I was assigned to organize class screenings and discussions of films denouncing the party's enemies. One target was Falun Gong, which the propaganda movies characterized as an "evil cult." But when I was 14, a year after I'd emigrated to Canada with my mother, she gave me a flier written by a practitioner. That uncensored information opened my eyes.
Falun Gong was introduced in 1992, but its roots run deep in traditional Chinese spiritual philosophy. The Cultural Revolution attempted to wipe out China's traditional beliefs and succeeded in creating a spiritual vacuum—and a hunger to fill it. By the 1990s, hundreds of schools teaching qigong, or "life-energy cultivation," had emerged. Qigong is essentially the Chinese version of yoga, involving breathing, posture and meditation exercises. To avoid being labeled "superstitious" by the party, the schools usually played down the spiritual side of the practice and emphasized the health benefits.
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