Trying to Understand the Animosity of Overseas Chinese Toward Falun Gong

A Taiwanese student who attends George Washington University told me a true story about one of her friends. Once, her friend and roommate, a student from Mainland China, drove past a square in Washington, DC. where they saw an elderly woman distributing flyers on the side of the street. The student from Mainland China said angrily, "She must be another Falun Gong practitioner. I'll give her a piece of my mind." He asked the friend to drive up to the woman. When he got out of the car, he grabbed a pile of leaflets, planning to tear them up in front of the woman. He found out, though, that she was advocating Christianity and not Falun Gong. The animosity this young man showed toward Falun Gong greatly surprised his Taiwanese roommate.

I believe this story, and I'd like to try and explain my understanding of why things are this way here. One of my colleagues from Taiwan lives in America in a neighbourhood with many Chinese people. He said to me that he can't understand why some of his Chinese neighbours hate Falun Gong so much. I have a similar neighbour myself. He has been in the States for many years, yet he not only hates Falun Gong, but also curses any newspapers that supports it.
Where does this strange and irrational hatred come from? Did they hate Falun Gong before Jiang launched the persecution in July 1999?

Ever since its appearance in China, qigong has been controversial. Qigong has traditionally been practised for improving fitness and health yet, Falun Gong, a qigong discipline that was brought to the public in 1992, introduced the additional concept of cultivation, which created quite a bit of discussion in society.

Although tens of millions of people were attracted to Falun Gong, with China's population of 1.3 billion and the dominant belief system being atheism, the majority of Chinese people did not practise Falun Gong. The majority of the population didn't believe in it, or they didn't find it appealing to them. This is people's right of course, but a very important point to consider is this: At that time, people certainly didn't express hatred toward Falun Gong. They simply liked what they liked, and didn't like what they didn't like. This is the normal state of things.

Among Chinese people abroad, even prior to the onset of the persecution, Falun Gong had existed for several years. At that time, Falun Gong practitioners often promoted Falun Gong in Chinese communities and they frequently ran into Chinese consular officials. They got along with each other, because the Chinese consular officials wanted people to promote traditional Chinese culture in foreign countries. The 1999 persecution changed everything.

Falun Gong remains the same, but many people's attitude toward Falun Gong has changed dramatically. But why? The reason for the change is the propaganda that the Chinese government spread vociferously to every corner of the earth it could reach.

People all talk about how evil the Cultural Revolution was, yet its effects were felt for the most part, only inside Mainland China. Compared to now, overseas Chinese consulates were very weak and pro-Party organisations outside of China were not that prevalent. The Cultural Revolution barely affected overseas Chinese people. They could clearly see the absurdity of it. But that was then. This is now.

Today's persecution of Falun Gong is, in many ways, much like "another Cultural Revolution." The difference now is that China has become a great power in the world, controlling a large number of diplomats abroad and numerous pro-Party organisations that have taken root in overseas Chinese communities.

The Chinese government has purchased and controls a large percentage of Chinese-language media, not only in China but in virtually all countries around the world. The CCTV and Xinhua Party mouthpieces now have a direct channel into the living rooms of Chinese speakers living in a multitude of foreign countries. Falun Gong-slandering programs that were published and aired in Mainland China have appeared in all corners of the world at almost the same time. Thus, the people who were deceived include not only the people in China, but Chinese people all around the world.

This alone illustrates why Jiang exceeds all dictators in the past in terms of deceiving the public and instigating hatred.

Some people say the people in Mainland China couldn't learn the truth because of the information blockade. Chinese people overseas, though, do not have the problem of an information blockade. So why is it that many of them do not know the truth? It's because they are not willing to learn the truth.

Behind their unwillingness are all the lies they've heard about Falun Gong that planted seeds of hatred in their hearts. Why would people look at or listen to things they have been told over and over again to hate?

Many people from Mainland China are highly educated and intelligent and have the ability to think independently and critically. Why would they act this way on the issue of Falun Gong? It's because of the extreme campaign of slander ordered by Jiang.

Some Chinese people may not have liked qigong originally, so Jiang tells them, "Qigong practitioners kill people and have mental problems." This immediately fits their perception of qigong so it's easy for them to accept and to believe.

Some Chinese people don't have any strong opinions about Falun Gong, they just hate politics. Jiang tells them that "Falun Gong practitioners as a group attacked Zhongnanhai and Falun Gong is the tool of anti-China forces. They are involved in politics." This fits their dislike of politics and makes them hate Falun Gong.

Some came to a foreign country and the thing they wanted most to see is China become powerful and prosperous. Jiang says "Falun Gong is staining China's reputation by distributing flyers and exposing human rights violations in China." Jiang intentionally appeals to these people's feelings of patriotism to turn them against Falun Gong.

Others believe in science, but not religion or god. To them, Jiang says, "Falun Gong is anti-science and they want to commit suicide so they can go to heaven."

Many overseas Chinese people are Christians. Jiang lies and says that Falun Gong's founder claims he is Jesus reincarnate. Thus, these people are turned against Falun Gong.

Even for people who are neutral, some might still think, "The persecution has been going on for so many years, so maybe not all the rumours the Jiang regime spreads are lies. It doesn't affect me, really, so maybe I'll just go along with it." So for these people, their neutrality in the whole affair is twisted into the seeds of hatred.

All people have something they don't like. Jiang takes advantage of this and creates every type of lie to feed their notions. Lies like this, appealing to people's likes and dislikes, are the most powerful and deceptive. They lead people to accept the lies as truth without even realising it, and strengthens prejudice against Falun Gong, so that people don't even want to hear the truth.

If people truly think about why they are against Falun Gong, they can find the reason for it in Jiang's lies. Such well thought out methods, contriving false propaganda conforming to people's various types of notions, are the most powerful evidence showing just how evil Jiang Zemin is.

Historically, dictators who blocked information to prevent people from learning the truth were considered evil. Today, Jiang Zemin has built a wall in many people's hearts and minds that makes them unwilling to learn the truth. The duration of the lies and number of people who have been deceived makes Jiang the greatest evildoer in history.

Falun Gong practitioners clarify the truth with perseverance, despite the odds against them, so more and more people can learn the truth and realise Jiang's evilness, which make these practitioners all the more admirable.

From The Epoch Times