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As fears of increased religious persecution grow for China's Christians, human rights advocates often point to the iron-fisted attack that the country has waged on a peaceful exercise movement called Falun Gong, a group the country says is a "cult."

In 1999, China banned Falun Gong and has since launched a campaign of violence and propaganda far worse than its crackdown on other unregistered "cults" and "sects." But why is the Falun Gong a target of the government?

The name Falun Gong (the practice of the wheel of Dharma) refers to five sets of lotus postures and hand movement exercises set to Chinese music. Routines have names like "The Falun Gong way to heavenly circulation" and "Buddha showing the thousand hands." The spiritual movement was originally called Falun Dafa (the great law of the wheel of Dharma) but in recent years, it is more commonly called by the name of its exercises, Falun Gong.

The movement grew out of a larger exercise practice call qigong, a Chinese art of breathing exercises and meditation. Falun Gong's founder, Li Hongzhi, says he learned qigong from masters at two undisclosed schools in the mountains of China beginning at the age of 4.

Li says his qigong mentors chose him to learn the secret Falun Gong exercises and to spread them to the world. In 1992, he founded Falun Dafa and began teaching its principles.

"The Purpose of Falun Gong is to cultivate a person's higher energy or 'gong,'" said an article in the April 2001 International Religious Freedom Report (pdf). "This is done not only through physical exercise but more importantly through the development of a person's xinxing (or mind nature). It is this emphasis … on a non-material energy that differentiates Falun Gong from other forms of qigong."

Because Falun Gong has spiritual elements not found in qigong, it left the national confederation of qigong groups shortly after its formation. It was clearly different. While some practitioners claim to only follow the exercise side of Falun Gong, many say it is a "path to enlightenment." Li says the movement allows one to develop "supernormal powers."

Little is known about Falun Gong's leader. Information on his life is largely clouded by discrepancies. Most of this can be attributed to propaganda campaigns by both the Falun Gong and the Chinese government. Even his exact birth date and age vary by report. He is apparently in his early 50s.

Before founding Falun Gong, Li worked as a grain store clerk, a guesthouse attendant, and a trumpet player. At some point in the 1990s (reports vary), Li moved from China to New York City under increasing pressure by the Chinese government. He apparently lives on the profits of his instructional tapes and books.

He claims a superior power sent him to Earth to fight the evils of science and aliens. In 1999, he told Time Asia, "You can think of me as a human being. I don't wish to talk about myself at a higher level. People wouldn't understand it."

Li teaches that the Falun Gong symbol, the "law wheel," is a spinning mini-replica of the universe that only he can place in each practitioner's lower abdomen. As it spins inside them, it absorbs the universe's energy. Access to one's law wheel is gained by practicing Falun Gong.

Last summer, Time Asia reported that such odd claims are frequent in his book Zhuan Falun, which Li wrote in 1995 to explain Falun Gong's main principles:

Li writes he can personally heal disease and that his followers can stop speeding cars using the powers of his teachings. He writes that the Falun Gong emblem exists in the bellies of practitioners, who can see through the celestial eyes in their foreheads. Li believes "humankind is degenerating and demons are everywhere"—extraterrestrials are everywhere, too—and that Africa boasts a 2-billion-year-old nuclear reactor. He also says he can fly.

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February (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46