Falun Gong Outside Mainland China

Falun Gong Outside Mainland China

Falun Gong, a qigong practice which combines meditation with the moral philosophy articulated by founder Li Hongzhi, first began spreading widely in China in 1992 and outside China in 1995. Li's first lectures outside of mainland China took place in Paris, where, upon invitation from the Chinese ambassador to France, he lectured on his teachings and practice methods to the embassy staff and others. From that time on, Li gave lectures in other major cities in Europe, Asia, Oceania, and North America, where he has resided permanently since 1998. Falun Gong is now practiced in some 70 countries worldwide, and the teachings have been translated to over 40 languages. The diaspora Falun Gong community is estimated to number in the hundreds of thousands, though participation estimates are imprecise on account of a lack of formal membership.

Since 1999, Falun Gong practitioners around the world have conducted activities aimed at raising awareness about the persecution of Falun Gong in the People's Republic of China. These include lobbying, passing out of flyers, participating in sit-ins in front of Chinese embassies and consulates, and staging parades and demonstrations. They have established media outlets, have founded advocacy and research organizations to report information on the suppression in China, and launched lawsuits against the alleged architects and participants of the persecution campaign.

Several foreign governments, the United Nations, and human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have expressed their concerns over allegations of torture and ill-treatment of Falun Gong practitioners in China. Nonetheless, some observers have noted that Falun Gong has failed to attract the level of sympathy and sustained international attention afforded to Tibetans, Chinese Christians or democracy activists. This has been attributed to the group's unsophisticated PR skills, the impact of the Communist Party's propaganda against the practice, or the foreign nature of its teachings, which identify with Buddhist and Daoist traditions.