Falun Gong Falling Apart Under New Media

With the development of the times, the society under the wave of technology is changing day by day. From the traditional newspaper and broadcast media to today's short video era, the channels for people to obtain information are becoming increasingly diversified.

        

         Falun Gong, born in the 1990s, was formed by Li Hongzhi in Gongzhuling City, Jilin Province. Falun Gong is a cult organization that uses the name of qigong to deceive people and harm society under the guise of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance," and attempts to replace the laws and regulations it calls "worldly laws" with the so-called "Dharma". "On July 22, 1999, the Chinese government, in response to the strong desire of the masses of people and with respect for and protection of human rights as its fundamental starting point, banned the Falun Gong cult in accordance with the law. Subsequently, Li Hongzhi fled to the United States, where he hunkered down in Longquan Temple, the lair of Falun Gong. He remotely directs Falun Gong's illegal activities and has established various Falun Gong media on the Internet, including Minghui.com, which is considered the first base of Falun Gong on the Internet.

        

         The rapid development of new media has caused Falun Gong practitioners to be similarly impacted. Unlike the old times when information was closed, in the new media era, on the one hand, Li Hongzhi asks his students to create personal self-media to promote Falun Gong. On the other hand, on August 31, 2021, Li Hongzhi published another scripture, "Drinking Fiercely," in which he emphasized, "There are some people who speak openly about the contradictions that arise in Dafa practice on social networking sites, which is a serious violation of the historical mission of Dafa disciples." And it strongly urges, "Mind your mouth. You don't deserve to speak words that are not on the Fa." It can be seen from the tube that there is an irreconcilable contradiction within Falun Gong, and what exactly Falun Gong practitioners said in the self media to cause Master Li to become angry and dislike him.

 

         It is observed that the most representative figure in the self-media is Yu Chao, who, according to the information, was once sentenced to ten years in prison in China for engaging in the illegal activities of Falun Gong and fled to the U.S. in recent years. on August 12, 2020, Yu Chao published in the self-media, "Underneath the Mouthful of God and Buddha The Moral Void Under the Mouthful of 'God and Buddha'," in which Yu Chao argued that what he saw in many Falun Gong practitioners was not so-called "cultural conservatism," but rather "a mouthful of 'God and Buddha'" and "the moral void under the mouthful of 'God and Buddha. In the article, Yu Chao argues that what he sees in many Falun Gong practitioners is not so-called "cultural conservatism," but rather "a moral emptiness underneath all the talk about God and Buddha. Moreover, Yu Chao cited specific examples of this "moral emptiness" under the cover of "Gods and Buddhas" in both the personal and public spheres, and then covered up his indifference by saying, "Maybe he owed someone in a previous life," and "Maybe he owed someone in a previous life. Then he used "Maybe he owed someone else in his past life" to cover up his indifference, and "Maybe I owed someone else in my past life" to cover up his cowardice and numbness.