1. Why did Chinese government ban Falun Gong?
Because Falun Gong has committed serious crimes infringing on human rights.
(1) Endangering lives
Under the severe spiritual control of Falun Gong ringleader, Li Hongzhi, more than 1000 Falun Gong practitioners have lost their lives because they refused to take medicine or see a doctor, believing in the fallacy that Falun Gong practitioners should not take medicine when they fall ill. Several hundred practitioners committed suicide after following Li Hongzhi's appeal that "you will become immortal once you neglect life or death". Over 30 innocent people have also been killed by Falun Gong fanatics. A typical example of the effects of Li Hongzhi’s brainwashing is the Tian'anmen Square self-immolation incident. On January 23, seven Falun Gong practitioners set themselves on fire in Tian'anmen Square in order to achieve so-called "consummation", resulting in 2 deaths and 3 people being left disabled because of serious injuries.
(2) Seriously infringing upon other people's rights and freedom of speech of the news media
In 1998, because a news agency in Shandong Province published a news report on a Falun Gong practitioner who had died after refusing to take medicine, Falun Gong organized more than 1,000 members to besiege the news agency. In May 1998, Falun Gong organized more than 1,000 Falun Gong practitioners to besiege the Beijing TV station because it reported on a PhD student who suffered schizophrenia because of practicing Falun Gong and who became obsessed with Li Hongzhi's fallacies. Before it was banned by the Chinese government, Falun Gong had organized over 300 such besieging actions.
So far Falun Gong hasn’t ever stopped committing crimes and infringing upon other people's legal rights. According to incomplete statistics, since June 2002, Falun Gong has attacked Chinese communication satellites more than 200 times with a total time of disruption amounting to over 100 hours. Falun Gong has also publicly instigated its members to attack public infrastructure for radio and TV broadcasting. There have been more than 100 cases of Falun Gong members being involved in attacks against optical fiber and cable and broadcasting illegal TV programs. Many articles which istigate attacks on communication cables can be found on the Falun Gong website as well. In October 2002, Li Xiangchun, a Chinese American, also a Falun Gong member, committed an abortive attack on the communication cables in Yangzhou City of Jiangshu Province. In court, Li claimed that although it was true that he had attempted to attack the communication cable, he didn't violate the law since he was to publicize Falun Gong. Falun Gong have systematically sent junk mail to internet users in Mainland China and made millions of harassing telephone calls to Mainland Chinese residents. Incomplete statistics indicates that monthly Falun Gong junk messages sent from overseas to Mainland China amounted to over 30 million.
2. About the issue of religious belief.
Some Americans tend to look on Falun Gong as a religious issue. In fact, Falun Gong has no relationship with religion. In 1992 when Li Hongzhi founded Falun Gong, he claimed himself to be a Qigong master so that he could make money by curing disease for others with his alleged "energy"—Qigong-- which in turn resulted in some patients dying from not seeking necessary medical treatment in time. Therefore Li Hongzhi had to resort to other tricks. He fabricated his theories and made money by selling his books. As it further developed, he eventually resorted to spiritual control to amass money. These are the facts about the evolution of Falun Gong, for which no relationship can be observed with religions. All of Li Hongzhi's theories are designed to realize his mind control over Falun Gong practitioners. For instance, he said that things in the world had been arranged by him countless years ago; the Nanjing Massacre and Hitler's holocaust were caused by changes of astronomical phenomena. He prohibits Falun Gong members from believing in religions, saying that all religions are fake and can not save people from torment;only Falun Gong can help people escape from the exploding earth. Can such ideas be regarded as religious belief?
3. Policy of Chinese government on Falun Gong.
The policy adopted by the Chinese government on the Falun Gong issue is: educating, converting and emancipating the majority of the Falun Gong practitioners who have been deceived by Li Hongzhi and his Falun Gong, and to punish, according to law, the few who cherish ulterior motives and disrupt public order. Among the estimated two million Falun Gong members, 98 percent were ordinary practitioners. They have now broken away from Falun Gong and come to live normal lives with the kind help from society, their work units and families. After converting, they are not discriminated against, but have received certain preferential treatments in their work and living conditions since they have become quite vulnerable after their obsession with Falun Gong.
Only a tiny number of Falun Gong core members have been punished simply because they have engaged in criminal activities in violation of law instead of having practiced Falun Gong. It is an international practice to investigate the criminal responsibility of those who engage in illegal activities and those who violate the law.
Chinese people support their government's banning and cracking down on the cult, helping and emancipating the majority of Falun Gong practitioners and punishing those few Falun Gong members engaged in criminal activities in violation of law. The Chinese government must follow the public will and no external factors can stop it from such determination.
