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Created: April 11, 2003
Latest Update: April 11, 2003
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu

Falun Gong: Dissident Group in China

Site Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata and Individual Authors, April 2003.
"Fair use" encouraged.

Falun Gong Intro, Leiden University

". . .an introductory analysis of the Falun Gong movement in Chinese society and culture from the perspective of the scholar of traditional Chinese religious culture. The website includes extensive bibliographies, both of publications on paper (in "Part Three") and on the Internet (in "Relevant websites"). Apart from issues of human rights and religious freedom, my analysis focuses on the Falun Gong as a continuation of, as well as a departure from traditional Chinese religious culture. Its founder Li Hongzhi claims that his teachings are very old, but have been newly re-covered by himself. Nonetheless, I feel that the movement itself and the state's response to it cannot be understood without reference to the recent history of the People's Republic of China."

By Barend ter Haar: " I teach Chinese history at Leiden University, with a strong focus on cultural and religious history. Although first of all a social and cultural historian, the religious dimension is so central to Chinese traditional life that much of my research up to now has dealt with religious phenomena. In addition, I have worked extensively on issues of ethnic identity, violence and fear, and social organization. An important concern of mine is to demonstrate that traditional culture and cultural patterns are still relevant today, as becomes visible for instance in the case of the Falun Gong or the ongoing role of exorcist violence in political contexts throughout the twentieth century."
URL: http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/bth/falun.htm. April 10, 2003.