Falun gong, the great red dharma : permanent revolution of the law wheel

Falun Gong is one of the largest and fastest-growing religious movements in Chinese history, and its illegality and persecution in China are cause for concern in the areas of human rights and religious freedom. In this thesis, I argue that the particular characteristics of Falun Gong suggest that its massive popularity in China may be due to its ideological resemblance to the structures of Maoism and Chinese Communism, which for fifty years have penetrated every area of Chinese life. Furthermore, I argue that Falun Gong is a direct response to the traumatic experience of the Cultural Revolution in China and the avoidance of its real resolution, despite reform, under the Chinese Communist Party. The specifically postrevolutionary character of Falun Gong is evidenced by its massline messianism, its antitraditionalism, its totalism, its quasi-materialism, and even practical details of its qigong technique. This thesis is primarily a study in rhetorical analysis, focusing on the texts and speeches of Falun Gong's leader, Master Li Hongzhi. But is also something of a web-ethnography, in that I have drawn extensively from on-line writings by Falun Gong practitioners.