In 2008, people can see that more and more media and public give external and just view on Falun Gong. We collect the reports from media all of the world and articles posted by global bloggers here to know more about Falun Gong.
1. Falun Gong baffled the Beijing float in the Rose Parade
1) Los Angeles Times: Activists fail to stir opposition to China's float
2) AP: Thousands cheer giant Rose Parade floats
2. Falun Gong Show: Propaganda as Entertainment
1) Los Angeles Times: Ties to Falun Gong add controversy to the Chinese New Year Spectacular
Falun Gong members have raised hackles in the mainstream Chinese-American community -- in part because some consider Falun Gong a fringe group or cult religion and in part because of the group's in-your-face approach to spreading its message.
2) Star-Telegram: Show's beauty shaded by political message (Jan. 9)
So this event had little or nothing to do with ringing in the Chinese New Year. Instead, we were treated to dances that depicted things like black-shirted thugs sporting red symbols on their backs that looked a bit like hammers and sickles attacking a group of Falun Gong youths costumed like extras on Leave it to Beaver. The basic message - Falun Gong good, Chinese government bad - could not have been clearer.
3) The Star: Falun Gong New Year event mere propaganda (Jan. 20)
The healing powers of the music and dance on display in this admittedly spectacularly tacky show was the icing on the cake of enlightenment and truth that was offered up at every opportunity in a presentation of "the true essence of Chinese culture" before it was "damaged by the Chinese Communist Party." The production is so heavily laden with Falun Gong messages as to negate any pleasure the dancing and singing might have afforded.
4) New York Times: A glimpse of Chinese culture that some find hard to watch (Feb. 6)
They had realized that the show was not simply a celebration of the Chinese New Year, but an outreach of Falun Gong, a spiritual practice of calisthenics and meditation that is banned in China.
5) Telegraph: Shen Yun: Propaganda as entertainment (Feb. 25)
What I really object to is that such a politically motivated performance is being smuggled on to stages around Europe in the name of family entertainment...In such a context, any judgment of the piece's artistic merit seems beside the point, but it is a horribly Disneyfied version of the traditional Chinese culture it seeks to celebrate.
6) The Guardian: Shen Yun (Feb. 25)
Even if you are sympathetic to the Falun Gong cause, there is something creepy about the evangelical tone with which this is delivered. It is also made worse by the fact that the show's visual style is like a Disney production, with the cast dressed in gaudy, glittery updates of traditional costumes backed by scenes of soft-focus landscape created by computer animation.
7) Evening Standard: Great pall of China (Feb. 25)
It also reveals much about geo-politics. The company is based in New York and wastes little time bashing the Chinese Communist Party, both in the programme and on stage.
8) AP: Malaysia cancels Falun Gong show (March 24)
The Malaysian government canceled a dance performance containing acts alluding to the Falun Gong spiritual movement, an official and the U.S.-based organizer said Monday, sources from AP on March 24.
9) The Age: Falun Gong show thwarted in Australia (March 31)
About 130 Victorian MPs were invited to a VIP function on opening night but only seven attended. Four MPs who had accepted invitations cancelled at the last minute, without explanation.
10) New Zealand Herald: VIPs again steering clear of Falun Gong-linked show (April 7)
The Divine Performing Arts show has stirred up controversy. Invited guests are spurning a Chinese cultural performance in Auckland as organisers try to stop a repeat of last year's situation when not a single politician turned up...A spokesman for North Shore Mayor Andrew Williams said the mayor's not accepting the invitation had "nothing to do with fear of offending the Chinese", but because he had concerns about being "ambushed" by Falun Gong.
3. The Ottawa Citizen: Cult followings (May 17)
But if there wasn't a whole lot of sympathy for the Falun Gong in some quarters, it's because many people likely shared the view that it's a weird cult. Same with scientologists, to whom the Fremont Market was only too happy to give the boot.
4. Flushing Event
1) New York Times: Falun Gong Marchers Are Jeered in Chinatown (May 26)
Anguish over the recent earthquake in China helped set off a small ideological disturbance in Chinatown on Sunday when a Falun Gong parade was jeered by supporters of the Chinese government who hurled water bottles and pieces of pastry at the marchers, as well as insults.
2) New York Times: Longtime Anti-Beijing Protests Provoke a Sudden and Angry Backlash (May 30)
Nearly two weeks ago, the normally placid gatherings became turbulent. Counter demonstrators, some brandishing red flags, have confronted the Falun Gong practitioners. Heated words have been exchanged, hats knocked from heads, and placards snatched from hands and flung to the ground. Last week, a tug of war broke out over a banner emblazoned with a political slogan.
3) Queens Tribune: Falun Gong: Opinions Clash Over Chinese Politics In Flushing (July 24)
According to Yan Sun, a political science professor at Queens College, Falun Gong is a fringe group that enjoys only limited acceptance among Chinese people. "[T]he great majority of Chinese here or in China find FLG to be strange and do not identify or support them." The Falun Gong's infamous rejection of modern medicine and the subsequent deaths have only served to strengthen the current of disapproval running throughout China.
5. Radio-Canada: Uneasiness in Chinatown (October 30)
Radio-Canada, the national French Radio and TV station in Canada, broadcasted at its eight o'clock prime time program Enquete on the evening of October 30 a documentary, Uneasiness in Chinatown (Malaise dans le Chintown in French), which has risen a lot of social attention on the issues of Falun Gong in Quebec.
