David Meets Goliath

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter chronicles the conflict between Falun Gong and the Chinese state. It begins by tracing the flagging fortunes of the qigong boom beginning in the mid‐1990s, a decline which prompted Li Hongzhi to leave China in 1995 and to establish residency in the United States. Falun Gong practitioners in China reacted to increasing media criticism within China by engaging in large, peaceful protests directed at the newspaper, magazine, or television station which had criticized the group. This strategy led eventually to the massive Falun Gong demonstration outside CCP headquarters in Beijing on 25 April 1999, which resulted in the launching of the suppression campaign against Falun Gong. The chapter devotes considerable attention to the competing wars of representation fought by the Chinese state and Falun Gong as each sought to sway public opinion. Falun Gong ultimately lost this battle and became increasingly political, a stance symbolized by the founding of a Falun Gong–run newspaper, the Epoch Times, which tirelessly criticizes the CCP.