you and protect you."(Falun Fofa -- Lecture in Sydney, March 1997) "My dharma bodies in another space know all about what you are thinking... No matter how many people there are, I can take care of all of them, and I can take care of the entire mankind." (Zhuan Falun, December 1994) "People will not believe if I say more or talk big because they have the thoughts of human kind after all. I speak here and a god believes what he hears because he has the thoughts of a god. " (Falun Fofa -- Lecture in America, September 1997) "The disciples who disseminate Falun Dafa are not allowed to be called as teacher or master. I'm the only master of Dafa." (Zhuan Falun, December 1994) Apart from blowing his own horn, he has also made compelling requests for Falun Gong practitioners, "All Falun disciples preaching Fa can only say like this, 'Master Li Hongzhi has said...'or 'Master Li Hongzhi has told us...'" (Falun Fofa Big Consummation, March 1997) However on May 2, 2000, with the exposure of the nature of Li Hongzhi and his Falun Gong, he suddenly became "modest" in front of foreign reporters as saying, "Some people call me a god, some Buddha, some master. I cannot close the mouth of every body, but I have neither told anyone to look me as a god nor a master. Now the one who sits in front of you is a real man. I am just an ordinary man."

One of Li Hongzhi's important features is that he dares to call his absurd and fatuous words as "universal truth" and often goes back

on what he's just said.

Illness is "karma forces". To eliminate your karma, you must practice Gong. If you take medicine, "karma forces" will accumulate and you can't be saved at last.

--I've never said a patient shouldn't take medicine.

"Why do people fall ill? That illness and misfortune of people are caused by karma -- that black-matter karmic field ... that's the root cause of people's health problems. It's the chief source of them ... ( Zhuan Falun, December 1999) "Because the normal society is as it is, and birth, age, illness and death, all have causes from the past and are karmic retribution. If you owe a debt you have to pay it off." ( Zhuan Falun, December 1994) "What we call illness is problems in another space being inflected in this space, such as something grown in the body, inflammation, virus and bacteria... We know these things exist in another space, so how can they be cured radically since you cannot even break through this space? ... So in the world of cultivation we don't talk about illness. All we talk is karma forces.

That's the point. I said just now that actually illness can't be treated at will." (Explaining Zhuan Falun, November 1997) "If you take medicine while practicing Gong, that means you don't believe practicing Gong can cure illness. You won't take medicine if you believe... A person who is sincerely practicing Dafa has something uncommon in his body and doesn't have illness that common people may have. If you place your heart on the proper position, believing that your illness can be cured by practicing Gong, stop taking medicine and don't care for it, someone will heal it for you... A lot of people have my dharma bodies going in and out their body and helping them do such things." (Chinese Falun Gong, June, 1994) However, Li Hongzhi didn't admit what he had said later. He wrote in "A few of My Opinions" on July 22, 1999, "It's said that I didn't allow them to take medicine. In fact, it's not true at all. I only talked about the relation between cultivation and medicinetaking."

By Yinchuan Evening News

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by Falun Dafa practitioners without exemption, are the defining principles of the group.

Fo r ex am pl e, "M as te r Li " purportedly possesses supernatural powers.

By: Rick Alan Ross 2009-02-01 The following paper was presented by Rick Alan Ross at the January 2009 International Forum on Cultic Studies sponsored by the Centre for the Study of Destructive Cults in China and published by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Introduction My work in the area of cults, controversial groups and movements began in 1982 and has included professionally consulting with hundreds of affected families, mental health professionals, attorneys, clergy, law enforcement and the media.

I have been qualified and accepted as an expert witness across the United States in numerous court cases.

This has included testimony given in United States federal courts.

My court testimony typically is focused upon the behavior of destructive groups, their persuasion techniques and the undue influence that such groups often gain over adherents.

I am the founder and Executive Director of the Ross Institute of New Jersey (RI). RI is a nonprofit taxexempt educational institution devoted to the study of destructive cults, controversial groups and movements.

Researchers and the media often use the Ross Institute Internet Archives as an informational resource. It contains thousands of documents and hundreds of subsections about various cults, groups, movements and related topics.

Each year, through my work at RI, I respond to thousands of inquiries.

One subsection within the RI archives is devoted to Falun Dafa also known as Falun Gong and the teachings of its founder Li Hongzhi.

Falun Dafa, which was founded in 1992, is an idiosyncratic blend of beliefs and practices as assembled by its founder Li Hongzhi. This includes Taoist and Buddhist references predicated upon a belief in extraterrestrials and practiced through a set of prescribed exercises and meditation techniques.

Before specifically discussing the cultic aspects of Falun Dafa, I would like to offer a working definition of a cult determined more by its behavior than by its beliefs.

Mr. Li claims to know "the top secret of the universe" and says "no religion can save people" but the "almighty Fa," which he exclusively represents. He is therefore essentially the cho sen sav ior of man . The biography in his book "Zhuan Falun" claims that he first recognized his special powers at the age of 8.

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.

1. a charismatic leader who increasingly beco mes an object of worship as the general principles that may have originally sustained the group lose their power; 2. a p ro ce ss of co er ci ve persuasion or thought reform; 3. economic, sexual, and other exploitation of group members by the leader and the ruling coterie.

Falun Dafa and Lifton's three criteria A charismatic leader who increasingly becomes an object of worship Exclusive claims made by Li Hongzhi, which are implicitly accepted

For Falun Gong followers, there is no legitimate reason to disagree with and/or leave the organization. Former followers are always wrong in leaving, negative, or even seen as "evil." While they may appear to be free to leave they often fear the consequences.

Mr. Li asks his followers to continuously keep "cultivating" and go on and on "cultivating" until they reach "perfection," something that no one can ever realistically hope to achieve as an ordinary man and woman within their lifetime. Such perfectionism is then supposedly deferred and only reachable in "other dimensions."

Li Hongzhi's program of coercive persuasion largely relies upon the cultivation not only of unreasonable fears but also prejudice, which ultimately serves to isolate and control his followers. "Master Li" manipulates the t hink ing a nd fe elin gs of his fo ll ow er s to d ev el op a c er ta in seemingly predetermined and desired mindset.

Falun Dafa followers, believe that Li Hongzhi is always right and they are not allowed to question the basic assumptions concerning his purported supernatural powers, teachings and/or opinions. His authority and infallibility appear to be absolute for the true believer, and therefore beyond what Falun Dafa followers consider reasonable doubt.

In Mr. Li's worldview 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.

Examples of the intense devotion Li Hongzhi has effectively engendered among his followers include a television network and a newspaper called "The Epoch Times" both run by Falun Dafa adherents. Devotees also

"Mixed races" are supposedly excluded from the "truth" and "have lost their roots, as if nobody in the paradise will take care of them. They belong to nowhere, and no places would accept them the higher levels

as part of its regular program of activity.

The process may take the form of repetitive prayer, chanting, speaking in tongues, self-hypnosis or diverse me th od s of me di ta ti on .S uc h te ch ni qu es , w he n p ra ct ic ed in moderation, may yield real physical and mental health benefits .Prolonged stilling of the mind, however, may wear on the brain physically until it readjusts, suddenly and sharply, to its new condition of not thinking. When that happens, we have found, the brain's information-processing capacities may be disrupted or enter a state of complete suspension disorientation, detachment hallucinations, delusions and, in extreme instances, total withdrawal. exploitation of group members by the leader Former Falun Dafa followers, the families of devotees and others concerned often relate the same allegations of abuse, which reflect a similar pattern of grievances.

Mr. Li teaches his followers that illness is caused by the evil deeds of a sick person, in this life or a previous one. According to his teachings, modern medicine treats only the symptoms of a disease, and not its underlying spiritual cause, which can be cured only by practicing Falun Gong.

"The only way to find yourself comfor tably free of illnes ses," Li Hongzhi writes in "Zhuan Falun," "is through cultivation practice!"

The complaints I have received about Fal un Dafa ar e most oft en

Is Falun Gong a Cult? maintain numerous Web sites and there are schools to perpetuate Mr. Li's teachings. Frequent public demonstrations and events staged around the world also reflect the intense devotion of his followers.

While Li Hongzhi talks about "Truthfulness-CompassionForb eara nce, " neit her he nor his followers actually demonstrate any tolerance concerning critical questions or inquiry. Within Falun Dafa Li's followers are not allowed to question the basic assumptions of the group and criticism from outsiders is often characterized as "persecution."

Persistent critics of Li Hongzhi and Falun Dafa have been repeatedly subjected to personal attacks, threats of litigation and frivolous lawsuits.

Li Hongzhi remains an absolute, authoritarian leader with little if any accountability, and there appears to be no limit to the scope of his personal power and influence within Falun Dafa.

Definition of a Cult Noted psychiatrist and author Robe rt Ja y Lif ton d evel oped the following definition of a cult. This definition is focused primarily upon three principal criteria and was first publis hed in a paper t itled " Cult Formation" in 1981 :

"s pi ri tu al cu lt iv at io n" or ri sk obliteration.

a process of coercive persuasion or thought reform Sociologist Richard J. Ofshe explains, "Coercive persuasion and thought reform are alternate names for programs of social influence capable of producing substantial behavior and attitude change through the use of coercive tactics, persuasion, and/or in te rp er so na l a nd gr ou p- ba se d influence manipulations."

This is accomplished according to Ofshe by "intense interpersonal and psychological attack to destabilize an individual's sense of self" and "to pro mot e co nfo rmi ty" wit hin the framew ork of "an organiz ed peer group."

Li Hongzhi through Falun Gong has promoted unreasonable fears about the outside world, such as impending catastrophe, evil conspiracies and persecutions. He teaches his followers that the earth would have been destroyed, but he saved it. He also claims that "gods" will destroy those he disapproves of and that his followers must practice his prescribed program of

do not recognize such a human race."

According to Mr. Li, the offspring of mixed race unions are therefore "intellectually incomplete" or "with an incomplete body." In such cases, only he, Master Li, can help and "take care of it" (i.e., resolve the "incomplete" state). However, that can be done only if "such a person wants to practice cultivation."

Li Hong zhi also e ncou rage s hatred of homosexuals. He has said, "The disgusting homosexuality shows the dirty abnormal psychology of the gay who has lost his ability of reasoning at the present time," Li Hongzhi wrote in Volume II of "Zhuan Falun," or "Turning the Law Wheel," which was translated into English in 1996.

In his talk in Switzerland, Li Hongzhi also stated that gay people would be "eliminated" by "the gods."

Asked in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1998 whether gays could practice Falun Gong, Mr. Li answered, "You can cultivate, but you must give up the bad conduct."

Li Hongzhi's disciples are taught to subordinate their own thoughts and feelings to the teachings of Falun Dafa.

They essentially come to believe that "Master Li" has arranged everything and is their protection.

In describing her experience with Falun Dafa, cult expert and clinical psychologist Margaret Singer said that a practitioner will "actually say 'Don't Think. Just recite the Master's teaching.' " Amo ng F alu n Da fa' s ma ny questionable mind-altering practices, this command to "stop thinking" and continuously "recite the Master's teaching," when heeded, meets the main criterion of cult control American communication researchers and cult experts Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman describe in their book Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change: Almost every major cult and cultlike group we came upon teaches some form of not thinking or "mind control"

directly related to teachings about "spiritual cultivation," which may preclude seeing a doctor and/or taking prescribed medication.

As a result of such teachings some of Mr. Li's follow ers have reportedly died due to medical neglect, while many others have needlessly exacerbated their medical conditions.

I have also received serious complaints within the United States regarding the damage done by Falun Dafa through family estrangement. This has particularly occurred when families question and/or are critical of Mr. Li and his teachings.

It should be noted that "Master Li" has apparently accumulated substantial assets through his work within Falun Dafa.

Mr. Li moved to United States in 1995. In 1998 he reportedly bought a house in New York for $293,500. Li Hongzhi purchased his second residence in New Jersey for $580,000 the following year. The value of the two residences today may easily exceed a million dollars.

Exchanges

with

Falun

Dafa devotees In the many email exchanges I have had with Falun Dafa members I have frequently focused on the following three areas: Racism and homophobia: I have specifically asked Falun Dafa members how they regard Mr. Li's racist teachings, which denigrate the children of interracial unions as "cross bred" and "incomplete."

One Falun Dafa practitioner responded, "My understanding is that when gods created man, we were created to god's image [sic], different races was created [sic] by gods of different races and when a child is born from a marriage of two people from different races it will be hard for the gods to trace the child's origin and therefore hard to save."

In defense of Li Hongzhi's

hom oph obi c pro nou nce men ts one mem ber r ema rke d, "Ac tua lly a ll orthodox (upright) religions view this matter in the same way, Christianity included, it is very hard to reach heaven when practicing homosexuality."

Me di ca l Ne gl ec t: I ha ve que sti one d Fal un Daf a mem ber s regarding reports of medical neglect that have been tied to their beliefs.

One member responded concerning "Master Li's" bizarre claim tha t eld erl y wom en wou ld sta rt menstruatin g again after practicing Falun Dafa. "Can you prove that elderly women who practi ce Falun Gong DON'T regain their menstrual periods?

Have you ever considered the possibility that Li's teachings in this regard are true? I know for a fact that they are true. I suggest you do more research on the subject before mocking the se t eac hin gs, " th e me mbe r responded.

Protests: Public protests appear to have become a pivotal function of Falun Dafa. The most horrific example was the 2001 self-immolation protest in China, which included adult members and minor children.

However, Falun Dafa members routinely deny any responsibility for thi s tr age dy, w hic h is som eho w con sig ned to t he c ate gor y of a government "conspiracy," despite the public statements made by the survivors.

One mother that survived the tragic event explained, "We wanted to show the government that Falun was good." Her daughter observed, "I think Falun Gong has developed into a cult with anti-human and anti-society characteristics."

The consistent pattern of my email exchanges is that Falun Dafa is always "good" and "Master Li" is never wrong, no matter how extreme or harmful the group behavior or hateful his teachings may be.

Margaret Singer succinctly summarized: "If you want a good description of a cult, all you have to do is read what [Falun Dafa followers] say they are."

Notes: Robert Jay Lifton, M.D., "Cult Formation," The Harvard Mental Health Letter, February 1981.

Mark Jurkowitz, "Times for a change," Boston Globe, May 31, 2005.

Richard J. Ofshe, Ph.D., "Coercive Persuasion and Attitude Change," Encyclopedia of Sociology, Vol. 1. New York: Macmillan, 2001.

Ibid.

Sarah Lubman, "A Chinese Battle on U.S. Soil," San Jose Mercury News, December 23, 2001.

Ibid.

"Falun Gong Derided as Authoritarian Sect by Anti-Cult Experts," San Francisco Chronicle, April 29, 2000.

Conway and Siegelman, Snapping, pp 153-154.

Peter Carlson, "For Whom the Gong Tolls," Washington Post, February 27, 2000.

Paul Vallely and Clifford Coonan, "China's Enemy Within: The Story of Falun Gong," The Independent (UK), April 22, 2006.

Jeremy Page, "Survivors say China Falun Gong immolation real," Reuters, April 4, 2002.

References 1. Hongzhi Li, Zhuan Falun (http://www.falundafa.org/book/eng/zfl_new. html).

2. Various articles posted on Falun Gong's Web site, www.clearwisdom.net.

4. The late Professor Margaret Singer's Live Interview on Falun Gong.

5. Margaret Singer, Cults In Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996.

6. Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman, Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change, 2nd ed. New York: Stillpoint Press, 1995/2005.

Wwww.chinesepress.com

B22

Innocent Victims of Chinese Oppression, Or Media Bullies?

Falun Gong s In-Your-Face Media Strategies

Gong

James R. Lewis Auther : James R. Lewis (with Nicole S. Ruskell) University of Tromso [Preliminary version. Please do not reproduce or quote without consent of author.]

Rather than a finished paper, I will be reading from a selection of my sources as the basis for my presentation. I will begin with a story that exemplifies my conclusion: [A]s I write this , I'm sitting with a stonking great glass of red wine beside me to try to calm my nerves. I blame the Falun Gong. Yet again, this militant, strident, obsessive group is trying to gatecrash Auckland's Santa parade and won't take no for an answer.

The quasi-political, faux-spiritual group has been trying to get in behind Santa for years and when they're told to shove off and take their poxy pastel posters with them, they get stroppy [belligerent] and threaten High Court action . We were discussing this on Talkback [a call-in program] and, within minutes, the loyal practitioners of Falun Gong, aka Falun Dafa, were clogging the lines wanting to tell me how spiritual and peaceful and gentle they were and all they wanted to do was spread love and light.

I have no problem with a little light love spreading just not in the Santa parade. If they think they're going to win friends and influence people by taking the Santa parade trustees to court, then there's clearly a cultural disconnect that needs to be corrected. It's the Santa parade, for goodness sake.

Could there be a more benign organisation?

I quickly tired of the Falun Gong lobbyists after a couple of calls and banned them from the airwaves.

That didn't stop them calling constantly, threatening legal action, and promising all kinds of retribution. My flabby liberal laissez-faire attitude towards these people has turned into active dislike. They are passiveaggressive bullies and they don't belong in the Santa parade.[1] Falun Gong (FLG) actually did file suit against the Auckland Children s Christmas Parade Trust (and lost).

Michael Barnett, chairman of the Trust, was compelled to hire private security after FLG picketed his office and harassed him. More broadly, I should note that FLG regularly tries to participate in Chinese cultural parades and festivals all over the world. Their applications to join in these events are often rejected on the basis of the strong political message they insist on delivering.

I will now backtrack and provide some background for (1) How FLG managed to achieve media dominance outside of the China (2) How FLG became so belligerent, to the point of alienating people (3) Finally, I will draw on some notions from social movement theory to partially interpret FLG s media strategy

PART I Factors in Falun s Media Success

To begin with, more than ten years ago, Heather Kavan (Massey University, NZ) read all of the stories with more than a minimum mention of FLG published in Australian and New Zealand newspapers from the time Falun Gong was first mentioned in May 1999 until the end of June 2005 (excluding Chinese media and FLG s own newspaper, The Epoch Times). Her findings remain broadly representative of overall trends and can be extended to the present period and to the Anglophone media world more generally: Although studies of the Australian media found that the press tend to discredit new religious movements and magnify their deviance (Richardson, 1996; Selway, 1992), reporters seem to be receptive to Falun Gong, minimising the religion s unusual beliefs and presenting the movement as compatible with mainstream activities. I found that journalists have been supportive of Falun Gong. 61% of reports were favourable, 33% were neutral, and only 6% were negative.

19.5% of the articles were extremely positive to Falun Gong.

These articles were so impassioned that they often appeared to be verbatim from practitioners sources, and many contained strong anti-Chinese sentiments.

They included: (1) alchemy stories of practitioners (all female) being healed of serious illnesses, testimonies of psychological benefits and even a reversal of the aging process; (2) heartrending atrocity stories of members (mostly female) being tortured or kidnapped by the Chinese government, 3 and (3) articles that had a propagandist tone.

31.1% of the stories were totally positive to Falun Gong, but not to the point of appearing to have been authored by par tic ipa nts , or bei ng hig hly exaggerated. These included numerous stories of protests against human rights abuses, as well as success stories in which the interviewees (all male) linked their success to practising Falun Gong.

10.4% of the stories gave alternative perspectives, (for example the Chinese embassy s views, and reasons why Air New Zealand banned a Falun Gong airport advertisement), but gave a positive impression of Falun Gong.

In this category I also included positive articles in which the author made qualifying remarks, such as Leaving aside the rationality or otherwise of the Falun Gong religious movement . . .

(Fitzgerald, 2005).

13.2% of the articles gave alternative perspectives, but left no impression of which side the author favoured. Examples include reported debates about a Falun Gong float being banned from a Christmas parade, and comments about Falun Gong members being prohibited from using loud hailers [loud speakers] outside the Chinese embassy.

19.8% were neutral reports of facts, which no party would be likely to dispute, such as protests. Most of these arti cles were brie f summ arie s of international news.

2.6% of articles gave alternative perspectives, but Falun Gong came out looking negative. Most of these were reports of negative activities, where the authors added that Falun Gong members denied responsibility.

Examp les inclu de repor ts of practitioners allegedly self-immolating in Tiananmen Square, and hacking into Hong Kong newspaper websites to redirect people to a site containing Falun Gong messages.

3.4% of articles were negative towards Falun Gong. These either reported negative activities, such as alleged Falun Gong members slashing their wrists at Sydney s Villawood detention centre, or only quoted sources critical of Falun Gong, such as the Chinese embassy or Rupert Murdoch.

No articles were extremely negative, in the sense of appearing to have been authored by anti-Falun Gong or anti-cult sources.[2] Given these rather remarkable statistics and the sharp contrast between media treatments of FLG and other new religious movements, the question becomes, Why is FLG treated differently?

I believe this arises from a combination of different factors.

In the first place, the movement s founder-lead er, Li Hongzhi (LHZ), explicitly discourages followers from telling outsiders about the group s inner [ high-level ] teachings, some of which are quite strange, not to mention racist, sexistand homophobic.[3] Instead, he instructs them to present FLG as an innocent spiritual movement being persecuted by the People s Republic of China (PRC); e.g.: you must not talk about highlevel things. What you know are things that Gods should know. Those things are what I taught to you, not to worldly people.

So you shouldn t tell those things to ordinary people. only talk about our being persecuted, about our real situation, about our being good people and being wrongly persecuted, about our freedom of belief being violated, about our human rights being violated. They can accept all those things, and they will immediately support you and express to you their sympathy.

Knowing those facts, the people of the world will say that Falun Gong is being persecuted and that the persecutors are so evil. They'll say those things, and isn t that enough?[4] A second important factor that plays into Falun Gong s media success is that by shifting conversations about FLG away from the group s inner teachings to a discourse about human rights, FLG is able to situate itself into a popular interpretive framework which views the PRC through the lens of political repression. In an article originally published in 1999, James Mann argues that stories about China in the American media (and, by extension, Western media more generally) tend to be governed at any given time by a single story, image or concept :[5] In the 1950s and the 1960s, the frame was of China as little blue ants or automatons. In the 1970s, following the Nixon administration s opening, the frame was of the virtuous (entertaining, cute) Chinese, displaying their timeless qualities even under communism. In the 1980s, the frame was that China was going capitalist. And for most of the 1990s, the frame was of a repressive China. since the American frame of the 1990s says that China is a repressive regime, then virtually every story about China seems obliged at some point to mention the theme of political repression. (Ibid) In other words, the story line that LHZ encourages his followers to present to outsiders fits nicely into a narrative that Westerners are prepared to hear it

reinforces what they already think they know about China.

Over and above this narrative frame, it is objectively the case that China is and has been repressing FLG a factor that should be analytically separated from the larger generic interpretive frame that observers bring to media reports about the PRC. This factor is not, however, as simple as it may first appear. As I and others have pointed out, by their provocative acts, it is clear that followers deliberately seek and provoke brutalization at the hands of authorities.[6] In the early days following the banning of the movement, individual practitioners could avoid jail terms simply by signing a statement renouncing Falun Gong. LHZ, however, preached the sp ir it ua l b en ef it s o f b ei ng persecuted[7] even going so far as promising full Consummation (FLG s equivalent of Enlightenment) to those who made the ultimate sacrifice.[8] I would not normally include the facts on the ground such as these as being part of a larger media strategy. In this case, however, LHZ s conscious intention behind encouraging protest and resistance seems to be that he expects the media spectacle of practitioners being brutalized by police will evoke international outrage, thereby bringing pressure to bear on the PRC to lift the ban on FLG (as I will further discuss in the final section of this paper).

Yet another factor is FLG s va ri ou s me di a en te rp ri se s an d sophisticated use of the Internet.

The group was already effectively using email in China for the purpose of organizing demonstrations (e.g., the Zhongnan hai demonstr ation) before being banne d.[9] Four y ears later, practitioners were maintaining hundreds of sites around the world.

[10] This number has undoubtedly multiplied in the intervening dozen years, due, in part, to the fact that most overseas members are Chinese students and scholars who have both easy access to the Internet and the requisite cultural capital and technical capabilities. [11] At the global level, [this] has ensured that [FLG s] interpretation of events prevails over that of the PRC government. Western press coverage has been overwhelmingly supportive of Falun Gong and critical of PRC authorities, and negative assessments of the movement outside of the PRC are few and far between. Undoubtedly, the extensive information which practitioners have posted on their websites provides a ready resource for sympathetic journalists with tight deadlines.[12] Additionally, by May 2000 shortly following the ban members had set up their own newspaper outside of the PRC and were also publishing it on the web by August. They established New Tang Dynasty TV (initially in NewYork), a channel directed particularly to the Chinese diaspora, in 2001. Sound of Hope radio was initiated in 2003.

Beginning in 1999, Western media outlets who lacked their own reporters on the ground in China have received most of their international information about Falun Gong from press releases from the Rachlin media group. What we are not told is that this group is essentially a public relations firm for Falun Gong, managed by Gail Rachlin one of Li s most avid disciples who is also spokesperson of the Falun Dafa Information Centre. [13] FLG has thus been able to influence other media via its extensive presence on the web, through its direct press releases

and through its own media. FLG has also been able to propagate its point of view indirect ly, through other, non-FLG sources, which creates the impression of multiple sources for the same narrative.

Thus, for example, The press often quote Amnesty International, but Amnesty s reports are not independently verified, and mainly come from Falun Gong sources.

[14] Additionally, Falun Gong followers and/or sympathizers de facto control the relevant webpages in Wikipedia.[15] FLG s domination of their Wikipedia pages is especially important.

Because Wikipedia's articles are the first- or second-ranked results for most Internet searches. This means that the content of these articles really matters.Wikipedia's standards of inclusion what's in and what's not affect the work of journalists, who routinely read Wikipedia articles and then repeat the wikiclaims as background without bothering to cite them.[16] Journalists often work under tight deadlines.[17] As a consequence, Wikipedia seems to offer an attractive option as a seemingly independent, neutral source of information. However, like Amnesty International reports, Wikipedia turns out to be little more than a mouthpiece for the FLG point of view.

Yet a no th er fa ct or fo r understanding FLG s media dominance is that the PRC seems to have mostly abandoned the media field outside of China. The PRC s point of view on FLG is sometimes represented to the outside world by such periodicals as the People s Daily and on Chinese Embassy websites in other countries, but the only sustained counter-voice from China is the Facts website (http://www.facts.org.cn/).

PART II The Development of Falun Gong s Attack Strategies One final but highly significant factor in Falun Gong s overall media strategy has been its attacks on critical media, which later expanded to include demands to be given fora for expressing their messages. This emerged as a core tactic some years before the group was banned. More specifically, after FLG had grown into a large enough of a movement in China to attract media attention, Falun Gong s consistent response to any negative media story [was to relentlessly] counterattack against the responsible outlets [using] strategies ranging from exercising in front of news organizations to harassing individual editors and reporters. [18] Between 1996 and mid-1999, practitioners initiated over 300 protests against negative media reports, forcing dismissals of reporters and receiving public apologies. In China the media are free only as far as they facilitate social stability, so when Falun Gong threatened civil unrest, media managers were quick to capitulate to their demands. For example, when 2,000 protestors surrounded Beijing Television after the station broadcast a segment about a doctoral candidate who became psychotic while practising Falun Gong, the station fired the reporter, aired an immediate sympathetic portrayal, and to show extra goodwill handed out 2,000 boxed lunches to the protestors.

[Then, h]aving learnt that such protests were fruitful, Falun Gong members [became] unstoppable. To prevent social unrest, Beijing authorities introduced a blackout against any negative media reports on the movement.[19] .../Page 23

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B23 / continue One should understand that FLG demanded more than simply the right to reply to media criticism: It demanded the censorship of opponents views in the first place. [In fact,] the movement actually urged the Chinese government to use its powers of censorship to muzzle the opponents of Falun Gong. [20] FLG seems to have been unique among Qi Gong groups (all of which were experiencing criticism in the late nineties) in vigorously counter-attacking its critics.

This almost certainly means that followers were ultimately receiving their marching orders from LHZ himself though he disingenuously attributed such actions to the independent initiative of others in the movement. Thus, for example, in Digging Out the Roots, an essay published a year before FLG was banned, LHZ refers to defending the Dafa, a complex term roughly comparable to the Buddhist Dharma and the Taoist Tao : Recently, a few scoundrels from literary, scientific, and qigong circles, who have been hoping to become famous through opposing qigong, have been constantly causing trouble, as though the last thing they want to see is a peaceful world.Some newspapers, radio stations and TV stations in various parts of the country have directly resorted to these propaganda tools to harm our Dafa, having a very bad impact on the public.

This was deliberately harming Dafa and cannot be ignored. Under these very special circumstances, Dafa disciples in Beijing adopted a special approach to ask those people to stop harming Dafa this actually was not wrong. This was done when there was no other way when students voluntarily approach those uninformed and irresponsible media agencies and explain to them our true situation, this should not be considered wrong.[21] At the time, LHZ was insisting that FLG was not a political movement, an identification that might have provoked government suppression. Thus in the same essay, he tries to describe these essentially political actions as nonpolitical: I have said that Dafa absolutely should not get involved in politics. The purpose of this event itself was to help the media understand our actual situation and learn about us positively so that they would not drag us into politics. [22] After being banned in the PRC, Falun Gong continued to actively try to silence its critics. As an example of the movement s efforts to suppress contrary voices, in 2001, the Canadian La Presse Chinoise (Chinese Press, )[23] published a critical piece based around the testimony of a former practitioner. In that case, the newspaper was sued for libel. Four years later, Quebec s Supreme Court decided against the plaintiff. The ruling included the statement that, Falun Gong is a controversial movement which does not accept criticism. Similarly, in response to a condemnatory statement published in the Chinese Dailynewspaper in Australia, Falun Gong filed a defamation lawsuit in 2004. Two years later, the New South Wales Supreme Court ruled in favor of

the Chinese Daily.[24]

parallel in FLG).

There have been a number of other lawsuits, but in most cases practitioners rely upon different tactics though often using the implied threat of lawsuits as part of their overall strategy. Thus, for example, in response to an AP piece in 2005, Chinese Show off Repentant Falun Gong, [25] practitioners staged a protest atAP headquartersand demanded that the report be withdrawn. And to refer to one more example, in 2008, the New York Times published an article, A Glimpse of Chinese Culture That Some Find Hard to Watch, [26] critical of a program that had been promoted as a Chinese cultural event, but which was actually a heavily politicized attack on the PRC by the FLG. Movement websites responded with dozens of pieces attacking both the newspaper and the article s author

However, Junker s reliance on a tool kit approach causes him to focus on specific, ground-level tactics and to miss larger strategies such as Falun Gong s attacks on media outlets that broadcast critical stories. As I have already shown, for a few years in the late 1990s, FLG enjoyed marked success counter-attacking critics in the PRC, and seems stuck in this approach as a way of silencing critics outside of China without considering the ill-will that this tactic potentially evokes (as we saw in the case of Kerre Woodham recounted at the beginning of the present paper).

According toincomplete statistics, FLG practitioners have filed over 100 lawsuits since 2001 in countries as diverse as the United States, Canada, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, Spain, South Korea, Greece, Australia, Bolivia and the Netherlands, but have seldom won; perhaps like the Church of Scientology, FLG values lawsuits as more of an harassment tactic than as actions they actually hope to win. In more recent years, FLG news outlets have tried to re-ignite international media interest by featuring such stories as the supposed mass renunciation of the Communist Party by members within China (which mo st ot he r me di a re co gn iz e as implausible) and the supposed mass harvesting of organs from imprisoned FLG members (a claim which has evoked a mixed response from the international media).

Conclusion Theorizing Falun Gong s Media Strategies There have been several attempts to theorize the conflict between Falun Gong and Chinese authorities, from Junpeng Li s application of a conflict amplification model[27] to my and Nicole Ruskell s partial application of a moral panic approach.[28] To focus more specifically on FLG s media strategies, Andrew Junker used the notion of tactical repertoires developed by social movement theorists (e.g., Tilly 1995; Taylor 2004) to contrast Falun Gong s approach to protest against PRC authorities with the Chinese democracy movement s approach. The aspect of his analysis that is particularly relevant to my analysis in the current paper is his discussion of how [f]amiliar strategies of action shape what actors attempt to accomplish (p333). Junker demonstrates that both movements rely upon strategies they had developed in China as the basis for their continued demonstrations in other countries. Thus, for example, both movements used the tactic of posting petitions or open letters in China, and continue to use this tactic overseas. FLG utilized public displays of Falun Gong exercises to attract attention in China and continues to deploy the same tactic outside of China (which has no parallel in the democracy movement).

And the Chinese democracy movement fundraised in China and continues to fundraise overseas (which has no direct

Using the examples of Suma Ching Hai International, Zhong Gong and Falun Gong/Falun Dafa, the potential for expatriate protest to backfire on protesting groups (that she refers to as cybersects ) is discussed in Patricia M. Thornton s chapter in Kevin J. O Brien s edited volume, Popular Protest in China (2008). Thornton builds her analysis on what Keck and Sikkink have termed boomerangs of transnational support, which are attempts to mobilize international networks and international opinion as part of an effort to force change back home.[29] However, She points out that cultivation of a boomerang effect comes, not infrequently, at a cost: the bi ds of th es e ba nn ed se ct s fo r transnational support have resulted in increased domestic and international scrutiny of their internal affairs and public relations tactics, and have occasionally produced a backlash of negative media attention for both the networks and their su pp or te rs . In co nt ra st to th e transformative backfire generated by repressions, which can produce a take off in popular mobilization, backlash undermines the credibility of movement organizers and their capacity to influence established media, politicians, and the public at large.

For her section on Falun Gong, she discusses how the group s media outlets particularly The Epoch Times manufactured dissent by promoting an ongoing pseudo-story about supposed mass resignations from the Communist Party of China by high-ranking officials.Though dismissed as laughable by other news outlets, The Epoch Times and its affiliated organizations continue to maintain a running count of resignations on their websites. She also discusses the example of the Falun Gong s attack on the late Harry Wu, a prominent China critic who had challenged Falun Gong s story about the mass harvesting of organs from imprisoned practitioners and selling them on the international organ market.

Falun Gong viciously attacked Wu, accusing him, among other things, of being on China spayroll extremely improbable, given Wu s history with the PRC. To conclude, Falun Gong s heavy-handed efforts tosilence critics are the least palatable of FLG s various strategies aimed at directly influencing the media. This approach even threatens, to use Thorton s term, to backfire on FLG, which would thus undermine the movement s PR strategy of painting itself as an innocent spiritual exercise

group. FLG could be proactive and save itself from this negative scenario, but LHZ seems to have become progressively more antagonistic toward international media and thus not inclined to call a halt to his followers belligerent activities in this arena. It thus seems only a matter of time before global media outlets wake up and begin to re-perceive Falun Gong as a negative organization as a kind of Chinese Church of Scientology that will slowly decline in numbers and influence and gradually fade away, especially after LHZ finally passes from the scene.

Notes: [1] The New Zealand Herald, Kerre Woodham (McIvor), Booze and Bullies, 23 Nov 2008.

[2] Heather Kavan (2005), Print Media Coverage of Falun Gong in Australia and New Zealand. In: Peter Horsfield, ed.: Papers from the Trans-Tasman Research Symposium, Emerging Research in Media, Religion and Culture .

Melbourne: RMIT Publishing, pp. 74-85. The articles to which Kavan refers are: James T. Richardson (1996).

Journalistic bias towards new religious movements in Australia. Journal of Contemporary Religion. 11(3), pp. 289-302 and D. Selway (1992).

Religion in the mainstream press: The challenge for the future. Australian Religious Studies Review,5(2), pp.1824.

[3] I have briefly discussed this aspect of LHZ s teachings in, Sucking the De Out of Me: How an Esoteric Theory of Persecution and Martyrdom Fuels Falun Gong s Assault on Intellectual Freedom. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review 7:1 (2016), pp.101-102. I also discuss the aspect of LHZ s teachings that prompts followers to seek martyrdom. The most detailed treatment of FLG s teachings in English is Benjamin Penny s excellent, The Religion of Falun Gong (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012) [4] Li Hongzhi, Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S.West Fa Conference. (15 February 2003. Los Angeles). LHZ s rhetorical question practically begs the further question, Enough for what? If Li s purpose is convert more individuals to FLG and thus save them from the suffering during imminent apocalypse, then, according to his own teachings,this is nowhere near enough to save them. Rather, this minimal amount of information is just enough to evoke public sympathy for FLG s campaign to overturn the ban against the group in China. This goal not saving souls appears to be the overriding focus of LHZ s concern.

[5] James Mann (1999) Framing China."

Media Studies Journal: Covering China 13:1.

[6] David A. Palmer (2001).

Falun Gong: Between Sectarianism and Universal Salvation. China Perspectives 35,p. 17.

[7] Lewis (2016)

Sucking the

De Out of

Me. [8] Susan J. Palmer (2003). Healing to Protest: Conversion Patterns Among the Practitioners of Falun Gong. Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 6:2, 348-364.

[9] Mark R. Bell and Taylor C. Boas (2003)."Falun Gong and the Internet: Evangelism, community, and struggle for survival." Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 6.2, p.283.

[10] Ibid., p.278.

[11] Yuezhi Zhao (2003) Falun Gong,Identity, and the Struggle over Meaning Inside and Outside China. In Nick Couldry and James Curran, eds.,Contesting Media Power: Alternative Media in a Networked World

(Rowman & Littlefield), p.214.

[12] Bell and Boas (2003) Internet, p. 287.

Falun Gong and the

[13] Kavan (2005). Print Media Coverage.

[14] Ibid.

[15] E.g., in this regard refer to Sheng Jiang (2015) Is Falun Gong s Wikipedia page objective? https://www.quora.com/is-Falun-Gongs-Weikipediapage-objective (Accessed 19 June 2016) and User: C o l i p o n / F a l u n G o n g . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Colipon/Falun_Gong (Accessed 20 June 2016).

[16] Simson L. Garfinkel (2008). Wikipedia and the Meaning of Truth:Why the online encyclopedia s epistemology should worry those who care about traditional notions of accuracy. MIT Technology Review. https://www.technologyreview.com/s/411041/ wikipedia-and-the-meaning-of-truth/ (Accessed 9 July 2016). For some academicians, Wikipedia seems to represent the worst of how the Internet has dumbed down the research process, with its easily accessible but unsubstantiated (if not downright false)information.

Darren Crovitz andW. Scott Smoot (2009).

Wikipedia: Friend, Not Foe. Journal 98:3, p.91.

The English

[17] Kavan (2005). Print Media Coverage.

[18] Zhao (2003) Struggle, pp.214-215.

Falun Gong,Identity, and the

[19] Kavan (2008) Media, p. 3.

[20] Zhao (2003) Struggle, p. 215.

Falun Gong in the Falun Gong,Identity, and the

[21] Li Hongzhi (1998) Digging Out the Roots. http://en.falundafa.org/eng/jjyz72.htm.

Downloaded 20 June 2016 [22] Ibid.

[23] http://www.chinesepress.com/ [24] Lewis (2016)

Sucking the

De out of

Me. [25] Associated Press, Repentant Falun Gong (2005).

Chinese Show Off

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/articles/A26902-2005Jan21_2.html Accessed: 5 June 2015.

[26] Eric Konigsberg, A Glimpse of Chinese Culture That Some Find Hard to Watch. New York Times (26 February 2008). http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/06/nyregion /06splendor.html?scp=1&sq=A+Glimpse+of+Chines e + C u l t u r e + T h a t + S o me+Find+Hard+to+Watch&st=nyt Accessed: 5 June 2015 [27] Junpeng Li (2013) The Religion of the Nonreligious and the Politics of the Apolitical: The Transformation of Falun Gong from Healing Practice to Political Movement,Religion, Politics and Religion 7, pp.

177-208.

[28] James R. Lewis and Nicole S. Ruskell (forthcoming), Understanding Falun Gong s Martyrdom Strategy as Spiritual Terrorism, In James R. Lewis, ed.Cambridge Companion to Religion and Terrorism.

Cambridge, UK:Cambridge University Press.

[29] Margaret E. Keck and Karen Sikkink (1998), Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics.Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

[Conference cyberproceedings are published for documentary purposes. Views expressed are the author's and do not necessarily represent CESNUR's opinions.]

Introduction of Falun Gong Falun Gong is a destructive cult that emerged in China in the early 1990s, whose founder Li Hongzhi boasting that it was a universal law and the most supernatural science. As a matter of fact, Falun Gong is a creation of Li Hongzhi and is based on Chinese Qigong exercises such as "Chan Gong" and "Jiugong Bagua" as well as Thai d an ci ng .

Li Hong zhi use d the su pposed aim of "keeping strong and fit" as bait to lure some people into Falun Gong and then manipulated the pra cti tio ner `s m ind wit h fa lla cie s su ch a s

"doomsday" and "consummation." More than 1,700 people have died as a result of practicing Falun Gong.

After the founding of Falun Gong in 1992, Li Hongzhi created the Falun Dafa Research Society in Beijing and assumed the role of chairman, himself. Later on, he successively set up 9 general stations for the teaching of Falun Gong, more than 1,900 smaller teaching stations and more than 28,000 practicing stations around China, forming an integrated organizational system for Falun Gong. These stations and general stations, not

legally registered at the relevant Chinese civil affairs aut hor iti es, car rie d ou t ma ny il le ga l act ivi tie s, pre ach ed superstition a nd fallacies, conned people, instigated and made troubles and disrupted social and public order.

HEAVEN

In Jul y 1999 , the C hines e gove rnmen t

outlawed Falun Gong in light of its criminal activities and in accordance with the public desire.