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.
I. Experts views on Falun Gong
1. Russian professor Alexander Dvorkin: Falun Gong is an international cult (May 13)
Professor Alexander Dvorkin, president of the Russian Association of Religious and Cultic Studies Centers, thinks Falun Gong now is a worldwide cult group under the leadership of Li Hongzhi, headquartered in New York. It is not important where the Falun Gong practitioners live, for instance in China, France, the United States or other countries. As far as the Falun Gong practitioners are concerned, they do not belong to any country, they all belong to Falun Gong group.
2. Information Extremism: The Truth and Falsehood of Falun Gong Cult (October 17)
An international roundtable "Information Extremism: The Truth and Falsehood of Falun Gong Cult" held on October 13 to 14, in Kiev, Ukraine. More than 30 scholars or representative from seven countries analyzed, appraised and verified the character and salient features of the Falun Gong cult as well as grave harms it had done to society and people. Participants were unanimous in the view that the "Falun Gong" is a well-organized evil cult with great destructive power, which has wrought havocs to society and general public; it is a cult organization with an intrinsic tendency of potential violence.
II. Common people's words on Falun Gong
1. Sour Mango Powder: The Joy of Sects (Jan. 19)
Obviously I am not condoning the horrible persecution of Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese state. But I do not feel it is a beneficial organisation and I would not recommend it. The practices may well be powerful but the organisation and its leader seem a little insane.
2. Stanley Stuyvesant: Falun Gong, the Chinese version of Scientology (February 6)
Falun Gong is beginning to look a lot like China's version of Scientology. Aside from featuring "aliens" and a "spinning wheel" in their beliefs, their measures for acceptance and promotion have recently been called into question.
3. John Del Signore: Chinese New Year Show is surprise Falun Gong agitprop (February 6)
In 1999 the group's founder, Li Hongzhi, told a Time magazine reporter that space aliens were corrupting mankind by teaching modern science. So it's pretty obvious what Chinese New Year Splendor really needs to keep the butts in seats: the invincible star power of Tom Cruise in the cast.
4. Jordan Hoffman: Chinese New Year Splendor at Radio City Music Hall
What I thought would be an energetic, bright and musical show filled with dragons, drums and excitement turned out to be what I imagine a Carnival Cruise is like if controlled by the Falun Gong.
5. Piaroh Cze: A war of propaganda (February 18)
If you can assemble 10, 000 demonstrators, that would be organisation. If you could have coordinated hacking of satellite communication, television broadcasts and radio signals, that would be organisation as well. If you could spread the Falun Gong resistance to Beijing's campaign through to the rest of the world and raise funds for the effort, that would most definitely be organisation. Falun Gong practitioners are just bad liars.
6. Paul Stott: Falun Gong in the eyes of an English (March 16)
The newspapers interest in health, and indeed five minutes digging around on the Internet, also makes me suspect that The Epoch Times is linked to the controversial Chinese cult Falun Gong. I hold no brief for the Chinese Communist Party, or the evil old men who have traditionally run it. But I can also smell a cranky religious rat a mile off.
7. Ccm: Falun Gong, what it really is? (March 2)
Do you remember those Chinese ladies around the UCSA building handing out chinese newspapers and flyers about the Falun Gong movement? Those that were ignorant of who they really were took them. They act as though they were doing good deeds and were pleading a "good" cause.
8. Martin Rundkvist: Falun Gong puts on a song and dance (March 7)
Think of it as Chinese Scientology or Raelianism. The cult has put on a traveling show named the "Shen Yun Divine Performing Arts Chinese Spectacular". Who really lies behind the show isn't readily apparent from the posters, as it lists mainly newspapers and other media companies (Epoch Times, New Tang Dynasty Television and others) as its supporters. These are all, however, controlled by Falun Gong, and that's where the profits end up.
9. Larry Tung: New Year's show sparks controversy (March 10)
But while NTDTV claims to be independent, some Chinese people in New York disagree, calling it a "mouthpiece" of Falun Gong. The Chinese Culture Club and the Chinese Students and Scholars Association at New York University started an online petition last year to stop NTDTV from using one of the university's performing arts centers for a dance contest. The website received more than 850 postings, and many petitioners said NTDTV is anti-China and echoed the Chinese government's official stance that Falun Gong is deceiving and evil.
10. Mike: The cult that is Falun Gong (April 10)
But Falun Gong is more than just a cult based around a leader who believes in aliens. Falun Gong's potential to serve the interests of US imperialism because of its mass following and its opposition to Chinese authorities was soon noted by conservative US politicians and State Department funding conduit, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). One blogger who has consistently exposed Falun Gong's activities, Bobby Fletcher of Seattle, has recently provided links to sources that show that over 6 million US dollars has gone to Falun Gong over a five year period.
11. Charles Liu: Open letter to David Kilgour and David Matas on Falun Gong and organ harvesting (October 6)
In my opinion Falun Gong's actions not only discredited their own cause, they also detracted from honest examination of China's problems. Falun Gong's vivisection indictment muddled the rational discussion of issues such as Chinese society's moral, ethical standards on dignity and treatment of the condemned.
