1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,840
From the unexplained to the mundane, come join us on a journey to the fringe.

2
00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:17,040
Hello and welcome to Journey to the Fringe, where we are constantly striving to penetrate

3
00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:18,920
the two cosmic extremes.

4
00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:22,000
We are your spiritually enlightened host, Taylor and Chelsea.

5
00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:24,400
That will pay off later in the episode, I promise.

6
00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:28,820
And today, we take a look at a group that has a lot to do with the world.

7
00:00:28,820 --> 00:00:31,960
We currently inhabit it, as well as some of the fringy topics.

8
00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:35,320
It's on the edge of a few episodes that we've done already.

9
00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:37,440
This will be a two-parter episode.

10
00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:42,440
If you only have time for one of the two, I would highly recommend the second half.

11
00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:46,360
Just because if you only listen to the first half, you're going to get a very bad idea

12
00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:51,280
of what this whole topic is, because I'm doing the two extremes in the episodes.

13
00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:52,920
Should I just meet you back in the second episode?

14
00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:56,320
For those of you who are listening now, you are obligated yes to listen to this episode

15
00:00:56,320 --> 00:00:57,920
and the next episode.

16
00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:02,760
For those of you who have not started listening to it and somehow can foresee this part of

17
00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:05,440
it, please only listen to the second episode.

18
00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:09,560
But Chelsea, today our topic is the Falun Gong.

19
00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:11,080
Have you ever heard of this?

20
00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:12,080
Nope.

21
00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:13,080
Okay.

22
00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:14,080
Not one sweet idea.

23
00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:18,320
I actually have, because you said it, but I specifically didn't look into it and just

24
00:01:18,320 --> 00:01:19,680
ignored what you said completely.

25
00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:23,760
Well, that's good, because it left this episode completely open as a surprise.

26
00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:29,720
Chelsea, you've seen in parks groups of Chinese people doing their little flowy dances, very

27
00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:30,720
nice and slowly.

28
00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:31,720
Okay, hold on.

29
00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:35,680
There's a guy that does it like literally out in my courtyard every day.

30
00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:41,560
So what they're practicing there is some sort of Chi exercise, which at the end of the

31
00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:44,960
day is what the Falun Gong is all about.

32
00:01:44,960 --> 00:01:50,240
I'm going to start this off in a strange place, but I think this is backstory that needs to

33
00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:54,720
be included so that we can connect it to episodes that I've talked about something along these

34
00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:55,720
lines in the past.

35
00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:59,520
There is foreshadowing way back there in another episode, but I don't expect you to

36
00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:00,520
know it.

37
00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:03,720
For those of you who do catch on, it's really good payoff at the end here.

38
00:02:03,720 --> 00:02:04,720
Okay.

39
00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:05,720
Can I just ask a quick question?

40
00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:06,720
Yeah.

41
00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:10,880
When do I find out if I need to be suspicious of the guy that I see practicing these flowy

42
00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:12,280
movements?

43
00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:13,280
Next week.

44
00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:14,280
Oh no.

45
00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:15,520
Is it good or bad?

46
00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:18,120
I really couldn't tell you on this specific guy.

47
00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:19,120
Okay.

48
00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:21,920
Well, I'm going to be suspicious of him until I figure it out.

49
00:02:21,920 --> 00:02:28,120
And that's the weird thing because that form of exercise is not just part of this group.

50
00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:31,080
It has an entire cultural significance to Chinese people.

51
00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:32,080
Okay.

52
00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:37,600
Tai Chi is a thing Asians in general will practice, which is a form of exercises and

53
00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:40,840
movements to help the flow of Chi throughout the body.

54
00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:41,840
Okay.

55
00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:46,160
And the entire grouping in itself is called Chi Gong, or I believe that's the flow of

56
00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:49,760
energy is what it like directly translates to or the wheel of energy.

57
00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:50,760
Okay.

58
00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:52,760
We're going to start in the late seventies.

59
00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:56,920
This article comes from a website called MadeInChinaJournal.com.

60
00:02:56,920 --> 00:03:02,360
I thought it gave a good summary and the article is called on ufology with Chinese characteristics

61
00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:04,000
and the fate of Chinese socialism.

62
00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:09,080
I will begin by noting a specific discontinuity whose reality is absolutely indisputable.

63
00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:14,360
There was no public ufology in China before the reform period and Chinese ufology and

64
00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:17,480
the reform period began at almost the exact same time.

65
00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:20,840
Chelsea, I don't expect you to know what the reform period is.

66
00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:24,360
Basically there was the Chinese revolution after World War II.

67
00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:29,600
There was a lot of cultural destruction because they basically got rid of the entire upper

68
00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:30,680
class of China.

69
00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:36,040
The reform period is bringing four modernizations industry, agriculture, military and science.

70
00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:38,160
And this is brought up out by Deng Xiaoping.

71
00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:42,040
It's usually called Dengism, what Deng Xiaoping did during his time.

72
00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:44,840
And it's D-E-N-G dot D-U-N-G.

73
00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:45,840
Dengism.

74
00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:46,840
Okay.

75
00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:49,800
Basically, we need to push these things forward.

76
00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:52,600
They also really like to push Chinese characteristics.

77
00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:55,520
They talk about socialism with Chinese characteristics a lot.

78
00:03:55,520 --> 00:04:01,720
The science that they're looking at sometimes is science with ancient Chinese attachments

79
00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:02,720
as well.

80
00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:07,040
So during the first wave of the major reforms and the deepening distribution of the problems

81
00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:12,160
associated with the four modernizations, the China UFO enthusiast liaison office was

82
00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:16,440
established at Wuhan University on September 20th, 1979.

83
00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:21,280
And by 1980, it had grown considerably and became the China UFO Research Association

84
00:04:21,280 --> 00:04:24,360
with branch organizations in several major cities.

85
00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:29,160
The following February began publishing the Journal of UFO Research and by the mid 1980s

86
00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:33,280
had more than 40 branch organizations around the country and thousands of members.

87
00:04:33,280 --> 00:04:36,240
In and at this point, unrelated development.

88
00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:42,800
In 1981, the All China Qigong Science Research Association, which is this movement of Qi

89
00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:47,000
through the body that we were just talking about, was established under the All China

90
00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:51,920
Association of Chinese Medicine for research and Qigong practice with hundreds of member

91
00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:52,920
organizations.

92
00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:56,160
They called the Qigong Science Research Association the QSRA.

93
00:04:56,160 --> 00:05:00,840
It immediately became the central locus for paranormal research in China.

94
00:05:00,840 --> 00:05:03,960
Extrasensory perception, telekinesis, ghosts, and so on.

95
00:05:03,960 --> 00:05:08,040
Like it all ended up falling under the idea of the Qigong Research Center.

96
00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:09,680
That's very interesting.

97
00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:10,680
Yeah.

98
00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:14,600
Basically, everything that you would consider like just kind of outside science falls under

99
00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:17,160
the idea of Qi flowing energy.

100
00:05:17,160 --> 00:05:21,440
The extraordinary powers that Qigong practice was supposed to engender according to the

101
00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:25,960
QSRA were not exactly coexistent with the domain of the paranormal, but in seeking to

102
00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:30,560
develop and theorize these powers, continuous reference was made to these fields of study

103
00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:34,640
and especially to scientific experiments in these areas in western countries.

104
00:05:34,640 --> 00:05:39,040
Between 1986 and the early 1990s, the organization changed its name in minor ways and fell from

105
00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:41,320
time to time under the supervision of different ministries.

106
00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:46,840
And by 1993, it operated as a state-level social organization under the Ministry of

107
00:05:46,840 --> 00:05:48,440
Health and Civil Affairs.

108
00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:52,080
All of this occurred in exactly the period where the previously uncommon phrase with

109
00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:55,160
Chinese characteristics was driven into public discourse.

110
00:05:55,160 --> 00:05:59,800
After Deng Xiaoping had used the phrase socialism with Chinese characteristics in his opening

111
00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:04,440
speech at the 12th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party on September 1, 1982,

112
00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:08,960
it quickly became a central element in the discursive rearrangements that occurred through

113
00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:13,160
the 1980s around the problems associated with the dismantling of many of the social and

114
00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:17,680
economic modes of organization that had characterized the socialist development period, opening

115
00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:22,680
social life to new forms of knowledge and culture from the advanced capitalist countries,

116
00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:25,200
developing an advanced culture and economy and so on.

117
00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:29,840
There's little doubt that this had a great deal to do with the end of official Chinese

118
00:06:29,840 --> 00:06:33,760
socialist internationalism and the redirecting of attention and desire towards the capitalist

119
00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:39,160
world but the problem of Chinese characteristics also became an important site in which struggles

120
00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:42,720
over the legacy and worth of Chinese socialism would take place.

121
00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:48,400
By the early 1990s, then, the period immediately following the crushing of the 1989 social movement

122
00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:52,600
and the subsequent dismantling of the institutional and discursive resources that pertained to

123
00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:57,160
certain forms of protest against the process of reform, the broad project of combining

124
00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:01,320
Chinese traditions like Qigong and high level science and technology in the interest of

125
00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:03,720
economic development was well established.

126
00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:09,800
And Chelsea, I don't know if you know what the 1989 social movement is talking about,

127
00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:11,400
it's the Tiananmen Square massacre.

128
00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:12,800
Okay, I do know that.

129
00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:15,360
I didn't know that it would by that other name though.

130
00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:19,680
Especially in China, you really can't talk about it in specific terms.

131
00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:22,680
Because it's a significant movement against the government and it's something they don't

132
00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:23,680
want to talk about.

133
00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:28,120
It intersected with and developed alongside the popular mass movement known as the Qigong

134
00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:32,600
Fever, which among other things, charismatic Taoist masters would distribute their healing

135
00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:38,360
Qi to their followers via electronically mediated speeches at rallies of thousands or even

136
00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:43,320
tens of thousands of people, many of whom fell into collective trances or healed injuries

137
00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:47,920
or ailments, traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture, moxibustion, which I don't know

138
00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:52,840
what that is, and others had occupied a fairly stable and prestigious place in the apparatus

139
00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:57,720
of socialist public health since the 1950s, but recuperating the religious discourse it

140
00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:02,160
had developed with historically and bringing it into relation with the fourth modernization

141
00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:06,840
as the QSRA did, created all kinds of new possibilities under the general problem of

142
00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:12,360
the organic combustion combination of Eastern Qi Gong culture with Western modern science.

143
00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:17,360
The condensation of previously and perhaps properly separate vocabularies and commsets

144
00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:22,480
and those single texts would not in and of itself have seemed very strange within the

145
00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:27,440
terms of Qi Gong discourse in the 1990s, and the China UFO Research Association had

146
00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:33,520
been affiliated with the QSRA since 1988 as a second level study society, and by this

147
00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:39,100
route had acquired legal standing as an organization, but this led to all kinds of internal contradictions

148
00:08:39,100 --> 00:08:42,760
between the materialist ufologists and the Qi Gong tendency.

149
00:08:42,760 --> 00:08:49,440
This came to a head in the Cura's fourth national chondrous in Beijing in May 1992,

150
00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:54,040
at which time many members became frustrated by the infiltration of pseudoscience leading

151
00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:59,520
to the organization to reiterate his commitment to the dialectical materialist guiding principles.

152
00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:05,240
I really just wanted to bring in the idea of Qi Gong, Tai Chi, the movement of Qi,

153
00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:11,360
is inexorably linked to ufology in Chinese history because it began being studied at

154
00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:16,720
the same time, and because of this, there's much more intermingling in Chinese cultural

155
00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:21,240
significance and its study between these two topics than you would see in most of the

156
00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:22,240
rest of the world.

157
00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:28,040
And I just ask, is it because they're both technically fringy ideas?

158
00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:32,960
Well, it's not only that they're linked because of that, they both began getting studied at

159
00:09:32,960 --> 00:09:37,600
the exact same time, so inexorably you're going to end up with a different link than,

160
00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:42,680
say, something that's always been studied and something else popping up later on.

161
00:09:42,680 --> 00:09:45,800
Within a two-year period, these things are both being studied and they're put into the

162
00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:51,600
same faculty to be studied, like it's all under the top of the QSRA, the Qi Gong Research

163
00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:52,600
Society.

164
00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:57,720
Okay, and so it's because they're just like not, they're kinda outskirts of things that

165
00:09:57,720 --> 00:09:58,920
they're kinda thrown into the same thing?

166
00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:02,840
I wouldn't say it's because they're outskirts, I think the big difference here is this is

167
00:10:02,840 --> 00:10:07,080
something that neither of these could be studied for a long time because they were outside

168
00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:13,720
of progression and specifically, Chinese culture up until the 1970s had a real conflict with

169
00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:18,840
this past culture because they were always worried about an overthrow of the Communist

170
00:10:18,840 --> 00:10:19,840
Party of China.

171
00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:24,040
The cultural significance is that wealthy people have a connection to these things to

172
00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:29,240
the past and especially when you see a push for a conservative movement against socialism,

173
00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:31,120
it's usually a push to tradition.

174
00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:35,200
This being tradition, it was kinda forbidden even to be looked at and when it was opened

175
00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:38,920
up, science was opened up to something that could be looked at in the 70s.

176
00:10:38,920 --> 00:10:43,680
UFOs and Qi Gong are just allowed to be looked at and then therefore connected.

177
00:10:43,680 --> 00:10:48,160
Okay, I was gonna say it's not because they're actually like connected, connected.

178
00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:52,120
Not necessarily, you could say there's a connection just because it's like the spiritual side of

179
00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:53,120
it or the parrot.

180
00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:54,120
Yeah.

181
00:10:54,120 --> 00:10:55,560
The above normal top.

182
00:10:55,560 --> 00:10:59,000
It's not because like a UFO beamed down and gave us Tai Chi.

183
00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:00,000
I would say yes.

184
00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:01,000
It did?

185
00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:03,840
No, I would say that you're right, nobody did that.

186
00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:07,200
Some Qi Gong groups definitely are not of that opinion.

187
00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:13,120
Okay, I just wanted to make sure the barrier of what we're looking at here with their connection.

188
00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:19,120
With that all done, we need to take a look now at a man who we're going to be talking

189
00:11:19,120 --> 00:11:20,120
a lot about.

190
00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:21,880
His name is Li Hongzhi.

191
00:11:21,880 --> 00:11:26,920
You'll see a lot of people pronounce his name Li Hongzhi, but that is because most people

192
00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:30,360
who are saying his name don't have a background in reading Pinyin.

193
00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:34,680
When you see a Chinese word, if you see a Z and an H, it makes a J sound.

194
00:11:34,680 --> 00:11:38,440
If you see an I after that, it makes an R sound or an O sound.

195
00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:39,440
So okay.

196
00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:43,440
So Li Hongzhi is how we're going to say it from here on out, okay?

197
00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:46,000
There, we all learned a little something about Chinese.

198
00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:47,000
Oh good.

199
00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:50,280
I just probably won't say it.

200
00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:52,640
You can just call him Li because I call him Li basically.

201
00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:54,360
Okay, okay, I can do that.

202
00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:56,440
I can pronounce Li correctly.

203
00:11:56,440 --> 00:11:58,560
Li is born in the 50s.

204
00:11:58,560 --> 00:12:00,200
There's a bit of dispute about that.

205
00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:02,800
We will talk about it in the next episode.

206
00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:03,800
He comes on the scene.

207
00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:08,000
He claims to be tutored by a variety of Buddhist and Taoist masters who, according to his

208
00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:12,560
spiritual biography, imparted with him practice methods and moral philosophies that become,

209
00:12:12,560 --> 00:12:14,080
as we know it, Falun Gong.

210
00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:15,080
But that's not where we're going to start.

211
00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:16,640
We're not starting with Falun Gong.

212
00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:20,480
We're starting with just Li Hongzhi and his movement through life.

213
00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:25,880
1970, Li is working for the military on a horse farm in northeast China.

214
00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:31,360
In 1972, he works as a trumpet player with a division of the provincial forestry police.

215
00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:33,160
He kind of disagrees with this.

216
00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:36,720
This is what the actual government's history of him is.

217
00:12:36,720 --> 00:12:41,360
That is a super strange history with the government.

218
00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:45,760
In the early 1980s, because he was born during the Cultural Revolution, he didn't actually

219
00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:46,760
complete high school.

220
00:12:46,760 --> 00:12:51,280
So he completes high school through correspondence just because that was the way to do it.

221
00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:55,560
And then Li begins studying and observing a variety of Qigong disciplines.

222
00:12:55,560 --> 00:12:59,520
Only in preparation for establishing and publicizing his own Qigong system.

223
00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:00,840
This is the mid-1980s.

224
00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:04,960
By 1985, the Chinese authorities created the national organization to oversee the great

225
00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:08,840
variety of Qigong disciplines that were proliferating across the country.

226
00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:14,240
And the China Qigong Scientific Research Society was established in 1985 and convened its first

227
00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:16,360
meeting in Beijing in 1986.

228
00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:20,640
The organization counted among its leadership several eminent members of the former members

229
00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:26,080
and former members of the Politburo and National People's Congress, as well as former ministries

230
00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:27,720
of health and education.

231
00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:33,320
And in 1989, Li begins private instruction of what becomes known as Falun Gong to very

232
00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:34,720
select students.

233
00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:39,480
In 1982, he officially found what he calls Falun Gong.

234
00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:43,960
Now Falun Gong in Chinese means the wheel of law.

235
00:13:43,960 --> 00:13:46,240
You will also see it called the Falun Dafa.

236
00:13:46,240 --> 00:13:49,160
I'm not really sure the significance between the two names.

237
00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:52,680
I also don't know the translation of Falun Dafa.

238
00:13:52,680 --> 00:13:55,160
It's something to do with law because Gong means wheel.

239
00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:56,880
I don't know what Falun means.

240
00:13:56,880 --> 00:14:02,080
Falun Dafa, Falun Gong are interchangeable in my mind for what we're talking about here,

241
00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:03,080
okay?

242
00:14:03,080 --> 00:14:07,280
So Falun Gong publicly founded in spring of 1992.

243
00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:11,400
And it's near the end of what's known as China's Qigong Bu.

244
00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:15,000
It's a period which saw the proliferation of thousands of disciplines.

245
00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:21,000
Li Hongzhi and his Falun Gong became an instant star of the Qigong movement and were welcomed

246
00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:25,840
into the government-administered China Qigong Scientific Research Society.

247
00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:32,320
From 1992 to 1994, Li travels throughout China giving 54 lectures and seminars on the practices

248
00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:34,080
and beliefs of Falun Gong.

249
00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:39,040
Seminars typically lasted 8 to 10 days and attracted as many as 6,000 participants per

250
00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:40,040
class.

251
00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:44,520
The practice group rapidly based on its purportive efficacies and improving health and its moral

252
00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:49,920
and philosophical elements, which were more developed than those of other Qigong schools.

253
00:14:49,920 --> 00:14:53,320
And these are part of the teachings that I want to talk about in the first half of this

254
00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:54,720
two-part series.

255
00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:55,720
What are the teachings?

256
00:14:55,720 --> 00:15:00,680
So Falun Gong differentiates itself from Buddhist monistic traditions in that it places great

257
00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:03,520
importance on participants in the secular world.

258
00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:09,080
Falun Gong practitioners are required to maintain regular jobs and family lives and to observe

259
00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:13,200
the laws of the respective governments and are instructed to not distance themselves

260
00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:14,200
from society.

261
00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:18,600
An exception is made of course for Buddhists who are permitted to continue a monastic lifestyle

262
00:15:18,600 --> 00:15:20,600
while practicing Falun Gong.

263
00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:25,680
As a part of its emphasis on ethical behavior, Falun Gong's teachings prescribe a strict

264
00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:29,920
personal morality for practitioners with three key principles.

265
00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:35,520
They are Zhen, Shan, and Ren, which are truth, compassion, and forbearance.

266
00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:38,240
Those are the three fundamental words of Falun Gong.

267
00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:39,880
What was the last one?

268
00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:40,880
Forbearance.

269
00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:42,880
Kind of like an internal strictness.

270
00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:44,400
Okay, thank you.

271
00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:48,680
They are expected to do good deeds and conduct themselves with patience when encountering

272
00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:49,680
difficulties.

273
00:15:49,680 --> 00:15:54,520
For instance, Li stipulates that a practitioner of Falun Gong must quote, not hit back when

274
00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:57,560
attacked, not talk back when insulted, end quote.

275
00:15:57,560 --> 00:16:03,080
In addition, they must also abandon negative thoughts and behaviors such as greed, deception,

276
00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:07,600
jealousy, and the teachings contained in junctions against smoking and the consumption of alcohol

277
00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:12,200
as these are considered addictions that are detrimental to health and mental clarity.

278
00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:17,040
Doctors are also forbidden to kill living things, including animals for the purposes

279
00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:18,440
of obtaining food.

280
00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:22,360
Though strangely enough, they are not required to adopt a vegetarian diet.

281
00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:24,160
I'm not quite sure how that works.

282
00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:27,600
It just means they can't actually hunt for it, maybe?

283
00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:30,880
No, this is one of the contradictions we'll talk about later on, but I think it's one

284
00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:34,680
of those things that we're not going to tell you to do something, but the rules don't really

285
00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:36,600
allow you to do other things.

286
00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:39,720
Basically like we're not going to say you can't eat meat, but you can't have things

287
00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:41,320
die to eat it.

288
00:16:41,320 --> 00:16:45,280
In addition to these things, practitioners of Falun Gong must abandon a variety of worldly

289
00:16:45,280 --> 00:16:46,760
attachments and desires.

290
00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:50,600
In the course of cultivating your practice, the students of Falun Gong aim to relinquish

291
00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:54,960
the pursuit of fame, monetary gain, sentimentality, and other entanglements.

292
00:16:54,960 --> 00:16:59,440
Lee's teachings repeatedly emphasize the emptiness of material pursuits, although practitioners

293
00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:02,640
of Falun Gong are not encouraged to leave their jobs or rescue money.

294
00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:06,560
They are expected to give up the psychological attachment to these things, not the things

295
00:17:06,560 --> 00:17:07,560
themselves.

296
00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:11,880
Falun Gong doctrine also cancels against participation in political or social issues.

297
00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:14,080
We'll talk about that again later.

298
00:17:14,080 --> 00:17:18,400
Excessive interest in politics is viewed as an attachment to worldly power and influence,

299
00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:21,520
and Falun Gong aims for transcendence of such pursuits.

300
00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:26,920
According to Hu Ping, quote, Falun Gong deals only with purifying the individual through

301
00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:30,920
exercise and does not touch on social or national concerns.

302
00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:35,520
It has not suggested or even intimated a model for social change.

303
00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:40,080
Many religions pursue social reform to some extent, but there is no such tendency evident

304
00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:41,320
in Falun Gong.

305
00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:42,320
End quote.

306
00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:43,320
Okay.

307
00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:46,000
That's just to give you a little idea of the philosophy behind all.

308
00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:50,600
At the end of the day, it is just movements, but there are technically it spreads a little

309
00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:54,480
more to kind of the overall lifestyle of somebody who's in Falun Gong.

310
00:17:54,480 --> 00:17:55,840
Does that make sense so far?

311
00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:59,600
I mean, yeah, I'm curious to see where this is going.

312
00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:00,600
Okay.

313
00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:03,480
With that, we're going to kind of continue on that timeline.

314
00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:08,440
May 13th of 1992, Li begins public teachings of these philosophies of Falun Gong at the

315
00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:12,680
number five middle school in Chengchun, Jilin Province, lecturing to a crowd of several

316
00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:13,680
hundred.

317
00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:16,960
The seminar ran for nine days at a cost of 30 yuan per person.

318
00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:22,320
In June, Li is invited by the Chinese Qigong Scientific Research Society to lecture in Beijing.

319
00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:26,520
In September, Falun Gong is recognized as a Qigong branch under the administration of

320
00:18:26,520 --> 00:18:31,880
the state run China Qigong Scientific Research Society, and Li has formally declared a master

321
00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:36,920
of Qigong by the CQRS, the China Qigong Research Society.

322
00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:37,920
Right.

323
00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:38,920
Right.

324
00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:41,680
And he receives a permit to teach Qigong nationwide.

325
00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:47,520
Li and several Falun Gong students participate in the 1992 Asia Health Expo in Beijing from

326
00:18:47,520 --> 00:18:52,160
December 12th to 21st, and the organizer of the health fair remark that Falun Gong and

327
00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:57,360
Li, quote, received the most praise of any Qigong school at the fair and received very

328
00:18:57,360 --> 00:18:59,680
good therapeutic results, end quote.

329
00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:04,400
The event helped cement Li's popularity in the Qigong world and journalistic reports

330
00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:06,680
of Falun Gong's healing powers spread.

331
00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:10,840
By the end of the year, Li had given five week-long lecture seminars in Beijing, four

332
00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:14,560
in Chengchun, and one in Taiyun and one in Shandong.

333
00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:21,600
In 1993, the first major instructional text by Li Hongzhe is published by Military Yuan

334
00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:22,840
Press in April.

335
00:19:22,840 --> 00:19:27,280
The book sets forth an explanation of Falun Gong's basic cosmology, moral system, and

336
00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:28,280
exercises.

337
00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:30,960
The highest edition is released in December of the same year.

338
00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:35,440
In the spring and summer of 1993, a series of glowing articles appear in Qigong magazine's

339
00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:38,200
nationwide, lauding the benefits of Falun Gong.

340
00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:43,000
Several feature images of Li Hongzhe on the cover and argued the superiority of the Falun

341
00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:44,000
Gong system.

342
00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:49,920
The Falun Xiong Lian, DAFA Research Society, is established as a branch of the Chinese

343
00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:53,760
Qigong Research Society on July 30th of this year.

344
00:19:53,760 --> 00:19:59,280
In August, an organization under the Ministry of Public Security sends a letter to the CQRS

345
00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:03,320
thanking Li Hongzhe for providing his teachings to police officers injured in the line of

346
00:20:03,320 --> 00:20:04,320
duty.

347
00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:08,280
The letter claimed that of the hundreds of officers treated by Li, only one failed to

348
00:20:08,280 --> 00:20:11,040
experience obvious improvement in their health.

349
00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:16,320
So there's a real big link between the government as a whole and Falun Gong.

350
00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:17,320
I'm noticing that.

351
00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:22,200
Like Li is literally helping the police in this, and they are pushing it hard.

352
00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:25,080
Not only that, but they gave him a permit, correct?

353
00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:27,080
Yeah, to practice this as a whole.

354
00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:30,480
Yeah, I mean, everything seems on the up and up for Li right now.

355
00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:32,520
Everything seems like it's on the up and up for Li.

356
00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:36,280
There's a real good relationship between him and the government, like they're pushing

357
00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:37,760
it, everything is going great.

358
00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:41,720
They're putting him in with the police precincts to help people who are injured in the job.

359
00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:46,520
On September 21st of 1993, the People's Public Security Daily of Publication of the Ministry

360
00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:51,120
of Public Security commenced Falun Gong for, quote, promoting the traditional crime fighting

361
00:20:51,120 --> 00:20:55,560
virtues of the Chinese people, in safeguarding social orders and security, and in promoting

362
00:20:55,560 --> 00:20:58,160
rectitude in society, end quote.

363
00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:02,800
Li again participates in the Asia Health Expo in Beijing from December 11th to 20th.

364
00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:05,000
This time is a member of the organization committee.

365
00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:09,960
He wins several awards at the event and is proclaimed as, quote, the most acclaimed Qi

366
00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:11,120
Gong master.

367
00:21:11,120 --> 00:21:16,440
Falun Gong also received the, quote, special gold award and award for advancing frontier

368
00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:18,000
science, end quote.

369
00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:22,800
In 1994, the Jilin Province of Qi Gong Science Research Association proclaims Li Hongjue

370
00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:28,640
as a grandmaster of Qi Gong, and Li gives two lectures of on Falun Gong at the Public

371
00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:33,440
Security University in Beijing and contributes profits from the seminars to a foundation

372
00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:35,560
for injured police officers.

373
00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:40,880
On August 3rd, the city of Houston, Texas, declares Li Hongjue as an honorary citizen

374
00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:45,920
for his unselfish public service for the benefit and welfare of mankind.

375
00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:50,880
And as revenue from his sales of his publications grew, Li ceased to charge fees for his classes

376
00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:54,440
and thereafter insists that Falun Gong must be taught free of charge.

377
00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:59,200
The last full seminar Falun Gong practice and philosophy takes place from December 21st

378
00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:03,400
to 29th to December in the city of Guangzhou in 1994.

379
00:22:03,400 --> 00:22:08,680
In 1995, the complete teaches of Falun Gong is published in January by the China Television

380
00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:10,760
Broadcasting Agency Publishing Company.

381
00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:16,800
A publication ceremony is held in the Ministry of Public Security auditorium on January 4th.

382
00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:21,000
In February, Li is approached by the Chinese National Sports Committee, Ministry of Public

383
00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:26,360
Health and the CQSRA to jointly establish a Falun Gong Association.

384
00:22:26,360 --> 00:22:28,640
However, Li declines this offer.

385
00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:30,640
This is where things start to change.

386
00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:34,520
Official attitudes towards the Qi Gong movement within some segments of the government began

387
00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:39,240
to change as criticism of the Qi Gong begin to appear in the state-run press.

388
00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:45,120
From here, Li announces that he was finished teaching his practices in China and Li Hongjue

389
00:22:45,120 --> 00:22:49,680
begins teaching his practices in Europe, Oceania, North America, and Southeast Asia.

390
00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:54,040
In 1998, Li relocates permanently to the United States.

391
00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:58,120
As the practice continues to grow within China, tensions emerge between Falun Gong and Chinese

392
00:22:58,120 --> 00:22:59,120
authorities.

393
00:22:59,120 --> 00:23:04,920
In 1996, Falun Gong withdraws from the China Qi Gong Scientific Research Society and thereafter

394
00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:09,160
finds itself the subject of growing scrutiny and criticism in the state-run press.

395
00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:13,480
Their practice becomes a subject of high-level debates within the government and CCP, with

396
00:23:13,480 --> 00:23:17,160
some ministries and government authorities expressing continued support for the practices

397
00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:24,880
and others becoming increasingly wary of the group.

398
00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:29,200
There were criticisms before the withdrawal, and I'm going to be perfectly honest, we'll

399
00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:35,400
never get a full answer as to what happens between him being asked to start a Qi Gong

400
00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:41,320
Sports Research Facility and their withdrawal from Chinese life.

401
00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:45,360
Neither party will give you a straight answer.

402
00:23:45,360 --> 00:23:49,400
The tension also plays out in the media as some outlets continue to laud the effects

403
00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:52,920
of Falun Gong while others criticize it as pseudo-size.

404
00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:56,920
Tensions continue to escalate over this period, culminating in a demonstration, which we'll

405
00:23:56,920 --> 00:23:58,680
talk about later on here.

406
00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:01,240
So that's just to give you an overview of this next little bit.

407
00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:06,240
In 1996, the book Zhuang Falun is listed as a bestseller by Beijing Youth Daily in January,

408
00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:07,240
March and April.

409
00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:11,800
Falun Gong files for withdrawal from the China Qi Gong Research Society in March of 1996

410
00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:16,880
and Lee later explains that he had found the state-run CQRS to be more concerned with profiting

411
00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:19,680
from Qi Gong than engaging in genuine research.

412
00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:24,280
They had also apparently rejected a new CQRS policy that mandated all Qi Gong practices

413
00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:27,480
created CCP branches within their organization.

414
00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:31,880
Falun Gong is left entirely without government oversight or sanctions at this point.

415
00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:37,340
At least direction, administrators of the Falun Gong Research Association of China apply

416
00:24:37,340 --> 00:24:41,880
for registration with three other government organizations, including the Buddhist Association

417
00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:45,200
of China and the United Front Work Department.

418
00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:46,920
All applications are denied though.

419
00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:52,880
The first major state-run media article criticizing Falun Gong appears in the Guangming Daily

420
00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:56,120
newspaper on June 17th of 1996.

421
00:24:56,120 --> 00:25:00,680
The article writes that Falun Gong represents a manifestation of feudal superstition and

422
00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:06,920
that its core text, Zhuang Falun, is a work of quote, pseudo-science that swindles the

423
00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:07,920
masses.

424
00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:11,440
Falun Gong practitioners responded to the article's publication with a letter writing

425
00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:14,800
campaign to the newspaper and the National Qi Gong Association.

426
00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:18,320
Several Buddhist journals and magazines start to write articles criticizing Falun Gong as

427
00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:20,720
a heretical sect as well at this time.

428
00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:26,160
And on July 24, Falun Gong books are banned from further publication by the China News

429
00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:29,040
Publishing Bureau, a branch of the CCP Party.

430
00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:33,120
The reason cited for the ban is that Falun Gong is spreading superstition.

431
00:25:33,120 --> 00:25:37,640
Hired in copy versions, however, of the Falun Gong books proliferate with Li Hongjue's

432
00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:38,640
approval.

433
00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:43,560
Li begins another lecture tour in the summer of 1996 traveling to Hong Kong, Sydney, Bangkok,

434
00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:45,400
Houston, New York, and Beijing.

435
00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:50,280
And the China Qi Gong Scientific Research Society issues a resolution on the cancellation

436
00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:52,640
of Falun Gong's membership with the society.

437
00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:57,320
The resolution stated that although practitioners of Falun Gong had, quote, attained unparalleled

438
00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:04,080
results in terms of fitness and disease prevention, end quote, Li Hongjue propagated theology and

439
00:26:04,080 --> 00:26:08,720
superstition and failed to attend association meetings and departed from the association's

440
00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:09,720
procedure.

441
00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:10,720
That's 96.

442
00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:11,720
97 comes around.

443
00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:12,720
I love that statement.

444
00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:16,920
I know you guys are getting excellent results, but the guy is not good.

445
00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:18,920
But he's not showing up.

446
00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:23,800
Yeah, excellent results aside.

447
00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:28,400
The Ministry of Public Security launches an investigation in 1997 into whether Falun

448
00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:32,120
Gong should be deemed Xi'e Jia, which is a theoretical religion.

449
00:26:32,120 --> 00:26:35,000
The report concludes that no evidence has appeared thus far.

450
00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:39,800
From 1997 to 1999, criticism of Falun Gong escalates in state-run media.

451
00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:44,120
With the encouragement of Li, Falun Gong practitioners respond to criticism by peacefully

452
00:26:44,120 --> 00:26:50,320
petitioning outside media offices, seeking redress against the perceived unfair reporting.

453
00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:55,000
The tactic succeeds frequently, often resulting in the retraction of critical articles and

454
00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:57,640
apologies from the news organizations.

455
00:26:57,640 --> 00:27:01,640
Not all media coverage, however, was negative in this period, and articles continue to appear

456
00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:04,280
highlighting Falun Gong's health benefits.

457
00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:07,640
And this is a weird little middle area where there's a little bit of criticism that's

458
00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:12,280
starting to come out in the media, and Li tells people, go protest outside of these places.

459
00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:15,960
Do it peacefully, but you'll have tens of thousands of people sitting outside of a

460
00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:20,040
new station, just sitting there for a day's on end, because they wrote something bad about

461
00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:21,040
this group.

462
00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:25,800
On January 13th of 1998, the Chinese Buddhist Association held a meeting on how to react

463
00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:29,880
to Falun Gong, and on July 21st of the same year, the Ministry of Public Security issues

464
00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:35,560
document number 555, which is, quote, notice of the investigation of Falun Gong, end quote.

465
00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:39,960
The document asserts that Falun Gong is an evil religion and mandates that another investigation

466
00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:42,760
be launched to seek evidence of this conclusion.

467
00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:47,200
Security agencies began monitoring and collecting personal information on practitioners.

468
00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:51,880
Falun Gong sources reported authorities were tapping, phone lines harassing and tailing

469
00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:56,840
practitioners and ransacking homes and closing down Falun Gong meditation sessions.

470
00:27:56,840 --> 00:28:00,880
According to Falun Gong sources, Chao Shui, the former chairman of the National People's

471
00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:05,680
Congress, led his own investigation to Falun Gong, and concluded that Falun Gong has hundreds

472
00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:13,600
of benefits for the Chinese people and China and does not have one single bad effect.

473
00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:17,000
I would really like to stress the beginning of that sentence though.

474
00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:20,880
According to Falun Gong sources, Chao Shui said this.

475
00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:25,960
The Chinese government also said that it had excellent results.

476
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:30,840
China's National Sports Commission launches its own investigation of May 98, and the Commission's

477
00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:36,160
medical professionals conduct interviews of over 12,000 Falun Gong practitioners in Guangdong

478
00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:37,160
province.

479
00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:40,280
97.9% of respondents say Falun Gong improved their health.

480
00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:43,720
I don't understand what the problem is here right now.

481
00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:45,840
Everyone's saying it's excellent.

482
00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:50,680
I would also like to emphasize the question is, do you think Falun Gong has improved your

483
00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:51,680
health?

484
00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:52,680
Yeah.

485
00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:55,000
There's not actually like any research into it.

486
00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:56,760
It's just them asking them.

487
00:28:56,760 --> 00:28:57,760
Yeah.

488
00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:02,040
They're as good as judges any.

489
00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:06,720
And by October, the investigation concludes noting, quote, work in Vince, the exercises

490
00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:08,840
and effects of Falun Gong are excellent.

491
00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:12,640
It has done an extraordinary amount to improve society's stability and ethics.

492
00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:14,840
And this should be duly affirmed, end quote.

493
00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:15,840
I'm convinced.

494
00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:20,920
At this time, the State Sports Commission suggests that upwards of 60 to 70 million

495
00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:23,440
people are practicing Falun Gong in China.

496
00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:24,440
Holy crap.

497
00:29:24,440 --> 00:29:25,440
Wow.

498
00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:26,440
He already has China.

499
00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:27,440
That's why he leaves.

500
00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:28,440
I'm going to go find more.

501
00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:32,320
Well, and there's plenty of people that will spread it on his behalf there as well.

502
00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:33,320
Yeah.

503
00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:37,000
1999, Lee Hongjue continues to teach Falun Gong internationally with occasional stops

504
00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:38,000
in China.

505
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:43,440
And by early 1999, Lee had lectured in Sydney, Bangkok, San Francisco, LA, Hong Kong, Taipei,

506
00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:48,520
Frankfurt, Toronto, Singapore, Geneva, Houston in New York, as well as in Changchun in Beijing.

507
00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:53,880
Wu Xiaozhu, an official from China's National Sports Commission, says in an interview with

508
00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:58,520
US and World Reports on February 14 that as many as 100 million people may have taken

509
00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:00,760
up Falun Gong in other forms of Qigong.

510
00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:04,960
Wu notes that the popularity of Falun Gong dramatically reduces health care costs and

511
00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:09,400
quote, premier Zhu Rongzhu is very happy about that end quote.

512
00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:10,400
Yeah.

513
00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:13,520
That's just another tick in the column for good.

514
00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:14,520
How great.

515
00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:15,520
Falun Gong.

516
00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:16,520
It's doing pretty good things.

517
00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:17,520
Yeah.

518
00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:23,320
In April, physicist Hedzuo Xu from the Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes an article in

519
00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:26,280
Tianjin Normal Universities, you three.

520
00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:30,720
That's a great name for university.

521
00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:32,320
You gotta love translations.

522
00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:33,320
Yeah.

523
00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:34,320
The Tianjin Normal University.

524
00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:35,320
Okay.

525
00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:36,320
I love that.

526
00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:41,320
He publishes an article criticizing Falun Gong as superstitious and potentially harmful

527
00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:44,680
for youth and stating he knew someone who died because of it.

528
00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:48,600
At that time, some countries near China had people practicing like Vietnam.

529
00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:52,480
Tianjin Falun Gong practitioners respond to this article by peacefully petitioning in

530
00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:57,520
front of the editorial offices and the editors initially agreed to publish a retraction of

531
00:30:57,520 --> 00:30:58,520
this article.

532
00:30:58,520 --> 00:30:59,520
Wait.

533
00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:00,520
Okay.

534
00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:03,720
First of all, they're publishing a retraction because there's a protest there, right?

535
00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:04,720
Yeah.

536
00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:06,200
There's probably just so many people there.

537
00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:07,960
Second, someone died.

538
00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:10,120
He says somebody died practicing it.

539
00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:11,120
Yes.

540
00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:12,120
Okay.

541
00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:13,120
Okay.

542
00:31:13,120 --> 00:31:14,120
In TV.

543
00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:18,240
On April 23rd, some 300 security forces are called in to break up the ongoing Falun Gong

544
00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:19,240
demonstrations.

545
00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:24,680
45 Falun Gong practitioners are beaten and detained, which at the end of the day is actually

546
00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:30,520
a fairly, I don't want to downplay it, but this is a controlled response, like, compared

547
00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:33,360
to what happened 10 years prior to people protesting.

548
00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:34,360
Huh.

549
00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:35,360
Okay.

550
00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:36,360
Yeah.

551
00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:37,360
And you know, I was just thinking the same thing.

552
00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:39,880
If they wanted to shut it down like proper, they probably could have.

553
00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:41,080
They had the power to.

554
00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:43,120
They called in 300 security forces.

555
00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:44,480
It was a peaceful protest.

556
00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:46,440
So was Tianjin Square at the time, though.

557
00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:50,680
They're probably thinking how many people are in this thing now if they're wanting to

558
00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:53,200
shut it down and they're protesting everything.

559
00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:57,760
In response to this, Falun Gong practitioners petition Tianjin City Hall for the release

560
00:31:57,760 --> 00:31:59,480
of the detained practitioners.

561
00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:03,320
They are reportedly told that the order to break up the crowd and detain protesters came

562
00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:06,920
from the central authorities in Beijing and that further appeals should be directed at

563
00:32:06,920 --> 00:32:07,920
Beijing.

564
00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:13,360
April 25th, somewhere between 10 and 20,000 Falun Gong practitioners quietly assemble

565
00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:16,120
outside the central appeals office.

566
00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:20,240
They are now adjacent to the Zhongnan High leadership compound in Beijing.

567
00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:26,120
Five Falun Gong representatives meet with Premier Zhu Rongji to request official recognition

568
00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:29,800
and an end to the escalating harassment against the group.

569
00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:34,600
Zhu agrees to release the Tianjin practitioners and assures the representatives that the government

570
00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:36,360
does not oppose Falun Gong.

571
00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:41,800
The same day, however, Jin Zemin issues a letter stating his intentions to suppress

572
00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:43,040
the practice.

573
00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:49,160
On April 26, Jin Zemin convenes a meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee to discuss

574
00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:51,400
the Falun Gong demonstration.

575
00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:56,280
Some Politburo members reportedly favor to conciliatory position towards Falun Gong,

576
00:32:56,280 --> 00:33:01,600
while others, such as Jiang and the security leader Luoguan, favor to decisive suppression

577
00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:02,800
of the group.

578
00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:06,320
Authorities start to increase the surveillance of Falun Gong from here, tapping telephones

579
00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:09,800
of practitioners and monitoring practitioners in several cities.

580
00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:13,360
I would like to emphasize this information provided by Falun Gong.

581
00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:15,880
One party in this, not the Chinese Communist Party.

582
00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:18,320
May I please interject and ask a question?

583
00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:19,320
Yes.

584
00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:20,320
Am I missing something?

585
00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:23,960
Like what happened here that they want to shut it down so much?

586
00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:26,240
We will never get a straight answer.

587
00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:27,240
Both parties will have to answer.

588
00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:28,360
I did ask that, didn't I?

589
00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:29,680
You already told me this.

590
00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:32,360
I'm very confused as to why this is happening.

591
00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:35,320
We will never know for sure why this happens.

592
00:33:35,320 --> 00:33:39,240
We can only speculate and the speculation will happen in the second episode.

593
00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:40,240
Okay, okay.

594
00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:44,640
I just keep coming around to why do we hate the Falun Gong and we just don't know.

595
00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:46,920
It seems like out of nowhere, right?

596
00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:49,400
It's just like, yeah, everybody's getting along great.

597
00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:52,680
And then, nope, nope, some bad articles, protests.

598
00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:54,680
We're going to crack down on the protests.

599
00:33:54,680 --> 00:33:55,680
The leader leaves the country.

600
00:33:55,680 --> 00:34:00,000
I really feel like I'm missing some sort of information, but I'm not.

601
00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:03,520
I might ask it again because I did ask it already.

602
00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:05,720
It just makes me more curious about it.

603
00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:07,600
Do they not know that?

604
00:34:07,600 --> 00:34:09,800
Okay, okay, okay.

605
00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:12,560
That's not satisfying, but okay.

606
00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:17,320
May 2nd, 1999, Lee Hong-Jue gives a press conference to journalists in Sydney, Australia.

607
00:34:17,320 --> 00:34:20,520
When asked by a reporter whether he believed the government would kill or imprison his

608
00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:24,720
disciples to maintain social order, Lee responds that, quote, Falun Gong practitioners will

609
00:34:24,720 --> 00:34:26,240
never go against the law.

610
00:34:26,240 --> 00:34:29,920
In terms of the scenario you described, I don't think it will happen since the economic

611
00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:34,520
reform and opening up of the Chinese government has been quite tolerant in this respect, end

612
00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:35,520
quote.

613
00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:36,520
Right, that's what they're known for.

614
00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:41,640
May and June of this year, just as preparations are quietly underway for a crackdown, Falun

615
00:34:41,640 --> 00:34:45,280
Gong practitioners continue their public meditation sessions.

616
00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:50,960
The Far Eastern Economic Review wrote, quote, in a park in Western Beijing, 100 or so Falun

617
00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:55,520
Gong practitioners exercise under a bold yellow banner proclaiming their affiliation.

618
00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:58,400
They are far from running scared, end quote.

619
00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:02,800
On June 2nd, Lee purchased space in several Hong Kong newspapers to publish an article

620
00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:08,640
defending Falun Gong and urging Chinese leaders not to, quote, risk universal condemnation

621
00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:12,720
and waste manpower and capital, end quote, by antagonizing the group.

622
00:35:12,720 --> 00:35:18,800
On the 3rd of June, 70,000 practitioners from Jilin and Liaoning traveled to Beijing in

623
00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:20,760
an attempt to appeal to authorities.

624
00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:25,200
They are intercepted by security forces sent home and placed under surveillance.

625
00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:31,120
On June 7th, 1999, Jiang Zemin convened a meeting of the Politburo to address the Falun Gong

626
00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:32,120
issue.

627
00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:37,000
In the meeting, Jiang described Falun Gong as a grave threat to CCP authorities, quote,

628
00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:40,920
something unprecedented in the country since its founding 50 years ago, end quote, and

629
00:35:40,920 --> 00:35:44,400
ordered the creation of a special leading group within the party's central committee

630
00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:49,160
to, quote, get fully prepared for the work of disintegrating the Falun Gong, end quote.

631
00:35:49,160 --> 00:35:53,960
On June 10th, the 6-10 office was formed to handle day-to-day coordination of anti-Falun

632
00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:58,680
Gong campaign, and Luo Gan was selected to helm the office, whose mission at the time

633
00:35:58,680 --> 00:36:02,640
was described as studying, investigating, and developing a unified approach to resolve

634
00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:04,040
the Falun Gong problem.

635
00:36:04,040 --> 00:36:08,120
The office was not created with any legislation, and there are no provisions describing its

636
00:36:08,120 --> 00:36:09,440
precise mandate.

637
00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:15,720
On June 17th, 1999, Jiang Zemin declared in a Politburo meeting that Falun Gong is, quote,

638
00:36:15,720 --> 00:36:21,880
the most serious political incident since the June 4th political disturbance in 1989.

639
00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:26,560
The 6-10 office came under the newly created central leading group for dealing with Falun

640
00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:28,920
Gong, headed by Li Lanqing.

641
00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:34,080
Both Li and Luo were members of the Politburo Standing Committee, and the four other deputy

642
00:36:34,080 --> 00:36:39,480
directors of the central leading group also held high-level positions in the CCP, including

643
00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:41,840
ministers of the Ganon Department.

644
00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:48,560
On June 26th of 1999, 13 Falun Gong exercise sites in public parks are shut down by Beijing

645
00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:52,080
Security Council, and that's basically where it's outlawed.

646
00:36:52,080 --> 00:36:57,040
From here onwards, I'm going to go to a description of what takes place.

647
00:36:57,040 --> 00:37:01,720
This comes from a website called the Friends of Falun Gong, so I just want to emphasize

648
00:37:01,720 --> 00:37:08,200
this is going to be a very one-sided view of what takes place from June 26th onwards

649
00:37:08,200 --> 00:37:09,200
to today.

650
00:37:09,200 --> 00:37:13,560
The CCP's persecution of Falun Gong is a comprehensive nationwide effort that encompasses

651
00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:16,400
many different forms of cruelty in humanity.

652
00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:20,480
Whether in an attempt to get Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their beliefs or to simply intimidate

653
00:37:20,480 --> 00:37:24,320
and attack them, the harshest and most painful forms of torture have been employed.

654
00:37:24,320 --> 00:37:28,480
The scope of the torture is very large, and the number of cases documented by the government

655
00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:32,240
of human rights organizations is well into the tens of thousands.

656
00:37:32,240 --> 00:37:36,760
The US Department of State, Amnesty International, the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, and

657
00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:42,480
other sources and investigations all corroborate the basic facts about the CCP's widespread

658
00:37:42,480 --> 00:37:45,120
torture of Falun Gong practitioners.

659
00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:48,520
Countless first-hand accounts of torture have also been recorded.

660
00:37:48,520 --> 00:37:53,560
Some of the most common forms of torture involve beating, shocking with electric batons, piercing

661
00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:59,320
with sharp objects often under fingernails, sleep deprivation, injections with toxic substances

662
00:37:59,320 --> 00:38:04,600
being physically restrained in painful positions, and being submerged in sewage in a dark chamber.

663
00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:05,600
What?

664
00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:09,120
Is Falun Gong the bad guys in the story?

665
00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:12,600
So far as this episode has led us to believe?

666
00:38:12,600 --> 00:38:15,200
No, they are without reason being personified.

667
00:38:15,200 --> 00:38:19,000
That makes me think we might learn new information on the next one.

668
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:23,120
Okay, I'm just trying to figure out what to do with my thoughts.

669
00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:26,120
They're not organizing well here.

670
00:38:26,120 --> 00:38:32,760
I get that, and to be fair, this first episode is to give one particular viewpoint of what

671
00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:35,120
the Falun Gong is in its history.

672
00:38:35,120 --> 00:38:36,680
And to give it history.

673
00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:40,960
Financial incentives are used to extract confessions and encourage the renunciation of the practices

674
00:38:40,960 --> 00:38:42,680
from Falun Gong prisoners.

675
00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:45,880
When the torture of Falun Gong practitioners is taken too far, it can lead to the death

676
00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:46,880
of the victim.

677
00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:50,800
The communist regime will often involve family members as part of the torture.

678
00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:53,840
Sometimes they will get family members to cooperate by getting them to beg and plead

679
00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:57,360
with the victims to sign confessions or to give up their beliefs.

680
00:38:57,360 --> 00:39:01,360
It can also involve threatening and attacking loved ones or even torturing them in the presence

681
00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:02,360
of the victim.

682
00:39:02,360 --> 00:39:05,680
The CCP has killed numerous Falun Gong practitioners.

683
00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:09,160
It is very difficult to access the information needed to determine how many have been killed

684
00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:13,480
because the information is highly protected by the CCP regime and people responsible for

685
00:39:13,480 --> 00:39:15,680
the killing try and keep it a secret.

686
00:39:15,680 --> 00:39:19,160
Frequently, relatives are told that their loved ones have committed suicide or died from

687
00:39:19,160 --> 00:39:23,400
an accidental illness, but that bodies of the victims are cremated before they can be examined

688
00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:24,400
for evidence.

689
00:39:24,400 --> 00:39:29,200
Of the cases that have been verified, an unusually high percentage are people who died of their

690
00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:31,600
injuries shortly after being released from prison.

691
00:39:31,600 --> 00:39:35,960
As of May 2015, there are over 3500 cases of this confirmed.

692
00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:40,560
Two separate independent investigations about organ harvesting of Falun Gong prisoners

693
00:39:40,560 --> 00:39:45,400
concluded that over 60,000 Falun Gong practitioners were killed in the process of extracting their

694
00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:50,800
organs for transplants and that only encompass the period between 2000 and 2008.

695
00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:54,280
These numbers are including the number of confirmed deaths since the bodies are not

696
00:39:54,280 --> 00:39:56,080
available for examination.

697
00:39:56,080 --> 00:39:59,480
One of the most common forms of persecution is putting practitioners in prison.

698
00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:04,440
The CCP does not follow any rule of law and it can simply imprison Falun Gong practitioners

699
00:40:04,440 --> 00:40:06,560
at will without trial.

700
00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:10,240
Practitioners are routinely denied access to lawyers or the lawyers may face their own

701
00:40:10,240 --> 00:40:14,080
persecution if they have the courage to represent the practitioners.

702
00:40:14,080 --> 00:40:18,520
Whether it is prisons, labor camps, or brainwashing centers, hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong

703
00:40:18,520 --> 00:40:22,920
practitioners are estimated to be imprisoned at any given time and millions have faced

704
00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:25,920
prison over the course of their persecution.

705
00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:29,560
Various forms of detention facilities are used to hold and carry out abuses against

706
00:40:29,560 --> 00:40:33,320
practitioners and these are the locations where the torture brainwashing rate, forced

707
00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:37,080
slave labor, and other forms of abuse have been carried out.

708
00:40:37,080 --> 00:40:41,080
One of the apparent goals of the CCP in their persecution of Falun Gong practitioners is

709
00:40:41,080 --> 00:40:42,760
to give up their beliefs.

710
00:40:42,760 --> 00:40:46,440
This put the practitioners in a dilemma where they are greatly encouraged to either give

711
00:40:46,440 --> 00:40:50,320
up their beliefs or lie and say that they have given up their beliefs.

712
00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:55,040
However, lying goes against the principles of Falun Gong so many practitioners resist

713
00:40:55,040 --> 00:40:56,540
to give in.

714
00:40:56,540 --> 00:41:00,080
If they are forced under pressure to sign a statement slandering Falun Gong and promising

715
00:41:00,080 --> 00:41:04,480
not to practice, they can be rewarded by reducing their sentence, receiving better treatment,

716
00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:06,760
or better treatment for their families as examples.

717
00:41:06,760 --> 00:41:11,160
The prisoners who sign the statements are then often forced to transform other prisoners.

718
00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:15,000
If the prisoners refuse to sign the statement, then they can be threatened with additional

719
00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:20,440
punishment such as extended sentences, torture, or mistreatment of their family members.

720
00:41:20,440 --> 00:41:25,360
The method of brainwashing range from threats and cruelty to slander and forced study sessions.

721
00:41:25,360 --> 00:41:30,120
The prisoners are forced to watch videos or listen to recordings of material produced

722
00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:34,960
by the CCP intended to slander the Falun Gong, using any means of lying and deception to

723
00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:36,080
make their points.

724
00:41:36,080 --> 00:41:40,000
This is similar to the propaganda produced by the state-controlled media that is designed

725
00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:44,560
to attack Falun Gong with lies and slander and co-opt the general populace into supporting

726
00:41:44,560 --> 00:41:46,060
their vicious campaign.

727
00:41:46,060 --> 00:41:50,320
Another form of abuse the CCP carries out against Falun Gong practitioners is to fire

728
00:41:50,320 --> 00:41:55,120
them from their jobs, refuse to pay them for their work or pensions, or simply steal from

729
00:41:55,120 --> 00:41:56,120
them.

730
00:41:56,120 --> 00:41:59,480
Many times when the Falun Gong practitioners are arrested, the police simply take and keep

731
00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:04,040
their belongings, including very expensive or difficult to replace items such as computers,

732
00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:06,360
printers, bank cards, and IDs.

733
00:42:06,360 --> 00:42:10,720
Other times practitioners are fired from their jobs simply because of their beliefs, or their

734
00:42:10,720 --> 00:42:13,720
companies refuse to pay their salaries or their pensions.

735
00:42:13,720 --> 00:42:18,120
Frequently practitioners become homeless and destitute because they fled from their homes

736
00:42:18,120 --> 00:42:20,120
in an attempt to escape persecution.

737
00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:24,920
The CCP has integrated this slander and propaganda into all levels of school curricula so that

738
00:42:24,920 --> 00:42:28,440
children are indoctrinated with hatred towards Falun Gong.

739
00:42:28,440 --> 00:42:33,600
In addition, students are forced to agree with the slanderous answers in order to pass exams,

740
00:42:33,600 --> 00:42:35,960
including exams required to get into college.

741
00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:40,160
Therefore students who refuse to answer questions in a way that violates their beliefs can be

742
00:42:40,160 --> 00:42:44,480
denied the chance to advance in schools or receive the education they would otherwise

743
00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:45,960
have access to.

744
00:42:45,960 --> 00:42:49,960
Everyone taking the exam is forced to choose to agree with the CCP propaganda against Falun

745
00:42:49,960 --> 00:42:53,240
Gong in writing or lose points on their exam.

746
00:42:53,240 --> 00:42:57,320
The majority of citizens in western nations think of China as a nation that supplies cheap

747
00:42:57,320 --> 00:43:00,160
labor for a myriad of manufactured products.

748
00:43:00,160 --> 00:43:04,600
This narrative about China takes up more of the attention of the mainstream media.

749
00:43:04,600 --> 00:43:08,520
People who know more about the history of the CCP remember that they are carrying out brutal

750
00:43:08,520 --> 00:43:12,720
genocidal campaigns since they took control of the nation in 1949.

751
00:43:12,720 --> 00:43:16,760
Whether it was by the landowners, the business owners, religious leaders, intellectuals,

752
00:43:16,760 --> 00:43:21,800
or democracy activists, the CCP has engaged in systematic assaults on its own people that

753
00:43:21,800 --> 00:43:25,360
result in the murders of tens of millions of people as a matter of state policy.

754
00:43:25,360 --> 00:43:29,000
Just because this tendency has become less active since its peak in the 70s during the

755
00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:33,880
Great Cultural Revolution does not mean it had left the DNA of the CCP.

756
00:43:33,880 --> 00:43:38,120
The regime's capacity for suppression and violence came alive again during the Student

757
00:43:38,120 --> 00:43:43,200
Democracy protests in 1989 and it remains a threatening, subliminal, undercurrent hidden

758
00:43:43,200 --> 00:43:45,600
in the minds and hearts of the Chinese people.

759
00:43:45,600 --> 00:43:50,480
Many of whom witnessed the violence or heard stories of it from their family members.

760
00:43:50,480 --> 00:43:55,200
Indeed, Jiang Zemin, the main architect of the persecution against Falun Gong, was one

761
00:43:55,200 --> 00:43:58,560
of the leaders that directly ran the campaign in 1989.

762
00:43:58,560 --> 00:44:03,520
Since the CCP came to power through a revolution rather than an election, it always has to

763
00:44:03,520 --> 00:44:09,080
face the fact that it does not have the support, approval, or legitimacy of mainland China.

764
00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:13,080
This undercurrent can be found throughout the propaganda efforts of the CCP.

765
00:44:13,080 --> 00:44:18,400
The CCP uses censorship and its great firewall to make sure Chinese citizens don't have

766
00:44:18,400 --> 00:44:21,240
access to any information that it cannot control.

767
00:44:21,240 --> 00:44:25,640
This alone proves that the CCP fears its own citizens and it knows that it is not legitimate.

768
00:44:25,640 --> 00:44:29,960
Therefore, no powerful group or groups that could potentially become powerful are allowed

769
00:44:29,960 --> 00:44:34,160
to exist inside of China that are not directly overseen by the CCP.

770
00:44:34,160 --> 00:44:38,600
To this day, the CCP does not allow any larger powerful group to exist within China without

771
00:44:38,600 --> 00:44:43,360
being directly in control of it and it has never allowed anything close to a political

772
00:44:43,360 --> 00:44:44,360
competitor.

773
00:44:44,360 --> 00:44:48,840
And that is why it says Falun Gong believes it became too powerful and the CCP perceived

774
00:44:48,840 --> 00:44:49,840
it as a threat.

775
00:44:49,840 --> 00:44:52,600
Yeah, that's what I gathered from that very last sentence.

776
00:44:52,600 --> 00:44:55,520
And that's I think where I'm going to kind of cut it off here.

777
00:44:55,520 --> 00:44:59,880
It is still very persecuted in China.

778
00:44:59,880 --> 00:45:03,760
Li Hongjue, still very much so alive, he lives in New York State.

779
00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:06,360
Falun Gong is practiced worldwide.

780
00:45:06,360 --> 00:45:10,000
And in the next episode, we're going to talk about some of the things that got a little

781
00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:11,600
overlooked in this episode.

782
00:45:11,600 --> 00:45:17,440
Yeah, I'm excited to see where it goes because I'm assuming you took the viewpoint of Falun

783
00:45:17,440 --> 00:45:18,560
Gong on this.

784
00:45:18,560 --> 00:45:22,840
A little bit of the viewpoint of Falun Gong and we're going to take a look at the negative

785
00:45:22,840 --> 00:45:24,880
side of Falun Gong in the next episode.

786
00:45:24,880 --> 00:45:27,040
Okay, I feel like that's what I'm missing.

787
00:45:27,040 --> 00:45:33,120
So I'm looking forward to that, especially since this episode was not required because

788
00:45:33,120 --> 00:45:37,040
people were going to skip to the next one.

789
00:45:37,040 --> 00:45:39,280
Unless they started this episode.

790
00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:43,720
Yeah, in which goes why would they even know to skip to the next one?

791
00:45:43,720 --> 00:45:47,240
Okay, I'm excited because I feel a little lost right now.

792
00:45:47,240 --> 00:45:51,920
And I should also say because the Qigong Institute also had the interaction of the

793
00:45:51,920 --> 00:45:57,040
UFO group, like it's under the same heading of the government, banning of Falun Gong also

794
00:45:57,040 --> 00:46:00,040
leads to basically a banning of ufology.

795
00:46:00,040 --> 00:46:02,160
Didn't they leave that group?

796
00:46:02,160 --> 00:46:08,400
They did and we're going to get into why Falun Gong being persecuted in the next episode

797
00:46:08,400 --> 00:46:10,760
led to a banning of UFO research.

798
00:46:10,760 --> 00:46:13,800
Okay, I'm assuming it'll all come together for me.

799
00:46:13,800 --> 00:46:16,280
It will make a lot more sense in the next episode.

800
00:46:16,280 --> 00:46:18,520
Yes, that's okay, I'm begging on it.

801
00:46:18,520 --> 00:46:23,040
But for now, do not take this all as there's nothing wrong with the Falun Gong, they're

802
00:46:23,040 --> 00:46:24,720
being persecuted for no reason.

803
00:46:24,720 --> 00:46:29,080
The next episode will make a lot of sense of the things that are missing from this episode.

804
00:46:29,080 --> 00:46:32,320
No, I feel like there's definitely some gaps.

805
00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:35,560
Okay, until that time, I have been Taylor here with Chelsea.

806
00:46:35,560 --> 00:46:37,120
We are a journey to the fringe.

807
00:46:37,120 --> 00:46:38,760
Thank you all for listening and we'll see you next week.

808
00:46:38,760 --> 00:46:42,160
Oh, no, there's one more thing I wanted to add before we end this episode.

809
00:46:42,160 --> 00:46:46,360
Chelsea, I need you to go to the general chat because remember Falun Gong is based off

810
00:46:46,360 --> 00:46:50,600
of Qigong and Falun Gong has five specific movements for Qigong.

811
00:46:50,600 --> 00:46:51,600
So they're there.

812
00:46:51,600 --> 00:46:55,720
And Chelsea, I want you to look at them and I want you to tell me the names of them starting

813
00:46:55,720 --> 00:46:56,960
in the bottom middle.

814
00:46:56,960 --> 00:46:58,760
Falun standing stance.

815
00:46:58,760 --> 00:47:00,480
Let's go up to the top left.

816
00:47:00,480 --> 00:47:02,640
Falun heavenly circulation.

817
00:47:02,640 --> 00:47:03,640
The bottom left.

818
00:47:03,640 --> 00:47:06,480
Buddha showing a thousand hands.

819
00:47:06,480 --> 00:47:09,520
The top right, which is the only sitting position.

820
00:47:09,520 --> 00:47:11,600
Strengthening divine powers.

821
00:47:11,600 --> 00:47:13,040
And the bottom right.

822
00:47:13,040 --> 00:47:15,200
Penetrating the two cosmic extremes.

823
00:47:15,200 --> 00:47:16,200
Yes.

824
00:47:16,200 --> 00:47:18,080
Wow, that's a powerful dance.

825
00:47:18,080 --> 00:47:22,960
And those last two movements with very strange names are definitely going to allude to a

826
00:47:22,960 --> 00:47:25,840
lot of the things that get talked about in the next episode.

827
00:47:25,840 --> 00:47:26,840
Okay, good.

828
00:47:26,840 --> 00:47:30,840
So I think this is a good way to leave it off just because this starts to show some

829
00:47:30,840 --> 00:47:31,840
of the things.

830
00:47:31,840 --> 00:47:34,480
And also I got the payoff of my intro with that.

831
00:47:34,480 --> 00:47:35,480
Exactly.

832
00:47:35,480 --> 00:47:38,320
And now we just actually end it right here.

833
00:47:38,320 --> 00:47:40,040
Okay, sounds good.

834
00:47:40,040 --> 00:47:41,040
Bye.

835
00:47:41,040 --> 00:47:43,120
Thank you for listening to Journey to the Fringe.

836
00:47:43,120 --> 00:47:49,240
If you have liked what you have listened to, please like, share, subscribe or follow,

837
00:47:49,240 --> 00:47:52,480
depending on what venue you are listening to us through.

838
00:47:52,480 --> 00:47:58,640
Also please, if possible, leave a five star review as that really helps us in the algorithms.

839
00:47:58,640 --> 00:48:03,480
Should you wish to interact with us, please check us out on your social media of choice.

840
00:48:03,480 --> 00:48:05,200
I bet you we are there.

841
00:48:05,200 --> 00:48:09,680
And if you really want to communicate with us and give us ideas for new episodes or tell

842
00:48:09,680 --> 00:48:16,560
us that we're wrong and terrible, either way, please send us an email at journeytothefringe.com.

843
00:48:16,560 --> 00:48:22,880
For now, I'll see you in the next episode.