The Problem of The Falun Gong Chinese Sect in Russian Religious Studies

В данной статье представлен аналитический обзор русскоязычной религиоведческой литературы в области исследования Фалуньгун. Актуальность темы диссонирует с довольно ограниченным в отечественном китаеведении и религиоведении количеством публикаций и числом исследователей. Причина этого коренится в незавершённости религиозно-философской системы Фалуньгун, обуславливается труднодоступностью источников и проблемой их перевода на русский язык, что порождает методологические проблемы при её анализе. Одной из недостаточно разработанных тем в большинстве исследований является изучение предпосылок возникновения и причин распространения Фалуньгун, которые в большинстве случаев сводятся к социально-политическим условиям жизни в Китае и меньше внимание уделяется духовным. Критические исследования религиозно-философских представлений отличаются друг от друга глубиной проработки космологии, антропогонии, эсхатологии, сотериологии, однако во всех случаях небольшое внимание уделено вопросам сравнительного религиоведения. Практически во всех публикациях поднимается вопрос об экстремистской направленности Фалуньгун, однако некоторые выводы амбивалентны. Увеличение интереса к практике Фалуньгун стимулируется общим увеличением интереса к эзотерическим системам. Аттрактивность данного учения основывается на эмоциональной привлекательности для адептов, а также решение практических задач: оздоровление, обретение душевного равновесия, спокойствия, обретение паранормальных способностей. This article provides an analytical review of the Russian-language religious studies literature in the field of Falun Gong research. The relevance of the topic is discordant with the rather limited number of publications and the number of researchers in Russian Sinology and Religious Studies. The reason for this is rooted in the incompleteness of the religious and philosophical system of Falun Gong, the inaccessibility of sources and the problem of their translation into Russian, which creates methodological problems in its analysis. One of the underdeveloped topics in most studies is the study of the background and reasons for the spread of Falun Gong, which in most cases are reduced to the socio-political conditions of life in China and less attention is paid to the spiritual. Critical studies of religious and philosophical concepts differ from each other in the depth of the study of cosmology, anthropogony, eschatology, soteriology, but in all cases little attention is paid to the issues of comparative religious studies. Almost all publications raise the question of the extremist orientation of Falun Gong, but some conclusions are ambivalent. The increase in interest in the practice of Falun Gong is being driven by a general increase in interest in esoteric systems. The attractiveness of this teaching is based on emotional attractiveness for adepts, as well as the solution of practical problems: recovery, gaining peace of mind, tranquility, gaining paranormal abilities.

Is China exporting media censorship? China’s rise, media freedoms, and democracy

This study explores the relationship between China’s rise and media censorship around the world, in light of recent suggestions in the Western press and among China experts that Beijing is advancing a global censorship agenda. I argue that the Chinese government occasionally promotes censorship in foreign countries, because it wishes to reduce negative media coverage of China or to silence certain groups abroad (e.g. Falun Gong). More often, China’s relative apathy about speech and press freedoms in foreign countries facilitates censorship in countries that can rely on trade with Beijing. Countries that cannot rely on China are less willing to risk alienating Western powers by violating press freedoms at home. Regime type is an important determinant as to whether censorship is facilitated through intensive economic integration with China, as democracies may respond to China’s rise differently than authoritarian countries. Analysis of country-level panel data shows higher rates of media censorship in democratic countries that trade intensively with China.

Mapping knowledge domains on Wikipedia: an author bibliographic coupling analysis of traditional Chinese medicine

PurposeWikipedia has the lofty goal of compiling all human knowledge. The purpose of the present study is to map the structure of the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) knowledge domain on Wikipedia, to identify patterns of knowledge representation on Wikipedia and to test the applicability of author bibliographic coupling analysis, an effective method for mapping knowledge domains represented in published scholarly documents, for Wikipedia data.Design/methodology/approachWe adapted and followed the well-established procedures and techniques for author bibliographic coupling analysis (ABCA). Instead of bibliographic data from a citation database, we used all articles on TCM downloaded from the English version of Wikipedia as our dataset. An author bibliographic coupling network was calculated and then factor analyzed using SPSS. Factor analysis results were visualized. Factors were labeled upon manual examination of articles that authors who load primarily in each factor have significantly contributed references to. Clear factors were interpreted as topics.FindingsSeven TCM topic areas are represented on Wikipedia, among which Acupuncture-related practices, Falun Gong and Herbal Medicine attracted the most significant contributors to TCM. Acupuncture and Qi Gong have the most connections to the TCM knowledge domain and also serve as bridges for other topics to connect to the domain. Herbal medicine is weakly linked to and non-herbal medicine is isolated from the rest of the TCM knowledge domain. It appears that specific topics are represented well on Wikipedia but their conceptual connections are not. ABCA is effective for mapping knowledge domains on Wikipedia but document-based bibliographic coupling analysis is not.Originality/valueGiven the prominent position of Wikipedia for both information users and for researchers on knowledge organization and information retrieval, it is important to study how well knowledge is represented and structured on Wikipedia. Such studies appear largely missing although studies from different perspectives both about Wikipedia and using Wikipedia as data are abundant. Author bibliographic coupling analysis is effective for mapping knowledge domains represented in published scholarly documents but has never been applied to mapping knowledge domains represented on Wikipedia.

Case Report: A 73-year-old suspected COVID-19 patient with severe dyspnea fully recovers after reciting nine true words from Falun Gong

Background: The most common severe symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are breathing difficulty and respiratory failure. Unfortunately, mortality of COVID-19 patients with severe breathing difficulties is high. Clinical finding and diagnosis: This report describes the case of a woman in her seventies, who could not taste anything except a metallic taste, had pains all over, low-grade fever, and who soon developed severe breathing difficulties in 15 days. At the time, her doctors described her as having suspected COVID-19 and advised her to self-quarantine at home. Interventions and outcomes: When the patient had her initial symptoms, her treating physician prescribed Tylenol which she took for 13 days. The patient initially felt better, but then developed severe fatigue, achiness within a week, and then severe breathing difficulties. The patient was sometimes unable to breathe and could not walk from her bed to the bathroom. She started feeling fearful of death after 15 days had lapsed. She then started to recite the nine Chinese characters "Fa-Lun Da-Fa Hao, Zhen-Shan-Ren Hao” daily. After she started reciting these nine true words (NTW) frequently and sincerely, the patient felt her lungs opened and she was able to breathe longer and deeper. Within three days of constantly reciting the NTW, her breathing returned to normal and all symptoms ceased. Conclusions: This suspected COVID-19 patient gained significant clinical benefits after sincerely reciting the nine-character true words from Falun Gong.

Case Report: A castration-resistant terminal prostate cancer patient’s survival prolonged after practicing Falun Gong

Background: Most metastatic prostate cancer patients receive combined androgen blockade (CAB) as the mainstay of treatment. Unfortunately, patients ultimately progress to castration resistance. Clinical finding and diagnosis: We describe a man in his eighties who developed stage IV, M1b prostate cancer, multiple (≥5) bone metastases, and required the aid of a walker to ambulate. Without treatment, his treating physician predicted he would survive 6 months. Interventions and outcomes: The patient initially responded well to treatment with CAB, but during the 68-80th week of treatment he developed castration resistance. Bicalutamide was then discontinued. He chose to begin practicing Falun Gong (FLG) at week 89 as an alternative form of care while continuing two doses of leuprolide acetate. His PSA decreased by 86% within five weeks, he walked independently at 17 weeks and bone metastases disappeared in 41-43 weeks after beginning to practice Falun Gong. He also reported better psychosocial functioning. His treating physician assessed that his prostate malignancy was “clinically, under control” and “his overall functional status is excellent.” The patient survived a total of 263 weeks (61.4 months) post-diagnosis, including 183 weeks (42.3 months) after developing castration resistance. Conclusion: This castration-resistant terminal prostate cancer patient gained significant clinical benefits after practicing Falun Gong.

Use of Falun Gong to Address Traumatic Stress among Marginalized Clients

Although mental health service providers have focused on the effects of trauma and related interventions for decades, little is known about pervasive and historic trauma, particularly for socially marginalized individuals. Thus, clinical issues associated with sociopolitical oppression have been under-investigated. Coupled with the lack of sufficient cultural competence when working with diverse clients, mainstream clinicians frequently lack adequate case conceptualization skills and culturally sensitive interventions to assist clients from diverse backgrounds. Using traumatic stress as a framework for exploring evidence-based interventions to address long-term, pervasive marginalization and its psychological effects, the authors propose that mindfulness techniques are particularly beneficial to this client population. The authors reviewed culture-centered interventions to address traumatic stress for marginalized client populations, focusing on the mindfulness practice of Falun Gong. Recommendations for practice include the inclusion of traumatic stress theory and techniques in pre-service training, professional development training for practitioners focusing on mindfulness techniques with clients assessed with historical trauma, and Web-based training for clinical faculty to enhance their knowledge about traumatic stress, historical trauma, and associated interventions for clients from marginalized communities. The authors offer recommendations for future research that focuses on studies exploring the usefulness of Falun Gong in working with clients with traumatic stress.

Anti-Activism and Its Impact on Civil Society in Hong Kong: A Case Study of the Anti–Falun Gong Campaign

In this article, we introduce the concept of “anti-activism” and explore the possible impact of anti-activist action in Hong Kong. We define anti-activism as a form of countermovement intended to discredit, distract, and even harass activists in voluntary social movements. Our data and analyses are based on field observations, interviews, and primary documents collected in Hong Kong during 2012–2018. We focus on the case of the protest campaign against the quasi-religious group Falun Gong 法輪功 to develop our argument. We find that anti-activists do not try to win public support for their cause. Instead, they succeed most effectively through the process of disrupting and discrediting voluntary activists to arouse tension, conflict, suspicion, and annoyance in the public. They discredit not just their opponents but even themselves, and, thus by extension, they discredit social movement activism per se, polarize public debate, and in a way undermine the integrity of civil society in Hong Kong.