Spiegel Online has posted a story summarizing the recent history of the Falun Gong movement in China:
But the movement has refused to fold. A constant thorn in the party’s side, it has responded to repression with a series of unusual protests. In 2002, Li’s disciples manipulated the signals of a Chinese TV satellite and briefly aired the movement’s insignia on state television. Two years later, foreign adherents staged a demonstration at Tiananmen Square. The once peaceful meditation group has gone underground.
Outside China, supporters launched the daily newspaper The Epoch Times, which is published in Chinese and numerous other languages. Its online edition urges communist party members to resign.
The paper states that millions have already done so, a claim that is impossible to verify. It is clear, though, that the ranks of Falun Gong supporters outside China are swelling fast. From Canada to Indonesia, from New Zealand to Chile, millions subscribe to Li’s teachings. [Full text]
