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Falun Gong or Falun Dafa is a spiritual practice introduced to the public in China by Li Hongzhi （李洪志） in 1992. It has five sets of meditation exercises and seeks to develop practitioners' hearts and character according to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance (真，善，忍）articulated in the main books Falun Gong （法輪功）and Zhuan Falun （轉法輪）. The teachings deal with issues such as "cultivation of virtue and character", "moral standards for different levels", and "salvation of all sentient beings." The books have been translated into over 40 languages.

According to Professor David Ownby, Falun Gong developed as part of a wider "qigong boom" of the 1990's, and understands itself in terms of a centuries-old tradition of "cultivation practice" (修煉 xiūliàn). Sinologist Professor Barend ter Haar states that it is a distinctly new form of Chinese religious practice shaped by the Maoist revolution. Another sinologist, Benjamin Penny, concurs, noting that while it as a "qigong cultivation system", the heavy emphasis on morality makes it appear to be a religion. Penny regards Falun Gong as one of the most important phenomena to emerge in China in the 1990s.

In April 1999, 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners silently appealed at the Chinese Communist Party headquarters at Zhongnanhai against recent beatings and arrest in Tianjin. Two months later, the Chinese government began a large-scale persecution, including widespread propaganda, torture, illegal imprisonment, forced labour, and psychiatric abuses. Falun Gong comprise 66% of all reported torture cases in China, and at least half of the labour camp population.%3

1. Statement of Professor David Ownby, Unofficial Religions in China: Beyond the Party's Rules, 2005
2. "Falun Gong". www.falundafa.org. 2006-07-01. Retrieved 2007-08-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
3. "Zhuan Falun". www.falundafa.org. 2000-03-01. Retrieved 2007-08-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. Ownby, David, "A History for Falun Gong: Popular Religion and the Chinese State Since the Ming Dynasty", Nova Religio, Vol. ,pp. 223-243
5. Haar, Barend ter, "Evaluation and Further References".
6. ^ Benjamin Penny, The Past, Present, and Future of Falun Gong, 2001, accessed 16/3/08
7. Falun Gong: Cult or Culture?, ABC Radio National, April 22, 2001
8. Controversial New Religions, The Falun Gong: A New Religious Movement in Post-Mao China, David Ownby P.195 ISBN 0195156838
9. Reid, Graham (Apr 29-May 5, 2006) "Nothing left to lose", New Zealand Listener, retrieved July 6, 2006
10. Danny Schechter, Falun Gong's Challenge to China: Spiritual Practice or Evil Cult?, Akashic books: New York, 2001, p. 66
11. "House Measure Calls on China to Stop Persecuting Falun Gong". US Department of State. 2002-07-24. Retrieved 2007-08-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
12. Johnson, Ian, Wild Grass: three portraits of change in modern china, Vintage (March 8, 2005)
13. Leung, Beatrice (2002) 'China and Falun Gong: Party and society relations in the modern era', Journal of Contemporary China, 11:33, 761 – 784
14. (23 March 2000) The crackdown on Falun Gong and other so-called heretical organizations, Amnesty International
15. United Nations (February 4, 2004) Press Release HR/CN/1073, retrieved September 12, 2006

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