Everything, Everywhere, All about Anti-China Politics
How an anti-China spiritual group survives in the U.S.
Who are they? Why are they here?
Falun Gong began as a spiritual martial arts group that practices qigong, a traditional Chinese exercise that incorporates mind, body and spirits to improve mental and physical health. Founded by Li Hongzhi in 1992, Falun Gong soon gained its popularity among Chinese. Millions of people in China were practicing Falun Gong in the 1990s, according to the Economist.
One thing that makes Falun Gong different from other qigong practices is the idolization of their founder Li Hongzhi. The rising popularity of Falun Gong and its living leader Li Hongzhi brought the Communist Party’s attention. In 1999, Falun Gong was banned and suppressed by the Communist Party calling it an “evil cult.”
After 20 years of crackdown, Falun Gong now survives outside of China in many different forms. There is Shen Yun, their performing arts group; there is the Epoch Times, Falun Gong-backed newspaper; New Tang Dynasty TV, their broadcast channel; and lastly, Falun Dafa where they promote this spiritual practice.
However, the Epoch Times has been reported to become partisan since Trump’s administration. Starting from 2016, the Epoch Times saw Trump as an anti-Chinese Communist ally and has since been reporting in his favor. Around the same time, the Epoch Times also adopted Facebook as a tool to increase reach of their partisan reporting. On top of that, although on the website of the Epoch Times, it claims to standby nonpartisan reporting, it has also been found to be one of the top promoters of a baseless conspiracy theory. Today, the fast growth of the Epoch Times has rendered itself and its affiliates becoming a force in the right-wing media.
How did the group grow so big?
Falun Gong in North America is a product of the Chinese diaspora. According to surveys conducted in Toronto 2000 and in Boston 2002 by David Ownby in his book Falun Gong and the Future of China, the group largely consists of Chinese immigrants. Ownby also found that the Chinese practitioners in the group have a much higher household income than median household income in Canada 2000 and the United States 2002, which are 46,752 CAD and 42,409 USD.
Meanwhile, according to the Form 990 of Falun Gong groups, many of them relied on individual contributions to a great extent. Taking into account that roughly half of the Falun Gong practitioners were high-income individuals and were devoted to the group, it would make sense that these individual contributions were able to sustain the operation of the groups. Additionally, despite not a huge amount, another study also shows that Friends of Falun Gong have been financially supporting Falun Gong-related groups until 2022. However, more recent data is required to confirm whether this is the main source of funding.
About half of the Chinese practitioners are high-income individuals
94%
Chinese
17.6
17.6
13.9
7.4
13
Practitioners’ household income (USD) by percentage in Boston 2002
3.6
9.6
12.7
18.7
Practitioners’ household income (CAD) by percentage in Toronto 2000
80,000-100,000
60,000-80,000
40,000-60,000
unknown
>100,000
94%
Chinese
17.6
17.6
13.9
7.4
13
Practitioners’ household income (USD) by percentage in Boston 2002
3.6
9.6
12.7
18.7
Practitioners’ household income (CAD) by percentage in Toronto 2000
80,000-100,000
60,000-80,000
40,000-60,000
unknown
>100,000
94%
Chinese
17.6
17.6
13.9
7.4
13
Practitioners’ household income (USD) by percentage in Boston 2002
3.6
9.6
12.7
18.7
Practitioners’ household income (CAD) by percentage in Toronto 2000
80,000-100,000
60,000-80,000
40,000-60,000
unknown
>100,000