The Chinese practice of Falun Gong has a relatively short but already important history. Its specific history is a mere ten years old, however, the ideas and practices it is based on have a history that stretches throughout the entire history of the Chinese civilization. The practice of different forms of qigong, the cultivation of qi or the energy that flows throughout the human body and the universe, has been a staple in many different practices of Chinese culture including being the basis for traditional Chinese medicine. In its ten-year history, Falun Gong has garnered millions of practitioners and followers and much attention from many others including the Chinese government, although this attention has been mostly negative.
             Falun Gong is a form of qigong, an age-old Chinese tradition of meditation and exercise. (Beliefnet 1) Falun Gong is essentially a practice of five sets of movements, including both physical exercise and meditation, believed to heighten the physical, spiritual and moral health of its practitioners. (Beliefnet 1) The exercises of Falun Gong are an effort to rotate the falun, or the spinning body of energy thought to be located in the lower abdomen. (Beliefnet 1) The belief is that the performance of these exercises will stimulate the energy in the falun and in the body in general. It is also believed that this practice absorbs energy from the universe and will release negative elements from the body, which can remedy irregular conditions within the body such as pain, disease and the like. (Beliefnet 1)
             The Falun Gong practice/movement was founded by Li Hongzhi. In the 1980s, there was a resurgence of interest in qigong in China, with many different sects or forms being developed by numerous masters. (Madsen 244) Until 1992, Li Hongzhi and Falun Gong were members of the Qigong Research Association of China, which grew out of the boom in interest in qigong. (Beliefnet 1) Li Hongzhi withdrew himself a...