What do Westerners think of Fa Lun Gong?

Falungong was just one of those mystical Buddhist cum Daoist cults which stressed health and energy at a time when the Daoist Qigong was very popular. The founder, a factory security guard from northeast China began to get ideas of self aggrandizement calling himself a son of God and Jesus brother rather like the Taiping leader Hong Xiuquan.

The cult was enriched by the compulsory purchase of books and videos by members, but when its leader fled to New York, the government banned the sale of the products and any financial remittances to Li and his US based companies.

In reaction he organized a demonstration of ten thousand adherents outside Zhongnanhai, the leaders compound, which terrified the leaders who believed nothing of this size could be organized in China without the knowledge of their massive security apparatus.

The resulting crackdown and suppression may well have been excessive, but it is as well to know from Chinese history that many big uprisings have been led by such mystical cults in the past such as the Yellow a Turbans, the Yihetuan (Boxers).

Overseas however the Falungong have become a pestilence. Blocking busy streets such as the entrance to the HK Cross Harbour ferry service on a permanent  basis.

They can be more subtle however, many people read a free Chinese newspaper "Epoch Times", while others attend beautiful Chinese dance shows put on by a group call Shen Yun, both products of a huge and profitable marketing machine.

The practice of using organs from prisoners condemned to execution is an old one in China but the government recently announced it would discontinue this practice this year.

As a foreigner I see the Falungong as a nuisance and a pest. It is true their activists in China are jailed by the government for well founded reasons. The treatment they get there is no different from other prisoners I suspect. On the other hand people can quietly practice their brand of qigong and the other healthy practices so long as they do it privately and not try to recruit members or sell materials.

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Alfred W Croucher on Quora:

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