Photos: 20 years on, Falun Gong survives underground in China

Apr 24, 2019 12:57 IST

Falun Gong practitioners meditate on the 14th anniversary of the beginning of the persecution of Falun Gong in China on July 21, 2013 in Sydney, Australia. Before the crackdown, Falungong members would congregate in parks in large numbers to practise “qigong” meditation. Now they do their slow movement exercises behind closed doors. (Brendon Thorne / Getty Images)

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Falun Gong practitioners meditate on the 14th anniversary of the beginning of the persecution of Falun Gong in China on July 21, 2013 in Sydney, Australia. Before the crackdown, Falungong members would congregate in parks in large numbers to practise “qigong” meditation. Now they do their slow movement exercises behind closed doors. (Brendon Thorne / Getty Images)

“It doesn’t matter how the Communist Party suppresses (Falungong), I don’t think about it too much,” a woman practicioner, who requested anonymity, told AFP. “I just do what I want to do,” she said. Falun Gong, which emphasises moral teachings, was once encouraged by Chinese authorities to ease the burden on a creaky health system after it was unveiled in 1992 by Li Hongzhi, who emigrated to the US four years later. (Greg Baker / AFP)

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“It doesn’t matter how the Communist Party suppresses (Falungong), I don’t think about it too much,” a woman practicioner, who requested anonymity, told AFP. “I just do what I want to do,” she said. Falun Gong, which emphasises moral teachings, was once encouraged by Chinese authorities to ease the burden on a creaky health system after it was unveiled in 1992 by Li Hongzhi, who emigrated to the US four years later. (Greg Baker / AFP)

But after over 10,000 Falun Gong members surrounded Communist Party headquarters in central Beijing on April 25, 1999, to protest the detention of some of their members, the government leapt into action.Then-president Jiang Zemin issued orders to eliminate the group, which was later declared an “evil cult” -- a tactic to justify the repression, scholars say. (AFP File)

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But after over 10,000 Falun Gong members surrounded Communist Party headquarters in central Beijing on April 25, 1999, to protest the detention of some of their members, the government leapt into action.Then-president Jiang Zemin issued orders to eliminate the group, which was later declared an “evil cult” -- a tactic to justify the repression, scholars say. (AFP File)

A woman walks past anti-cult posters. Top officials “see Falungong, first and foremost, as an ideological and political threat”, Maria Cheung, a University of Manitoba professor, told AFP. The demonstration had been the biggest in Beijing since the Tiananmen Square sit-in in 1989. Following it, Chinese authorities launched a special security bureau known as the “610 office” to suppress and monitor Falun Gong. (Greg Baker / AFP)

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A woman walks past anti-cult posters. Top officials “see Falungong, first and foremost, as an ideological and political threat”, Maria Cheung, a University of Manitoba professor, told AFP. The demonstration had been the biggest in Beijing since the Tiananmen Square sit-in in 1989. Following it, Chinese authorities launched a special security bureau known as the “610 office” to suppress and monitor Falun Gong. (Greg Baker / AFP)

Falun Gong protesters being detained in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on November 19, 1999. Practitioners and rights groups have reported death, torture, and abuse at labour camps. One woman from northern China recounted a traumatic period when her father was pressured by local authorities to beat his younger sister, who was a “very resolute practitioner of Falun Gong”. (Stephen Shaver / AFP File)

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Falun Gong protesters being detained in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on November 19, 1999. Practitioners and rights groups have reported death, torture, and abuse at labour camps. One woman from northern China recounted a traumatic period when her father was pressured by local authorities to beat his younger sister, who was a “very resolute practitioner of Falun Gong”. (Stephen Shaver / AFP File)

David Ownby, a history professor at the University of Montreal who has studied Falungong, said cults emerge in China because the officially atheist state has successfully kept traditional religions weak. “That means that part of the market is open to groups that are not sanctioned,” he said. “That is the basic paradox at the heart of the religion policy.” (Brendon Thorne / Getty Images)

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David Ownby, a history professor at the University of Montreal who has studied Falungong, said cults emerge in China because the officially atheist state has successfully kept traditional religions weak. “That means that part of the market is open to groups that are not sanctioned,” he said. “That is the basic paradox at the heart of the religion policy.” (Brendon Thorne / Getty Images)

Early morning Falun Gong exercises at Santa Monica State Beach on March 3, 2001 in Santa Monica, California. While Falungong survives underground in mainland China, it has swelled among the Chinese diaspora, as followers have fled overseas in search of asylum. Falungong is practised in over 70 countries, according to Falun Dafa Info Centre, the group’s press office. (David McNew / Newsmakers / Getty Images)

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Early morning Falun Gong exercises at Santa Monica State Beach on March 3, 2001 in Santa Monica, California. While Falungong survives underground in mainland China, it has swelled among the Chinese diaspora, as followers have fled overseas in search of asylum. Falungong is practised in over 70 countries, according to Falun Dafa Info Centre, the group’s press office. (David McNew / Newsmakers / Getty Images)

Falun Gong members are arrested at Tiananmen Square on December 31, 2000 after spreading ping pong balls with the text,

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Falun Gong members are arrested at Tiananmen Square on December 31, 2000 after spreading ping pong balls with the text, "Falun Gong is good." The movement has also turned “hard-edged” over the years, said Ownby, with some academics reporting harassment for calling Falun Gong a sect or cult. Levi Browde, the centre’s executive director, said it is simply an effort “to provide more information to the scholars.” (Getty Images)

Falun Gong memebers show Chinese tourist documents and photos of Chinese persecution on April 15, 2013 in Taipei, Taiwan. The movement has also adopted a more political stance in some parts of the world. In Hong Kong, where Falungong activists hand out flyers and try to talk to people -- especially mainland tourists -- it has taken on a stridently anti-communist tone. (Ashley Pon / Getty Images)

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Falun Gong memebers show Chinese tourist documents and photos of Chinese persecution on April 15, 2013 in Taipei, Taiwan. The movement has also adopted a more political stance in some parts of the world. In Hong Kong, where Falungong activists hand out flyers and try to talk to people -- especially mainland tourists -- it has taken on a stridently anti-communist tone. (Ashley Pon / Getty Images)

Practitioners on April 17, 2001 during a vigil outside the Chinese Embassy in Washington. Beijing’s efforts to eliminate Falungong and other groups it deems heretical show no sign of abating, with dedicated “cult prevention and handling” departments active around the country. More than 900 Falungong followers were sentenced to prison between January 2013 and June 2016, according to a 2017 report by US-based Freedom House. (Alex Wong / Getty Images)

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Practitioners on April 17, 2001 during a vigil outside the Chinese Embassy in Washington. Beijing’s efforts to eliminate Falungong and other groups it deems heretical show no sign of abating, with dedicated “cult prevention and handling” departments active around the country. More than 900 Falungong followers were sentenced to prison between January 2013 and June 2016, according to a 2017 report by US-based Freedom House. (Alex Wong / Getty Images)

Zhang Yucheng, a 76-year-old member who distributes the anti-communism newspaper ‘The Epoch Times’ in Hong Kong, said he did not join the movement to be a dissident.”I was a Chinese Communist Party member,” he said. But when the party decided to “fight against Falun Gong and started to tell lies”, he felt he was left with no choice. (Brendon Thorne / Getty Images)

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Zhang Yucheng, a 76-year-old member who distributes the anti-communism newspaper ‘The Epoch Times’ in Hong Kong, said he did not join the movement to be a dissident.”I was a Chinese Communist Party member,” he said. But when the party decided to “fight against Falun Gong and started to tell lies”, he felt he was left with no choice. (Brendon Thorne / Getty Images)

This year, posters appeared on public walls in Beijing warning people against cults, with the message: “wipe your eyes and stay awake”. The government is “calm on the surface but controlling underneath” said the Falun Gong follower from northern China. “I don’t think they have loosened up.” “Whether it’s wire-tapping or contacting you time and again,” she said, “they still want to control”. (Greg Baker / AFP)

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This year, posters appeared on public walls in Beijing warning people against cults, with the message: “wipe your eyes and stay awake”. The government is “calm on the surface but controlling underneath” said the Falun Gong follower from northern China. “I don’t think they have loosened up.” “Whether it’s wire-tapping or contacting you time and again,” she said, “they still want to control”. (Greg Baker / AFP)

about the gallery

Sitting lotus-style on an apartment floor, two women quietly rotate their arms in front of them -- a rare sight in China where public displays of Falun Gong meditation have all but disappeared. It is a shadow of the spiritual movement's heyday in China, where the group once boasted more than 70 million followers before it was outlawed in 1999, giving police carte blanche to persecute members. But 20 years on, the group has remained stubbornly persistent, even as practitioners in mainland China continue to face arrests and torture, according to rights groups.

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