David A. Palmer "Qigong Fever: Body Science and Utopia in China"
Date: March 20, 2009 10:50AM
David A. Palmer "Qigong Fever: Body Science and Utopia in China"
I'd recommend the above work - the author is the adjunct professor of anthropology and religious studies at Chinese University of Hong Kong, obtained his PhD from the Sorbonne and was a fellow in Religion and Contemporary Society at the London School of Economics.
The book covers the history of qigong in modern China from the 50s to the present, so it is much broader in scope than just Falun Gong, but he gives a clear picture of Falungong I've never seen elsewhere and a very detailed context of the time in which this all happened.
There is 40 or 50 pages of material on Li Hongzhi and Falungong. In it he gives a useful history of Falun Gong, and how it originated, separated itself from the qigong movement and became a religion. Li Hongzhi centralized control of finances and dogma (he is **the only** teacher - so none of his movement can splinter off and compete). He also details how the organization attempted to strong-arm the Chinese government into suppressing criticism with 10,000 people showing up to protest in Tienanmen Square, and how these threats - with the memory of the student occupation of tienanmen square still in the minds of the central goverment - resulted in a broad crackdown on the qigong movement in general, and Falun Gong in particular, how Li left China before the mass demonstrations and has not returned, and how he has apparently directed his followers to continue to resist at the cost of their lives and freedom. It seems clear to me that this is a political - not religious - struggle, and one that Falun will not win in China.
The book contains a very informative section of how science works in China - where research is subordinate to a political objective - the lack of reproduceable results, poor controls, and describes the out-right fraud that was characteristic of many of the famous qigong demonstrations, and why the famous research on qigong can't be reproduced inside or outside of China.
The book is filled with footnotes and a lot of demographic information. The quotes from Falun literature make Li Hongzhi seem like a talented megalomaniac nutjob, preaching the apocalypse with falun being the only way to save humanity, etc. etc.
"The practice of taijiquan is also forbidden, as are martial arts which include a practice of inner discipline. Also forbidden are massage, talismans sold in temples, ... donating money for the construction of temples, ancestor worship, and even raising pets, for these could become demons after coming into contact with the spiritual energies of the adepts' .... 'mixing the races of the world is not allowed' ... 'modern science knows well that each generation is inferior to the preceding one" [ Qigong fever, page 237, the above excerpts have 11 footnotes to specific pages of a Li Hongzhi publication.
The true disciple of Li Hongzhi must not take medicines in the case of illness.
etc etc etc
"He [Li Hongzhi] stressed that activism to defend falungong is an essential aspect of dafa cultivation and declared that this turn of events [suppression by the government] was a test, which would separate the false disciples from the true ones" - august 28, 1996. [page 250]
"Contrary to most other denominations, Falungong did not keep a low profile in the face of public criticism and police investigations. Militancy became an integral part of spiritual cultivation: disciples were told to display their allegiance to Falungong openly, even when it was the target of criticism or repressive measures."[pg 252-253]. Page 255 is a table listing 21 mass demonstrations by falungong, their location and the target/agency they were protesting - it seems like they would not tolerate any criticism of any sort.
The timeline and major events of what appears to be an organized (non-violent) campaign by Falungong to eliminate criticism and control by the Chinese government is laid out in detail, Falungong's failure to comply with Chinese government regulations starting in 1996. The author also cites material later removed from the falungong website.
This was not a sudden whim by the Chinese government to suppress Falungong, and was not arbitrary. This was the result of over 2 years of Falungong (non-violent) protests and the growing realization by the government that if they did not take decisive action they would lose control of the country to Li Hongzhi - for example the book details the percentage of the army / airforce office corp that were falun disciples, etc. etc. This kind of religious uprising has happened before many times in China.