The Chinese government has branded Falun Gong illegal (see http://cnn.com/ASIANOW/east/9910/30/bc.r... ), and has been attacking them in their peaceful protests. A call for the extradition of Li Hongzhi from New York was refused by the United States with a comment that amounts to, "Hey, why don't you leave these people alone, they're doing nothing wrong." (Some believe the comment to actually amount to, "Hey, stop with the human rights violations.") The Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs had previously declared the cult illegal for failing to apply the necessary paperwork, for their healing beliefs to be responsible for the deaths of over 700 people, and for gathering and demonstrating illegally.
The reality of the situation is that the Chinese governnment objects to Falun Gong because the discipline involves one's spirit, rather than the mere physical activity which has allowed qigong to survive under the communist rule.
History fascinates me. Not the dry dates and events of old-school history, but history as it is studied now; a combination of archaeology, sociology, and old-school facts which give a picture of what life was like, what the human condition was, and the attempt to understand just what it meant to be alive in a given place at a given time. China is one of the richest areas to delve into, historically speaking-a long record is available of the events, causes, and circumstances in both the daily life of the people as well as upheavals in government and thinking trends.
China is also one of two areas-Russia being the other-which have, in my understanding, experienced the greatest extremes of religious life: from a more or less religious government to communism, which outlaws religion on general principle. My theory is that communism, for that reason alone, is impractical and inherently flawed. People don't necessarily believe in a 'god,' but they do, on the whole, need to believe in something greater than the visible. Regardless of whatever may compose ultimate spiritual truth, society requires a 'why' when telling people 'do this and do that because it is right' in order for it to have any power to organize and provide safety.
