This week on Sinica, I speak with Nicole Hong and Michael Rothfeld, both investigative reporters at the New York Times, about a series of stories they've done, stretching between August and December 2024, on the Falun Gong-run performance troupe Shen Yun, and the Falun Gong-affiliated newspaper
Two of my grandparents, two aunts and an uncle were all deeply involved with the Falun Gong movement in China at the time. My maternal grandfather paused his Parkingson's medications for several months. My mother considered conspiring with her brother to lock him up so he wouldn't go to these meetups. My aunt was about to sell one of her stores to donate to the movement till my father intervened. His mother contemplated donating the $1000/month care money.
(I talked to my aunt later about whether she bought any of the anti-communism ideas, having served as a bureaucrat at one point. She shrugged and said, "people talk crap about the government all the time, who really cares" — 大家都说共产党的坏话,又有谁管.)
For years after the crackdown and criminalization of Falun Gong in China, my mother would walk past a Shen Yun poster in New York and mutter: "不要脸的**蛋“. For my family, there were definitely some bruises when it comes to the Falun Gong.
For me, the story of Falun Gong was my earliest encounter with a profound sense of moral dissonance. On the one hand, the Falun Gong movements generated tremendous societal harm; I have long suspected that the crackdown was as swift and brutal because CCP recognized 理利节 in flashing neon in nipping in the bud this modern day Yellow Turban Rebellion. On the other hand, as Nicole pointed out in the interview, the people who believed in Falun Gong thought, to varying degrees, that the health and spiritual benefits were real. Many early zealots paid the price doubly because they were duped by Falun Gong leadership and the various provincial leaders, in their zeal to wipe this blemish off their party card, took them for crooks, hooligans and political dissenters and came down hard. None of my relatives were affected, but they could have been.
李洪志 probably did fancy himself a cult leader; there is no way to be certain about this, beyond scrutinizing how he conducts himself relative to his teachings. Even so, there's room for debate. However, many of those who take part in his organization are committed, and the Falun Dafa is as real to them as Catholicism is to the Catholic. In my penchant for moral certitude, I vacillated between pro- and anti crackdown. Either position is ultimately untenable without ignoring vast amounts of human suffering in that camp. Sometimes, as Eric Olander likes to say, if you're walking away feeling more confused than ever, you're probably doing it right.
Beware of the revenge from Master Li!
Two of my grandparents, two aunts and an uncle were all deeply involved with the Falun Gong movement in China at the time. My maternal grandfather paused his Parkingson's medications for several months. My mother considered conspiring with her brother to lock him up so he wouldn't go to these meetups. My aunt was about to sell one of her stores to donate to the movement till my father intervened. His mother contemplated donating the $1000/month care money.
(I talked to my aunt later about whether she bought any of the anti-communism ideas, having served as a bureaucrat at one point. She shrugged and said, "people talk crap about the government all the time, who really cares" — 大家都说共产党的坏话,又有谁管.)
For years after the crackdown and criminalization of Falun Gong in China, my mother would walk past a Shen Yun poster in New York and mutter: "不要脸的**蛋“. For my family, there were definitely some bruises when it comes to the Falun Gong.
For me, the story of Falun Gong was my earliest encounter with a profound sense of moral dissonance. On the one hand, the Falun Gong movements generated tremendous societal harm; I have long suspected that the crackdown was as swift and brutal because CCP recognized 理利节 in flashing neon in nipping in the bud this modern day Yellow Turban Rebellion. On the other hand, as Nicole pointed out in the interview, the people who believed in Falun Gong thought, to varying degrees, that the health and spiritual benefits were real. Many early zealots paid the price doubly because they were duped by Falun Gong leadership and the various provincial leaders, in their zeal to wipe this blemish off their party card, took them for crooks, hooligans and political dissenters and came down hard. None of my relatives were affected, but they could have been.
李洪志 probably did fancy himself a cult leader; there is no way to be certain about this, beyond scrutinizing how he conducts himself relative to his teachings. Even so, there's room for debate. However, many of those who take part in his organization are committed, and the Falun Dafa is as real to them as Catholicism is to the Catholic. In my penchant for moral certitude, I vacillated between pro- and anti crackdown. Either position is ultimately untenable without ignoring vast amounts of human suffering in that camp. Sometimes, as Eric Olander likes to say, if you're walking away feeling more confused than ever, you're probably doing it right.