README.adoc

[[flg-organized]]
==== FLG downplays the fact that it is highly organized

Many FLG practitioners claim that they are not at all organized, or that they have no political interest, and I truly believe that they mean it.

But it is obvious from the size of the <<falun-gong-media>>, namely:

* <<ntdtv>>
* <<epoch-times>> newspaper
* <<shen-yun>> dance troupe

that in practice they do have are a highly organized hierarchical structure, and very likely with <<li-hongzhi,LHZ>> at the very top, e.g.:

* Shen Yun's 2018 libretto says that their Artistic Director and founder is "D.F." (likely an abbreviation for Da Fa, which is an abbreviation for Falun Gong Dafa, which is a full name of Falun Gong), with a picture of LHZ on top. It also amusingly says that D.F. is a "Distinguished Professor of Music and Dance at Fei Tian College in New York", which is likely where many of Shen Yun's dancers are trained, and therefore controlled by himself to a large extent. It's Falun Gong's dance-only-for-now https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigham_Young_University[BYU].
* LHZ mentions NDTV, Epoch Times and Shen Yun extensively on his <<flg-canon>>. TODO link to source, this based on unintentionally overhearing to my family members reading it.

Furthermore, Falun Gong practitioners directly lobby foreign governments to take action against human rights abuses in China, e.g.:

* https://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+MOTION+P7-RC-2013-0562+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN
* https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-court-cisco-must-be-held-accountable-aiding-chinas-human-rights-abuses

Like any other religion, they have all the right to take those actions, and it is definitely in their best interest, and perhaps in the best interest of the whole world, that they do so.

The only thing that annoys me is their lack of self perception on this matter: the large majority of Western people would definitely classify them as an organized political force after having observed their activities. When they say otherwise, they are hurting their own credibility.

[[flg-transparent]]
===== FLG media is not transparent about its affiliation

Agreed, and it is a point that hurts more than helps their cause.

This is very clearly put as well at "Front groups" of the <<orange-papers>>.

But the media is not legally obliged to state their affiliation.

And if that were the case, then we should force _all_ newspapers to start taking polls of how many employees follow which religion and support which political party, and then put that in their print.

[[flg-intolerance]]
==== Falun Gong dislikes several other groups like homosexuals and some other religions

Like most <<flg-religion,old religions>>, related: <<hate-speech>>.

<<flg-canon,Canon quote>> from https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/lectures/19980904L.html[]:

____
Question: Why is homosexuality considered immoral?

Teacher: Think about it, everyone: Is homosexuality human behavior? Heaven created man and woman. What was the purpose? To procreate future generations. A man being with a man, or a woman with a woman - it doesn't take much thought to know whether that's right or wrong. When minor things are done incorrectly, a person is said to be wrong. When major things are done incorrectly, it's a case of people no longer having the moral code of human beings, and then they are unworthy of being human.
____

<<ciro-santilli>> strongly disagrees with that view, because it is the type of thing that makes people feel bad for characteristics that they have, but cannot change.

Also, it is very hard to pass any kind of law that forces people not to be racist/discriminatory, because there is always the lingering question: what if they are right about a particular point?

Because clearly everyone has innate characteristics that make them better suited for certain activities than others, we when we select candidates for a job, we are basically discriminating amongst candidates.

Also any such law can have the opposite effect, acting as a justification for further hate.

You and I dislike certain personality traits without any logical reason.

Democracy dislikes dictators, and it is not necessarily rational.

See also:

* <<intolerance>>
* <<gay-rights>>

===== Falun Gong on races

<<li-hongzhi>> clearly classifies races as a metaphysical concept e.g. on <<flg-canon>> https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/lectures/19990502L.html[]:

____
Strictly speaking, Indians, Egyptians, Persians, the yellow race, the white race, and the black race are the six major races of the present Earth. All the other ones are mixed races.
____

Mixed race people seem to have some metaphysical defect/peculiarity, https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/lectures/1997L.html[]:

___
Question: What did you say last time that a person of mixed race has lost?

Teacher: He has lost the body that comes from the top down through to here. Let me put it this way: People of the yellow race have people of the yellow race up there, and people of the white race have people of the white race up there. He's lost this thread.
___

but they can still go to Heaven:

____
Question: Can a person of mixed race succeed in cultivation?

Teacher: Whether someone can cultivate and whether he can succeed in cultivation are all up to the person himself. If a person of mixed race can persist in cultivation, he can reach Consummation just the same. When he succeeds in cultivation his Primordial Spirit will return to wherever he came from.
____

[[flg-medication]]
==== FLG believers are less likely to take necessary medication

Based on what <<ciro-santilli>> saw and heard, he does believe, without any clear statistical evidence, that it is very likely that it hs happened to in many cases that some Falun Gong believers refused to take modern medications and died of diseases that could be otherwise cured.

But consider the following:

* what matters are statistics. Maybe FLG people live longer than non FLG in average. But we will never have statistics because of censorship: https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/27529/have-many-falun-gong-practitioners-forgone-medical-treatment-and-died-of-treatab
* maybe people should be link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_legislation[allowed to choose how they want to die], and not to take medication if they don't want to
+
As the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parks_and_Recreation[Parks and Recreation] caricaturally liberal character https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Swanson[Ron Swanson] puts it https://youtu.be/_UlNnETAZeI?t=48[about the United States]:
+
____
The whole point of this country is if you wanna eat garbage, balloon up to six hundred pounds and die of a heart attack at forty three, you can! You are free to do so. To me that's beautiful.
____
+
<<freedom-with-a-capital-f>> also comes to mind.
* maybe the number of people killed during persecution vastly outnumbers those who died because they would not take medication
* several <<flg-religion,religions>>, including <<christianity>> have miraculous cure claims. My impression is that claims were mostly notable in the old times apparently, likely because people noticed that Christians were still dying of all kinds of diseases like everyone else, no matter how devout!
* maybe the main reason why communists banned Falun Gong is the political threat it posed, but that a ban was unjustified given the situation. Christian crosses are being taken down as of 2016, have they stopped taking their medications as well? See also <<rule-of-law>>.
* maybe many of those people would also have died soon even if they had taken medication
* maybe not all Falun Gong believers thought that it was wise to stop taking medication. But their religion was banned anyway. Who can agree and follow all the innumerable prescriptions of any religious or legal system? See also: <<flg-thoughtcrime>>.
* all the following also reduce people's lifespan:
+
--
** riding motorcycles vs. cars/buses
** smoking
** moving to a poor country to do charity there
** eating fast food
--
+
Forbidding them also has huge humanitarian costs (more expensive vehicles, creation of a black market, ...). So why not forbid them as well?

Especially In the beginning, Falun Gong did put a lot of emphasis on its health benefits, just <<zhong-gong,like all the other contemporaneous Qi Gong practices>>, and it is likely that especially many in the first generation of believers do believe it more than others.

For example, the main initial public announcement of Falun Gong was at a <<history-of-falun-gong,Health Exposition in Beijing>>.

In <<flg-canon>> itself, this is not super explicit and emphasised as far as Ciro can see. Zhuan Falun https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/zfl_74.htm[] has a chapter entitled "On the Issue of Healing Illnesses", that contains:

____
 Let us talk about the most common illnesses, like tumors, infections or osteoproliferation etc., found in the human body. In another space, a very deep space, there lies an evil intelligent entity.
____

and the general very beaty-around-the-bush suggestion that if you do master Falun Gong fully, you will be healthy. But with the usual disclaimer that "you have to become a master", and since "there are no graduates", no one is ever a master for sure, and as usual "you don't get the promised goodies", as as mentioned at: <<orange-papers>>.

https://www.falundafa.org/book/eng/mgjf.htm contains some more direct quotes that suggest that you can take medicine, but you have to try and bear the pain first, and if you can't, it's a sign that you haven't practiced Falun Gong well enough:

____
So when you take medicine now you're killing this sickness or the virus at the surface. Medicine can truly kill viruses at the surface. Yet a practitioner's gong[7] is automatically destroying viruses and karma. But as soon as medicine kills the surface virus that has seeped over from other dimensions, the virus—karma—over on the other side will know, since everything is alive, and it will stop coming over. Then you feel that you've recovered because you took the medicine. But let me tell you that it nonetheless accumulates over there. Life after life human beings are accumulating this stuff. When the accumulation reaches a certain extent, the person becomes incurable and when he dies he's totally destroyed. He loses his life—forever loses his life. That's how horrifying it is. So here I've explained to you the relationship. It's not that people aren't allowed to take medicine. When an everyday person gets sick he definitely needs medical treatment.

But how do we cultivators deal with it? Aren't we purifying your body? Like the annual rings of a tree, there is karma at the very core, and at every layer, life after life, of your body. When you practice cultivation, I keep pushing this karma outward from the center; I push, and push, and push, and push until I completely push the karma out for you. And not all of this can go through the surface of our bodies. You wouldn't be able to bear it if all of it were to go through the surface of your body. Only a portion of it comes out through the surface. But you still feel that you're suddenly getting sick, you find it terribly uncomfortable and painful, can't bear it, regard yourself as an everyday person, and go take medicine. Then you can go ahead and take medicine, as we've never said that everyday people can't take medicine. We only say that your enlightenment quality isn't up to par and that you didn't pass this test well.
____

Ciro does however believe that newer generations believe in this much less, notably because the first believer generation is all basically old or dead, and soon will be entirely dead. This might also have been de-emphasised to reduce the bullshit aspects and help the international spread of Falun Gong. Not even Falun Gong believers are that blind. And this perfectly mimics the beginning of Christianism, where the first generations gave much more emphasis to miraculous cures.

<<me-and-li-by-ben-hurley-2017>> has an anecdote on this, which Ciro feels sounds believable:

[[me-and-li-tumor]]
____
I think it was Lynn's* death that finally made me realise it was time to leave. I'd seen the writing on the wall about a year prior when I saw her at a yearly "Fa conference" for believers of Falun Gong, otherwise known as Falun Dafa, to exchange experiences and grow spiritually together. An executive assistant at a Queensland valuation firm, I'd gotten to know her over the years in various events as a warm and level-headed lady who had time for everyone. But I'd noticed she had developed a bulge on the side of her head and I was trying not to look at it when I talked to her. I saw, or at least I believed I saw, some pain in her smile. She was probably questioning herself over and over again what "attachments" she hadn't let go of that were causing this sickness to spread through her body and endanger her life. I wanted to tell her to just go to a hospital, although I wasn't at this stage resolute enough in my gradual return to logic. Another part of me feared that by looking at it I was acknowledging it — something you don't do with illnesses in Falun Gong because Master Li Hongzhi teaches that his pupils don't get illnesses. He can cure you but only if you don't have any loopholes in your belief in him and his teachings. Some people with solid beliefs can actually die due to others around them having flaws in their thinking, Li says. Just thinking the wrong way is perilous when you're a Falun Gong practitioner.

I later heard through the grapevine of Lynn's death. The cancer went into her brain and she passed away in extreme pain, probably believing to the end that it was her fault she was in this awful predicament. In a way, I guess it was.
____

and more interesting anecdotes follow, see source.

And Ciro has felt this first hand with his <<wife,mother-in-law>>. Whenever she has a health worry, first she tries to hide it. But then she casually mentions it without much thought because she speaks all the time the poor lady, may she be blessed. And then, when Ciro says: OK, let's try and treat it, even for trivial things that might have simple treatments, she immediately smiles a compassionate smile of "I'm a Falun Gong believer, I don't need that". This makes Ciro really mad. He tries to not show it, because he thinks people should be able to choose how they die. But Li promises the powers of <<flg-cross-dimensional-vision,remote, cross dimensional and past/future vision>> to some believers, and yet, blinds some of them to the obvious fact that they are aging, and, slowly but surely, their own bodies are starting to fail, like everyone else's will at one point.

It is also interesting to note how the Chinese government itself supported Falun Gong and <<zhong-gong,other Qi Gong practices>> for their health benefits, which is why they grew so large in the first place. <<li-hongzhi>> was even <<history-of-falun-gong,awarded prizes and recognized as a Qi Gong master by state backed organizations in 1992 and 1993>>. And the CCP still has a tendency to support certain non-scientific traditional practices: <<support-for-non-scientific-traditional-practices>>.

[[freedom-with-a-capital-f]]
.https://youtu.be/kIpaDW3RwtY?t=244 one random thing ex-KGB spy undercover in the USA Jack Barsky mentioned in this BuzzFeed Multiplayer interview stuck to his mind: "The one thing that you have here, that I believe cannot be found anywhere else in the world is called Freedom, with a capital F". If people want to die in a certain way, or believe that some bullshit will cure them, they should be allowed. Natural selection will take care of the rest.
video::kIpaDW3RwtY[youtube,height=400,width=600,start=244]

See also: <<honour-suicides-in-chinese-history>>.

[[falun-gongs-view-of-epidemics]]
===== Falun Gong's view of epidemics

<<li-hongzhi>> has said in <<flg-canon,canon>> things that lead certain believers (including e.g. <<wife,Ciro's mother in law>>) to believe that because they are good Falun Gong believers, that they are more safe from disease from evil people.

For example, in the 2003 "Fa conference" at the time of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome[SARS] he https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/lectures/20030420L.html[said]:

____
You must have seen the epidemic that's come along in China now, right? Hasn't a huge epidemic arrived? To put it in human terms, it's Heaven punishing people. What it's targeting, we Dafa disciples know full well: it's targeting those who don't deserve to be saved, who are impossible to save while Dafa disciples clarify the truth, and who aren't useful to the evil rotten spirits. This is the first round of cleansing. Heaven is punishing the evil, yet China is still lying to cover up the number of deaths, and I'll tell you, it's huge, and it hasn't peaked yet. 
____

Such beliefs have of course carried over directly to <<covid,COVID-19>>.

An amazing quote from https://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2020/3/20/183715.html[]:

____
Stay Rational

Pandemics and plagues are part of a divine plan and inevitable in the course of history.
____

Stay rational. Believe in God ;-)

Epidemics are also likely moments where religious grow due to more people being more desperate and looking for solace that cannot be found in this shitty world.

It is indeed tempting to believe that the virus magically kills only the Evil. What reality could be so fucked up where the innocent suffocate to their death? And yet, here we are.

[[li-hongzhi]]
==== Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Hongzhi
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/李洪志

Li Hongzhi is the creator of <<falun-gong>>: link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Hongzhi[].

Falun Gong people call him "master" (师父), which is a common traditional term used to respectfully address experienced teachers in a disciple (弟子)/teacher relation, e.g. Kung Fu or other crafts.

However they also believe that he has many many God-like powers and is comparable figures such as Jesus and Buddha himself.

Notably they believe that he has superpowers, and that everything that he says is the absolute truth of the universe, see also: <<flg-religion>>.

The term "master" is also used for example in the fictional film The Master (2012), which is likely inspired in <<flg-religion,Scientology>>.

<<ciro-santilli>> however prefers to call him <<flg-religion,prophet>>, since he feels LHZ is indistinguishable from <<flg-religion,any other religion>>. Guru/<<flg-cult,cult leader>> could also apply.

It's funny that even though Falun Gong only came up recently in the 80's, we still know relatively little about Li. One is kind of reminded of Jesus! See also <<li-hongzhis-family>> and <<li-hongzhis-hagiography>>.

One should note however that this is partly by design: at some point in the 90's, Li relatively stepped away from public view. This is because once you reach a critical mass of followers, it is better to let them to the preaching for you, while you hide your obvious human defects in a corner. See also comments at <<vissarion>>.

Li Hongzhi footage:

* 1999-06-12 AP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_onSZlvWSQ USA: "CHINA: FALUN DAFA CULT POSES NO THREAT CLAIMS FOUNDER" Li Hongzhi talks to media in New York

.<<li-hongzhi>> is Falun Gong's prophet/cult leader/living God. He's a cute North-Westerner 东北人 like <<wife,Ciro's wife>>. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Hongzhi[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Li_Hongzhi.jpg[height=400]

.<<li-hongzhi>> practicing one of his exercises with one of his cute prophet outfits in an extremely nice Chinese https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_garden[rock garden] (https://baike.baidu.com/item/假山/8466165[假山园林]), see also: <<does-ciro-santilli-hate-china,stone garden>>. TODO exact location and date. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Li_Hongzhi_Falun_Gong.jpg[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Li_Hongzhi_stone_garden.jpg[height=600]

[[li-hongzhi-blue-halo]]
.<<li-hongzhi,Li>> in front of a light blue background (similar to <<xi-jinping-portrait-blue,CCP official portraits>>) with a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(religious_iconography)[halo] suggestion around his head. https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/11/5/12/n3254555.htm[Lower quality version] on <<epoch-times>>. https://www.epochweekly.com/144/7046pg.htm[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Li_Hongzhi_blue.jpg[height=400]

[[li-hongzhi-lotus]]
.<<li-hongzhi,Li>> going https://dragonball.fandom.com/wiki/Super_Saiyan[Super Saiyan] (https://baike.baidu.com/item/超级赛亚人/6974315[超级赛亚人]) while casually sitting on a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_lotus_in_religious_art[giant Lotus flower] with a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(religious_iconography)[halo] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/圓光[圆光]) on his head. Text at bottom: 法轮修炼大法-李洪志 (TODO confirm 3rd and 4th characters, transates something like Falun Practices Dafa - Li Hongzhi). http://photo.minghui.org/images/master_li_pics/E_fx_1.htm[Source] on <<minghui>>.
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Li_Hongzhi_lotus.jpg[height=600]

.<<li-hongzhi>> really turning into a proper Buddha, including https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_characteristics_of_the_Buddha[physical signs] such as the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ushnisha[Ushnisha] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/肉髻[肉髻]) on the head and the https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Physical_characteristics_of_the_Buddha&oldid=972021136#The_80_secondary_characteristics["ears as longs as lotus petals"]. On the top right corner we see an <<ntdtv>> watermark. On the bottom left we see a few Western Catholic and Roman looking divinities, representing Falun Gong's syncretic beliefs. The subtitle on center bottom reads in traditional Chinese: "真的有这样光辉形象" (there truly is such a glorious image) https://www.bannedbook.org/bnews/tculture/xiulian/20190123/1068931.html[Source] on <<bannedbook>>.
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Li_Hongzhi_Buddha.jpg[height=400]

.Dubstep <<li-hongzhi,Li>> can <<flg-religion,liangong (练功)>> at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubstep[dubstep] speed. https://giphy.com/gifs/dubstep-gifs-dubstepgifs-xUOwFY1prqgUdPuFvW[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Li_Hongzhi_dubstep.webp[height=400]

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7JK576nxm0 音乐视频：《师尊的手》<<falun-gong>> music video "The master's hand" contains some a bit of good old time <<li-hongzhi>> footage.
video::_7JK576nxm0[youtube,height=400,width=600]

===== FLG is dangerous because Li Hongzhi has too much power over followers

Ciro agrees that there is danger in every religion, and especially new religions.

However the same point can be made about political parties and in particular the CCP and its chairman.

Couldn't a charismatic leader chairman gain more and more power (like Xi seems to be doing), and eventually start a war and kill millions? Or just kill some minority who is not happy about the situation.

Similarly, any charismatic leader of a pro-democracy movement could become the leader of a terrorist organization.

If you ever want democracy, you will have to learn to accept the beliefs of others, and only punish them when they actually break a law.

Finally, LHZ was born in 1951, so he will die in 20 years, unless FLG is true and a miracle happens, and then this argument will become invalid.

From what Ciro hears, LHZ has always maintained that he is the only source of truth on FLG (see also "The Guru is always right"), and therefore, so his death will very likely remove any danger once and for all.

Furthermore, it also seems to Ciro that FLG is clearly anti-violence and self-harm, so Ciro wonder how many would follow a contradictory order such as killing or suicide? We have had no hint of any incitation to violence so far.

It is also interesting to look into the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown case. When the suicide order came, most people wanted out! Without physically controlling the followers, I don't think you can make them do much.

===== Li Hongzhi's hagiography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Hongzhi mentions that there are two versions of the biography:

* An unofficial biography appeared in the first of Li's major publications, <<flg-canon,Zhongguo Falun Gong>>, supposedly authored by journalist Zhu Huiguang (朱慧光).
+
The full text appears to be at available at: http://qingqing.freebbs.tw/viewthread.php?tid=130### (God bless <<taiwan,Taiwanese>> piracy, link:++https://web.archive.org/web/20200805093333/http://qingqing.freebbs.tw/viewthread.php?tid=130###++[archive])
+
<<benjamin-penny-the-life-and-times-of-li-hongzhi-2003>> gives the full title of the section + a translation (originally in pinyin, but why?!?! :-)):
+
____
法輪旋轉新天地-記李洪志先生和他創立的法輪功 +
"The wheel of the law revolves the new cosmos - on Li Hongzhi and the Falun Gong he founded".
____
* A second, official spiritual biography appeared in early editions of <<flg-canon,Falun Gong's primary text, Zhuan Falun>>.
+
It is shorter than the first, and is marked as authored by the "Falun Dafa Research Society's President" (法轮功研究会会长).
+
The Wiki quotes <<benjamin-penny-the-religion-of-falun-gong-2012>>.
+
Penny says that it was removed in 1999 (presumably to remove some more glaring magical bullshit help with internationalization).
+
A possible Chinese copy might be found at: http://qingqing.freebbs.tw/viewthread.php?tid=165### inside a 1994 version of Zhuan Falun.
+
The section is entitled "中国法轮功创始人、法轮功研究会会长 李洪志先生小传", so literally tranlated as a "profile" (小传) rather than a full biography. The index marks it as 附 (addendum), and it comes at the end of the book.

===== What will happen to Falun Gong when Li Honzhi dies?

https://www.quora.com/What-will-happen-to-Li-Hongzhi-the-founder-of-Falun-Gong-when-he-is-not-in-this-world-anymore/answer/Ciro-Santilli

===== Let's make a mini series about Li Hongzhi's life

Ciro can't help but to imagine how Falun Gong came about in detail.

Someone should write a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Temptation_of_Christ_(novel)["The Last Temptation of Christ"].

This deserves an American miniseries like Chernobyl.

It would manage to piss off both FLG and the CCP, which would be amazing. It is a shame that it is so difficult to find good historical information between the infinite barrages of CCP and FLG propaganda.

It could show how:

* Li was an ordinary dude who could liked to play the trumpet, which partially explains his focus on <<falun-gong-media,Shen Yun>> and Falun Gong musical street parades
* Li first heard about Qi Gong, and went to practice it under some dude. Then how he saw other people were so into it, and decided to take this opportunity to make a career out of it during the 80's
* how he met his wife and had a daughter
* how he started to notice how people were feeling things during the exercise classes, and started suggesting more and more metaphysics to these first disciples
* Li could also have some metaphysical moment, like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW20LbwAmng but at the same time, he must tell his followers some lies which he does not believe
* how followers started telling others things and "experience sharing" where the cycle of belief stats to take off
* a clear demonstration of how "A group of early adopters in Changchun became disenchanted after Li forbade his followers from charging fees for the practice at the end of 1994" showing dissent within the cult
* and finally, the immigration and crackdown, and how he put his fingers on those things, and the creation of media, this could be the last episode

Episodes could be split along:

* Episode 1: pre Qi Gong, shows Childhood, workplaces, early motivations. Ends with first contact with a Qi Gong lesson
* Episode 2: early Falun Gong. Opens an academy. Starts without metaphysics, but grows into it. Show him knowingly lying, but also seething magic things. The first followers, and top lieutenants. Makes some management mistake, but gets away with it. Could end in a metaphysical scene, or 13 May 1992 initial public lesson. Maybe a scene of Li's visit to <<thailand>> in 1983 (photo from CCP media found on Google).
* Episode 3: later Falun Gong in China. It grows, show in Chinese news. Power struggles, problems with early lieutenants, and new lieutenants come up. Many people practice on streets. Battle against <<zhong-gong>>. Near 1996, something tips Li off to the fact that the CCP is going to crack down on them, and so he announces that he will be spreading abroad full time. Check out if this was before or after the first Anti FLG newspaper article in 1996-06-17.
* Episode 4: preaching outside of China and emigration. American permanent residence in 1998. Watches crackdown on television. International Falun Gong media. Show him at Falun Gong New York <<dragon-springs,"Dragon Springs">> complex

Or maybe, never mind that boring post 1992 stuff which is already highly public, instead we could focus only on the more interesting pre-1992 events, and finish in 1992.

So per-early FLG up to 1992, with childhood flashbacks.

The tone should of course be a mixture of:

* personal insight of the master
* the love of a follower
* external view of their shortcomings

Parts of the series could be filmed in <<taiwan>> maybe?

Source material: <<history-of-falun-gong>>.

Related videos:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Wild_Country (2017) about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajneesh[]. Ciro feels that Falun Gong believers would not be as open with external questioners.
+
But who knows. Episode 3 shows how Rajneesh implemented <<careful-control-of-your-image>>: Sheela was the front-person, and had meetings with him every evening.
* The Master (2012)

[[xi-hongzhi-and-li-jinping]]
====== Xi Hongzhi and Li Jinping (习洪志和李近平)

In an alternate reality, Xi Hongzhi, not to be confused with <<xi-jinping>>, is an obscure peasant trying to save his kingdom from oppression.

And Li Jinping, not to be confused with <<li-hongzhi>>, is an evil Qi Gong who uses his powers to rule over his kingdom ruthlessly, ridding it of non-believers.

This meme would be offensive to both <<ccp>> and <<falun-gong>> believers.

We are entering Encyclopedia Dramatica territory here.

[[li-hongzhis-family]]
===== Li Hongzhi's family (李洪志的家庭)

Jesus appeared to value chastity. He was born from a virgin. No sex around him at all.

But Li doesn't need that. He's a God, right, he can both be an Enlightened God part time and still have a normal family part time.

Once thing Ciro approves about Li's approach to his family is that he seems to have stated (TODO source) that none of them are Gods like him.

Wife's name: Li Rui (李瑞 according to CCP). Report saying that a follower bought a house and registered it on Li Rui's name as a gift, but Li later returned the gift back: https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB94140245836194819 TODO house address.

* daughter: Li Meige (李美歌) claims born 1982-06 on <<kaiwind>> http://www.kaiwind.com/anticult/kfgc/201311/05/t20131105_1188845.shtml says that she performs in <<shen-yun>> under the name "Christina Li" and even won awards. This Falun Gong sources confirm that a "Christina Li" was a Shen Yun lead dancer as of 2011, but does not confirm that she is the daughter of Li Hongzhi: https://www.theepochtimes.com/where-are-the-ancient-arts-of-china-part-4_1491935.html If this is true, talk about <<orange-papers,"different levels of truth">>! The article also claims that she has had other pseudonyms, including: "Annie Li" and "Li Jingjing" (李晶晶). Here are web archives of the now broken of course Shen Yun pages Kaiwand links to as evidence of her constant name changing (but no mention of her father):
** https://web.archive.org/web/20140727034323/http://dance.ntdtv.com/ct/archive/
** https://web.archive.org/web/20121211022246/zh-cn.shenyunperformingarts.org/artists/biography/view/WG3gbBQudOg
** possibly CCP sources report that Meige married in 2017, likely near the Falun Gong Day (13th May): e.g. http://www.saibeifeng.com/kfyd/201705/16/t20170516_5219554.shtml says many felicitation posts were posted on <<falun-gong-media,minghui>>, so this is likely widely known within the Falun Gong community, but the idiots who wrote that page don't know how to link to sources. Ciro could not find the groom's name.
* brothers and sisters, all younger:
** Li Jun (李君) older younger sister
** Li Ping (李平) younger younger sister
*** <<china-daily>> http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hqzx/2012-10/17/content_15825454.htm mentions that Li Jiguang (李继光), the second husband of one of Li Pingy died in 2012
*** Notably, Li Ping's alleged husband Sun Senlun (Natawut Smittipong, 孙森伦) is a Chinese-Thai, and allegedly wrote an account of Li Hongzhi's family in the 1980's: <<diaries-of-being-in-thailand-with-li-hongzhi-s-family>>
+
The book also claims that they had two children Sun Baoyuan (孙宝圆) and Sun Baoman (孙宝满), which Li later managed to rename Li Baoyuan (李宝圆) and Li Baoman (李宝满).
+
<<shen-yun>> had dancers called with those exact same Chinese character names between 2009 and 2020, so it is very likely that it is them:
+
**** Li Baoyuan: https://zh-cn.shenyunperformingarts.org/artists/view/article/e/tQIEajYbB_s/李宝圆.html
**** Li Baoman: https://zh-cn.shenyunperformingarts.org/artists/view/article/e/Aw5bu_PdeNI/李宝满.html
** Li Hui (AKA Li Donghui) younger brother
* father: Li Dan
* mother: Lu Shuzhen. http://wap.uuhomepage.com/StaticWapPages/20161013/20161013062741097.html claims that she died on 2016-08-24 in New York. TODO find a decent report.

There are also claims that Li's birth name was Li Lai (李來).

Sources:

* <<benjamin-penny-the-religion-of-falun-gong-2012>> gives further family members (some of them are based only on CCP sources however):
* https://kknews.cc/zh-hk/news/bbmz49.html[] claims to contain the biography of Li Hongzhi's family (likely all according to CCP sources), including several good pictures: The photo given there for Li Jun appears on this apparently FLG source without mention of the name: https://www.epochweekly.com/b5/103/5805.htm

.Li Hongzhi with his wife Li Rui and daughter Li Meige presumably in the late 80's with fishing ships in a shipyard in the background. TODO location. Likely from CCP sources, in many places with <<chinese-government-media,kaiwnd>> watermarks. http://www.toppk.net/art/2016/3/9/art_7328_304365.html[Anti-FLG source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Li_Hongzhi_with_wife_and_daughter.jpg[height=400]

.Photo of Christina Li from Shen Yun, which the CCP claims to be Li Meige, daughter of Li Hongzhi. That page also claims that she was awarded Bronze in the 2009 and 2010 NDT Chinese Dance Competition. https://web.archive.org/web/20121211022246/zh-cn.shenyunperformingarts.org/artists/biography/view/WG3gbBQudOg[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Li_Meige_Shenyun.jpg[height=400]

[[diaries-of-being-in-thailand-with-li-hongzhi-s-family]]
===== Diaries of being in Thailand with Li Hongzhi's family (我与李洪志一家在泰国的日子——法轮功教主妹夫的自述)

An alleged account of Li Hongzhi's family in the 1980's written by his brother-in-law Sun Senlun (Natawut Smittipong, 孙森伦), who married Li Ping.

ISBN 9789996590252: https://www.cp1897.com.hk/product_info.php?BookId=9789996590252[]

This is reproduced likely without copyright on many CCP sources, e.g.: http://lihongzhidaqidi.blogspot.com/2013_09_27_archive.html which links to <<kaiwind>>'s HTML reproduction.

The <<kaiwind>> links are all dead now, but they are all still visible under: https://web.archive.org/web/20191230124120/http://lihongzhidaqidi.blogspot.com/2013_09_27_archive.html

It is a good reading if you take everything with a grain of salt, does sound quite believable.

https://web.archive.org/web/20191230151939/http://news.kaiwind.com/features/s/201309/27/t20130927_1121750.shtml claims that Li lived in Sun's house in Thailand from May 1991 to March 1992. And that he was baffled when Li started telling the miraculous events of his <<li-hongzhis-hagiography,hagiography>> in the 1992 public talks, how could his wife never told him about any of those amazingly important life events before that point?

TODO find original publishing location and date.

This appears to be an interview with Sun Senlun about the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js0OyNwYw5A (watermarked <<kaiwind>> on top)

Semi weirdly though, https://www.cesnur.org/2001/falun_jan10.htm claims that Senlun was a coordinator of Falun Gong in Thailand as of 2001.

https://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2020/1/16/原北京师大研究生陶渊在浙江第四监狱遭受的迫害-399012.html[] from 2020 by <<minghui>> claims the book slanders Li Hongzhi's family, and that the CCP forced prisoners to read it.

[[dragon-springs]]
===== Dragon Springs (龙泉)

Li Hongzhi's Falun Gong complex in New York state countryside, where he lives, and organizes <<shen-yun>>.

https://goo.gl/maps/4bqt18CSBmFSekw89

Started in the 2000's in New York State with money donated by believers.

* http://www.dragonsprings.org/
* https://www.businessinsider.com/dragon-springs-falun-gong-upstate-new-york-compound-photos-2019-9
* 1999 https://apnews.com/420a741ec19c4db3993d408747874b2d "Falun Gong US compound's neighbors fret over expansion plans"

<<china-daily>> http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hqzx/2012-10/17/content_15825454.htm claims that <<li-hongzhi>>'s appartment in 2012 was the number 136-08 on 59th avenue, Flushing, NY. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/seeking-master-li-1.221547 confirms Flushing. Also  mentions key 1999 lieutenant Erping Zhang, https://www.c-span.org/person/?erpingzhang[] confirms with photo.

[[qigong-fever]]
=== Qigong fever (气功热 , 1980's)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qigong_fever

AKA Qigong Boom.

* https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/26268612 特异功能、法功灭火、铝锅传功……80年代的气功热究竟有多疯狂？ (How crazy was the Qi Gong boom after all?) on <<zhihu>>

[[zhong-gong]]
==== Zhong Gong (中功, 中华养生益智功, Qigong religion)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhong_Gong
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/中华养生益智功

A very similar religion to <<falun-gong>>, that also emerged during the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qigong_fever[Qigong fever] (气功热) of the '80s and '90s.

Zhong Gong was the second most sucessful Qigong Boom religion after Falun Gong.

The similarity of their imagery as seen from propaganda videos is striking. To <<ciro-santilli>>, this makes Zhong Gong a perfect example of why <<does-ciro-santilli-believe-in-or-practice-falun-gong,FLG metaphysics is bullshit>>: it is obvious that both Zhong Gong and Falun Gong and many others were just random dudes who took advantage of the Qigong fever to create their religions.

Their prophet is <<zhang-hongbao>>.

Interestingly, like <<li-hongzhi>> who is from <<jilin>>, Hongbao is also from the Northeast of China (<<heilongjiang>>), there must be a reason why those Qi Gong movements come from that region.

Unlike Falun Gong however, Zhong Gong failed to branch the franchise out of China, and basically died out. Hongbao also died in a car crash in 2006 which didn't help. Li Hongzhi however played smarter, and started branching abroad full force in 1996, he likely predicted that the crackdown was inevitale.

Wikipedia says it reached 34 million followers in China.

Hongbao also has a more spicy history it seems, with sexual allegations and open political goals <<flg-political,unlike Li Hongzhi, who hid his goals better>>. Well played, Li, well played.

<<li-hongzhi>> maintains in <<flg-canon,canon>> that Falun Gong is of course extremely different from all of those other extremely similar Qi Gong religions. Zhong Gong is likely not mentioned by name, but it is also likely one of the main targets. E.g. in 1998 <<flg-canon,canon>> https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/lectures/19980329L.html[]:

____
Dafa can't be obtained lightly. For example, the diversity of cults and the number of false qigongs are large these days, and they lead people astray. Many people who are capable of cultivating get sucked into them, and some of them engage in suicide - it's a mess.
____

Zhong Gong videos:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX72zfEP_zs googd Zhong Gong playlist
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYH8Y_1UmrY&t=1445 Zhong Gong people "experience sharing". It truly is exactly like Falun Gong.
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2GxSJK9c-A this appears to be positive mainstream media coverage of Zhong Gong
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ziluy_AlEI video of Hongbao giving a lecture dated 1994 and commented "Qiling kylin Tianhua culture"
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQKCtPSfdR4 video dated January 21st, 2007 of Monks praying after his death
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvJSzeY7Chw contains a bunch of what appear to be extremely low quality Zhong Gong propaganda videos. It is very similar to Falun Gong's of course.

The embassy spokesman says Chinese officials have ample evidence of sect leader Zhang Hongbao's involvement in crimes such as rape and murder.

.Zhang Honbao, creator of <<zhong-gong>>, sitting on a giant flying lotus reaching Enlightenment with a halo. It looks <<li-hongzhi-lotus,exactly like Falun Gong imagery>>. But of course, Zhong Gong is just a "completely unrelated and inferior sect" according to <<li-hongzhi>>. TODO transcribe. https://blog.boxun.com/hero/201102/tianhuaren/1_1.shtml[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Zhong_Gong_lotus.jpg[height=400]

[[zhong-gong-blue]]
.The blue background, the halos, the praying hands, the master Zhang Hongbao flying above. It is just exactly like <<flg-blue,Falun Gong imagery>>. https://www.chinacourt.org/article/detail/2018/08/id/3475129.shtml[Source] (<<chinese-government-media>>)
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Zhong_gong_blue.jpg[height=400]

[[flg-blue]]
.Hungarian <<falun-gong>> propaganda image with woman meditating in with blue sky background for comparison with <<zhong-gong-blue,similar Zhong Gong imagery>>. https://hu.faluninfo.eu/[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Falun_Gong_sky_leaflet.jpg[height=400]

.Side by side comparison between <<zhong-gong>> on the left, and <<falun-gong>> on the right. In <<ciro-santilli>>'s opinion, nothing highlights better that both are fake than the fact that they are clearly part of the same historical movement of the Qigong Boom, while at the same time affirming that the other one is fake or inferior.
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Zhong_Gong_vs_Falun_Gong_lotus.jpg[height=500]

[[zhang-hongbao]]
===== Zhang Hongbao (张宏堡)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Hongbao
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/张宏堡

Prophet of <<zhong-gong>>, just like <<li-hongzhi>> is the prophet of <<falun-gong>>.

[[xiang-gong]]
==== Xiang Gong (香功, 中国芳香智悟气功, Qigong religion)

This was possibly the third most popular Qi Gong of the <<qigong-fever>> after <<falun-gong>> and <<zhong-gong>>. It is mentioned for example at <<the-falungong-phenomenon-by-hu-ping-2003>>.

Literal translation:

* Fragrant Gong
* China Fragrang Wisdom Comprehension Gong

It is however so obscure that there isn't even a wikipedia page for it anymore!

The prophet's name was Tian Ruisheng (田瑞生). He's the old due at: https://www.sohu.com/a/270132785_100279655 with little badges on his coat. He can be seen lecturing for example at: https://youtu.be/ItAUwGWSXuI?t=167

Some mentions in English:

* https://taijiclub.live/2020/05/09/xiang-gong-the-fragrant-mind-awakening-qigong/ Xiang Gong: The Fragrant Mind Awakening Qigong (2020) Interesting quote:
+
____
 Basically, the origin of this qigong comes from Master Tian Ruisheng. Master Tian Ruisheng was taught this as a ill young boy by a traveling buddhist monk. He was told to practice it every day and not reveal it until 50 years later. He diligently practiced and eventually taught it after 50 years. It quickly became a popular qigong in China.
____
+
This is exactly the type of "Creation Story" that <<li-hongzhi>> invented. Notably, it is not something he just made up to take advantage of the obvious <<qigong-fever>>. No, it is something that he developped his entire life, and only started teaching at that point due to a coincidence!
+
This is notably highlighted in <<diaries-of-being-in-thailand-with-li-hongzhi-s-family>>. Li's sister just casualy never mentioned to her husband that her brother had been having mystical training for several years, until he finally announced it in the early days of <<falun-gong>>.
+
In Tian's case however, he is truly really old. This is possibly a major reason why he didn't get as big as Falun Gong. It is terribly discriminatory, but who wants to look at an old ugly dude? Especially when he's likely teaching stuff that is supposed to cure diseases. <<li-hongzhi>> and 
* https://www.beliefnet.com/news/2000/05/chinese-crackdown-goes-beyond-falun-gong.aspx Chinese Crackdown Goes Beyond Falun Gong (2000) mentions <<zhong-gong>> and <<xiang-gong>>. Says it is from AP News, but I can't find the original. But the language does look "AP-like".
+
____
China's entirely state-run media and the government have trumpeted the crackdown on Falun Gong. Thousands of practitioners have been detained since it was outlawed in July in the campaign against what the government says is an evil cult.

But authorities refuse to talk about the clampdown on other qi gong organizations, and state media have all but ignored it. So far the campaign has affected at least five groups, practitioners, government sources and human rights organizations say.
____
+
The other groups, even smaller, are mentioned in the article next:
+
** Cibei Gong (慈悲功, Compassion Gong). Possible Chinese name mentioned at: http://www.chinanews.com/2001-02-22/26/72398.html 武汉侦破“法轮功”的变种慈悲功 (Wuhan investigates Falun Gong variant Cibei Gong) from a <<pro-chinese-government-media>>. The word for variant is the same as for "mutation", which brings funnily <<covid>> to mind.
** Guo Gong (国功, Country Gong). Not even the patriotic name was able to prevent crackdown!
** Bodhi Gong. TODO fins Chinese.
+
https://www.refworld.org/docid/3df4be1e20.html also mentions some of them.

Some mentions in Chinese:

* on <<zhihu>>:
** https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/76604171 香功是什么？为什么国家要禁止习练香功？ (What is Xiang Gong? Why did the country [China] forbit practicing Xiang Gong?) by 吴庆元. Mentions the <<flg-medication>> argument, but it is from a pro-Qi Gong writter in general.
** https://www.zhihu.com/question/24006657 香功是邪教吗？ (Is Xiang Gong an Evil Cult?)
* https://www.sohu.com/a/270132785_100279655 我们回顾一下80/90年代所谓的"大师" (Looking back at the so-called "Masters" of the 80s/90s) on <<sohu>>

In other languages:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-Zcgk15kkc Treinamento Perfumado Nível 1 (Xianggong) completo (Complete Xiang Gong training, level 1 complete) by Maria Lucia Lee (2017)
+
This is the YouTube channel of a Brazillian Xianggong parcticionner.
+
This reminded <<ciro-santilli>> of a Qigong/Taichi course he went to for a few months when he was a young teenager in Santos, Brazil, attended almost exclusively by older ladies.
+
Some people, even outside China, like "mystic stuff", and may start a mystic stuff practice, more or less affiliated to a certain current of mysticism.
+
Especially since people know nothing about any of the currents, partly due to the language barrier, it often becomes a larger more dilluted current os mysticisms.
+
The same likely applied to that course Ciro attended, but at the time he was clueless and didn't really classify his teacher's influences.
+
Ciro must say however, that some of the exercises were good, and have become a permanent part of Ciro's https://cirosantilli.com/cirodance[Cirodance].
+
The only thing Ciro rejects completely is the metaphysical bullshit: <<does-ciro-santilli-believe-in-or-practice-falun-gong>>.
+
Though if something has a lot of metaphysical bullshit, it makes it hard for Ciro to practice it without thinking about the metaphysics.
+
Maria speaks perfect Portuguese, and given the name Lee she must be a second or later generation immigrant. She's likely from Sao Paulo. Here's a video of her in the 70's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaPlwdb5iIw when she was likely in her late 30's, already as a Qigong teacher.
+
Mystical movements like that likely had a decent following in Brazil, especially in the 70's linked to the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippie[Hippies] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/嬉皮士[嬉皮士]). Ciro's mother mentioned some related stories of her friends.
+
At https://www.instagram.com/p/COOnUMwHD_Q/ for example

=== Falun Gong bibliography

* https://www.quora.com/Why-is-the-Chinese-government-against-Falun-Gong on <<quora>>
* https://www.zhihu.com/question/23988890 at <<zhihu>>
* https://www.orange-papers further developed at: <<flg-cult>>

==== The Falungong Phenomenon by Hu Ping (2003)

https://s3.amazonaws.com/berkley-center/040127HuFalunGongPhenomenon.pdf

Published on the China Rights Forum from <<hric>>.

[[me-and-li-by-ben-hurley-2017]]
==== Me and Li by Ben Hurley (2017)

https://medium.com/@Ben_D_Hurley/-10677166298b "Me and Li" by Ben Hurley published on October 23, 2017.

This post by a former believer gives what <<ciro-santilli>> feels is a realistic account that matches Ciro's observations.

Interesting quotes:

* <<me-and-li-tumor>>

The following echoes "Different levels of truth" from <<orange-papers>>:

____
Most would find they had little in common with non-practitioners ("ordinary people" in Falun Gong parlance) but would maintain cordial relations with friends and family nonetheless, and think of various ways to explain the edge off some of Falun Gong's less palatable teachings about aliens, how heaven views gay people, the inferiority of other religions and Master Li's role in saving the universe.
____

[[history-of-falun-gong]]
==== History of Falun Gong 法轮功历史

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Falun_Gong
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/法輪功歷史

A few non-religious non-CCP resources can be found at:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Falun_Gong
* Sun Senjun's accounts from the 1980's, see: <<li-hongzhis-family>>

but those are very rare, because where else would the information come form, right?

Some key events:

* 1989: initial private beta courses. TODO key interesting moment.
* 1992-05-13: initial public lecture at the 1992 International Health Exposition in Beijing, and opening main academy on No. 5 Middle School in Changchun, <<jilin>> (capital).
+
TODO what did he talk about on that Beijing day. This day still celebrated in 2020 as https://en.minghui.org/cc/36/["Falun Dafa Day"], in which the major international "<<orange-papers,Experience Sharing>> Conference" happens in New York.
+
He apparently also taught at Chaoyang Park in Changchun: https://goo.gl/maps/BFwKs2xr48AMUAbx8

[[benjamin-penny-the-life-and-times-of-li-hongzhi-2003]]
===== The Life and times of Li Hongzhi by Benjamin Penny (2003)

Free to read at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20059033

[[benjamin-penny-the-religion-of-falun-gong-2012]]
===== The Religion of Falun Gong by Benjamin Penny (2012)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0226655016

A freely downloadable paper with a subset of the book: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/20059033.pdf

The author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Penny is an Australian researcher, https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/penny-bdc

[[christianity]]
== Christianity (基督教)

The commies are not a fan. But as someone once told me: the commies are not a fan of a bunch of things!

As mentioned at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_China there are only a few state approved churches under total CCP control, and the others are forbidden. For example one of them is called the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Patriotic_Catholic_Association[Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association]! God and CCP on the same sentence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Pius_XII[Pope Pius XII] excommunicated people from that organization who were appointing new Bishops!

* 2021-04-01 from <<rfa>> https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/christians-camps-04012021081013.html "Chinese Christians Held in Secretive Brainwashing Camps: Sources", due to report of victim under the pseudonyum Li Yuese (李约瑟) from Sichuan. No strong corroboration however unfortunately. Chinese article 2021-03-11 https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shehui/ql2-03312021045450.html
* 2018-12 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzWApdCNdik "100 Christians detained in China crackdown" published by CNN

* 2016 https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/27/world/asia/china-zhejiang-christians-pastor-crosses.html pastor 14 years jail
* 2015 https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/christians-in-china-feel-full-force-of-authorities-repression/2015/12/23/7dd0ec5a-a736-11e5-b596-113f59ee069a_story.html

.<<rebel-pepper>> 2018-09 cartoon showing Jesus and the Apostles in the Last Supper being arrested by CCP guards. https://www.rfa.org/english/cartoons/china-crackddown-Christianity-cartoon-09072018150421.html[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Last_Supper_arrest.jpeg[height=400]

.Cartoon by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Hongtu[Zhang Hongtu] (张宏图) showing <<mao-zedong>> and other communist officials at the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Supper[Last Supper] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/最后的晚餐[最后的晚餐]) instead of Jesus and the Apostles. https://musicandculture.blogspot.com/2010/03/massive-last-supper-parodies-post.html[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Last_Supper_Mao.jpg[height=400]

.Permission papers filled to the brim with government <<seal,stamps>> required for the Taihu Catholic Church (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/華莊天主堂[太湖天主堂]) from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuxi[Wuxi] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/无锡市[无锡市]) to hold their annual Christmas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Réveillon[Reveillon] reunion. This is the <<ccp,CCP>>'s version freedom of religion and freedom of assembly. Also mentioned at: https://bitterwinter.org/christmas-was-not-allowed-but-brought-china-a-lot-of-money/ from <<bitter-winter>>. https://twitter.com/ZhangZhulin/status/1342211279633719296[Source]. TODO original social media post from the church.
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Taihu_church_Christmas_reveillon_permission_2020.jpg[height=500]

[[lampstand-church-demolition]]
.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Lampstand_Church[Golden Lampstand Church] (https://www.dw.com/zh/山西临汾金灯台教堂被强拆/a-42114625[金灯台教堂]) church in <<shanxi>> being demolished in January 2018. https://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-authorities-demolish-christian-mega-church-in-crackdown-2018-1[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Church_demolition.jpg[height=400]

[[life-of-brian-nazi-jew]]
.https://youtu.be/wthHB3iTC7M?t=556 Nazi Jew deleted scene from <<life-of-brian-1979>>. If you want to stop <<christianity>>, don't put them in jail like the <<dictatorship,dictators>>. Do it the same way you stop dictators: with <<funny,comedy>>. Otherwise, the dictators remain in power, and <<intolerance,next person in jail, will be you>>. <<the-secret-life-of-brian-2007>> is a good documentary about it.
video::wthHB3iTC7M[youtube,width=600,height=400,start=556]

.https://youtu.be/tRr_1U9EvWI "How China uses intimidation, negotiation to bring Christians under its control" by CBC News: The National (2018). Talks about the Pope's deal with the CCP. Shows some good footage of a house church with a guard in front of the door.
video::tRr_1U9EvWI[youtube,width=600,height=400,start=556]

[[ccp-vatican-deal]]
=== CCP-Vatican deal (中共-梵蒂冈协议, 2018)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China–Holy_See_relations
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China–Holy_See_relations#September_2018_Holy_See–China_Agreement
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/中華人民共和國與梵蒂岡關係

____
In January 2018, the Church was close to negotiating a deal with China that allows China to have more control over the underground churches and allows the Vatican to have more control over the appointment of bishops. While this did not amount to the establishment of formal diplomatic ties, this was seen as a huge step towards formal recognition.[21] However, Joseph Zen Ze-kiun regarded the warming of diplomatic relationships as selling out the Catholic Church in China, as the process involves the resignation of several bishops of the underground church.
____

* 2020-09-17 https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/09/17/china-francis-vatican/ China Is Already Breaking Its Vatican Deal
* 2020-11-24 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/24/pope-says-for-first-time-that-chinas-uighurs-are-persecuted "Pope says for first time that China's Uighurs are 'persecuted'"

.<<rebel-pepper>> 2018-09 cartoon showing the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis[Pope Francis] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/方濟各_(教宗)[方济各教宗]) with a Christian cross containing the Hammer and Sickle communist symbol, in reference to one of the accords that the Vatican struck with the Chinese government. https://www.rfa.org/english/cartoons/vatican-china-cartoon-09282018102133.html[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Pope_CCP_deal.jpeg[height=400]

[[eastern-lightning]]
=== Eastern Lightning 全能神教會 (1991-)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Lightning
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/全能神教會

A persecuted Christian sect that believes that some Chinese woman is Jesus.

[[kaifeng-jews]]
== Kaifeng Jews (开封犹太人)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaifeng_Jews#Recent_repression
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/开封犹太人

Even with such tiny community, the <<ccp>> is still trying to pretende they never existed.

[[gay-rights]]
== Gay rights (LGBT权利)

Yes, gay people are also <<evil-west,discriminated to different degrees in Western countries>>, and even legally prohibited notably in the Islamic world.

But <<intolerance,like all minorities>>, they are generally more fucked in <<dictatorship,dictatorships>>, since they can be easily crushed by majorities.

Therefore, all gay people must be against the CCP.

See also:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_China | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/中华人民共和国LGBT权益
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_China | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/中国同性恋史
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_by_country_or_territory | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/各地LGBT权利
* https://www.zhihu.com/question/370080866/answer/1046195468 at <<zhihu>>
* <<gay-putin>>

News:

* 2021-07-07 https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-wechat-deletes-university-lgbt-accounts-2021-07-07/ "China's Wechat deletes university LGBT accounts" on <<wechat>>
* 2021-06-22 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Ying_(footballer,_born_1993)[Li Ying] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/李影_(足球运动员)[李影]), Chinese female footbaler, comes out as lesbian
** https://supchina.com/2021/06/25/chinese-soccer-stars-history-making-coming-out-moment-ruined-by-homophobic-bigots/
* 2020-08-14 https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3097377/shanghai-pride-cancelled-after-11-years-blow-lgbt-community "Shanghai Pride cancelled after 11 years in blow to China's LGBT community". "
Organisers are 'taking a break from scheduling any future events', they say in social media message".
** the Tweet: https://twitter.com/ShanghaiPride/status/1293897794919510016 "上海骄傲节终止所有活动" (Shanhai Pride will be stopping all activities)
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Pride
* 2020-01-07 https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/why-china-raising-prospect-same-sex-marriage-n1109471 "Why is China raising the prospect of same-sex marriage?"
* 2018 <<weibo>> temporary homosexual ban:
** 2018-04-16 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/16/china-weibo-bans-homosexual-content-protest "China's Weibo reverses ban on 'homosexual' content after outcry", hashtags `#iamgay` and `#iamgaynotapervert`
** 2018-04-13 https://www.whatsonweibo.com/weibos-new-online-guidelines-no-homosexuality-allowed/
* 2017-07-16 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-40610679 "Chinese gay video ban sparks online backlash"
** 2017-06-30 https://www.whatsonweibo.com/new-rules-online-videos-china-no-displays-homosexuality/ "New Rules for Online Videos in China: "No Displays of Homosexuality""
* 2016-03-04 https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/mar/04/china-bans-gay-people-television-clampdown-xi-jinping-censorship "China bans depictions of gay people on television". One of the most prominent series banned was link:++https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addicted_(web_series)++[Addicted (2016, 上瘾)].
+
.Widely distributed still from the Addicted 2016 series which was banned showing a presumably gay couple lying in bed. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/mar/04/china-bans-gay-people-television-clampdown-xi-jinping-censorship[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Addicted_bed.jpg[height=400]

.Lesbian couple kissing in <<tiananmen,Tiananmen Square>> with Mao's painting and confused/disgusted guards in the background who are likely about to call their superiors to ask what they should do. The photo likely surfaced in 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20200301224434/https://www.salon.com/2006/01/17/lesbians_china/[as mentioned] in link:++https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salon_(website)++[salon.com] which said it came form https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boing_Boing[Boing Boing]. It was not however picked up by any major website. Ciro actually thought this could have been ripped from some television series due to the amazing expression on the guards' faces. TODO: find the original Chinese source, translate the watermarks, and see if their identity is known. Another one can be seen at: https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1956753-fully-automated-luxury-gay-space-communism[] under the title "fully automated lesbians" which is a subset of "Fully Automated Luxury Gay Space Communism". TODO origin. What is that uniform? http://www.chinatoday.com/entertain/tiananmen_kiss.htm[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Tiananmen_lesbian_kiss.jpg[height=500]

[[qing-gay-scroll]]
.<<throne,Qing dynasty>> (18th–19th c.) panel from a scroll showing two men engaging in foreplay, apparently located in the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinsey_Institute[Kinsey Institute] as of 2005. For an ancient depiction of heterosexual sexual activity, see <<jin-ping-mei,this image>>. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Love_play_in_China.jpg[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Qing_Dinasty_gay_foreplay.jpg[height=400]

.Lesbian couple hugging in Shanghai in the 1930s. The woman on the left might have had polio based on the deformity of their right leg. TODO proper source, could not find one on Google reverse image search. https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/muvkmu/a_lesbian_couple_embracing_posing_in_their_qipao/[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Lesbian_couple_Shanghai_30s.jpg[height=500]

[[womans-rights]]
== Woman's rights (妇女权利)

Related <<twitter>>:

* https://twitter.com/FeministChina

News:

* 2021-04-20 https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/19/china/china-feminists-silenced-intl-hnk-dst/index.html "Chinese feminists are being silenced by nationalist trolls. Some are fighting back" mentions Liang Xiaomen, Xiao Meili and Zheng Churan

[[evil-man]]
=== Evil man (中国男性之恶)

https://github.com/CNwoman-bot/evil-man

A fork from 2021-02-08 is visible at: https://github.com/wumaoland/evil-man and tracked in-tree under this repository at: link:evil-man[]

Archive of the github pages: https://web.archive.org/web/20210225163949/https://cnwoman-bot.github.io/evil-man/

Question about it on <<zhihu>>: https://www.zhihu.com/question/361158296[] 如何看待微博用户「索多玛-」建立的GitHub仓库「Evil Man - 中国男性之恶」？ (What do you think about the repository "Evil Man - Chinese Evil Man" created by <<weibo>> user "Sodom" (索多玛))?

Related 2021 censored question about the larger phenomena it on <<zhihu>> http://www.zhihu.com/question/362285803 如何评价热门女权文章《中国男性之恶》？ (What do you think about the hot essay "Evil Chinese Man"?). No archives found however. The title can be seen as a link from https://www.zhihu.com/question/361158296[].

GitHub appears to be the original source according to https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/624360.html from <<china-digital-times>>.

[[metoo]]
=== MeToo

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_Too_movement#China

Label: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues?q=label%3Ametoo+[metoo].

Women seem to have had difficulty in expressing themselves due to <<censorship>>, unsurprisingly.

* Zhou Xiaoxuan v. TV anchor Zhu Jun
* Liu Jingyao v. billionaire Liu Qiangdong
* Zou Sicong and He Qian v. Deng Fei

Related <<github-repositories-with-censored-information>>:

* https://github.com/NGOMeToo/NGOMeToo.github.io

[[labour-rights]]
== Labour rights (劳工权益)

On more case where <<censorship-makes-it-harder-to-solve-social-problems>>:

* Mengzhu TODO Chinese name 2021: https://www.npr.org/2021/04/13/984994360/he-tried-to-organize-workers-in-chinas-gig-economy-now-he-faces-5-years-in-jail

2021-03-02 https://hk.appledaily.com/news/20210302/EK4WOQBICNEGDFP2SSG7ZJ3PGI/ (https://hk.appledaily.com/china/20210301/KM2MXDHHXRAQHFB4MYFU6XOFTY/[Chinese version]) "Chinese food delivery worker detained after campaigning for labor rights":

____
Chinese authorities have detained a worker after he advocated for fair pay and other labor rights from his former employer, the food delivery giant Ele.me.

Chen Tianhe (陳天河) has not been heard from since he was detained on Feb. 25, according to mainland Chinese media reports.
____

* 2021-06-09 Protests held after it was announced that Nanjing University (C9 league, China's Ivy League) would be merged with a vocational institute (much much less prestigious)
** https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-57409218 Normal University's Zhongbei College
** scuffle videos
*** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7QMLGmfO8U
*** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmndJO9_ayk
*** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1A9n-bGPFo
* 2020 City Dream film (城市梦) Weijun Chen's (陈为军) lively new film documents the struggles of Wang Tiancheng, an elderly and cantakerous street vendor in Wuhan, China, whose business is threatened by the development of a new retail district.
** 2021 http://www.sixthtone.com/news/1007364 New Film Turns the Tables on China’s Infamous 'Chengguan' (城管)
** not censured in China:
*** https://baike.baidu.com/item/城市梦/23578924 on <<baidu-baike>>
*** http://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/2020-08/27/c_1126417894.htm on <<xinhua>>

[[nine-nine-six-icu]]
=== 996.ICU (2019)

https://github.com/996icu/996.ICU

Repository published in 2019-04 protesting against excessive work hours by Chinese programmers.

At some point it moved its README to English.

This was not directly censored to our knowledge, but the fact that it was published on GitHub rather than Chinese social media highlights the obvious fact that Chinese programmers were weary of doing it under CCP controlled media which they do not trust.

The project name refers to:

* "996": work from 9AM to 9PM 6 days a week. This is part of a wider tendency of Chinese netizens to use <<internet-number-slang>>
* "ICU": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intensive_care_unit[Intensive Care Unit]

Reached 180k stars in a week, and was the second most starred repository as of 2019-10 https://github.com/search?q=stars%3A%3E100&s=stars&type=Repositories[] (https://web.archive.org/web/20191023084929/https://github.com/search?q=stars%3A%3E100&s=stars&type=Repositories[archive])!!!

This is therefore the best example for Chinese tech workers that <<richer,freedom of speech is a good thing>>.

Coverage:

* https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/b927sk/tencent_xiaomi_and_others_block_github_page/
* https://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/comments/b8t8cc/overworked_chinese_developers_gather_on_github_to/

Related:

* https://github.com/formulahendry/955.WLB a whitelist version of 996 ICU. Good thoughts.

Other interesting GitHub repositories: <<github-repositories-with-censored-information>>.

.996.ICU logo. https://github.com/996icu[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/996ICU.png[height=400]

[[jasic]]
=== Jasic Workers Solidarity Group (佳士工人声援团, 2018)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasic_Workers_Solidarity_Group

<<yue-xin>> was also involved with them.

.Yue Xin with the Jasic <<t-shirt,T-shirt>>. That T-shirt is official to the movement, and can be seen worn by many other people in other photos. TODO what does their T-shirt say??? It is impossible to decode that beautiful script. Looks like: 伺伭就X刀量. And who are the people it depicts? A perfectly clean image can be seen on their Twitter: https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1033004258184941569/2pcCgIUK_400x400.jpg[].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Yue_Xin_Jasic_shirt.jpg[height=400]

[[jasic-incident]]
==== Jasic incident (佳士事件)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasic_incident
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/佳士事件

[[yue-xin]]
=== Yue Xin (岳昕)

https://github.com/sikaozhe1997/Xin-Yue is a <<github-repositories-with-censored-information>> with an open letter by student activist:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yue_Xin_(activist)[Yue Xin]
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/岳昕[岳昕])
* https://www.nchrd.org/2019/01/yue-xin on <<chinese-human-rights-defenders>>

about the events described at https://web.archive.org/web/20200104064812/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/09/world/asia/china-metoo-gao-yan.html["China's #MeToo: How a 20-Year-Old Rape Case Became a Rallying Cry"] she accuses professor Shen Yang of the Peking University Chinese literature of raping student Gao Yan, ultimately leading to her suicide in 1998:

* https://sikaozhe1997.github.io/Xin-Yue/#/岳昕：致北京大学师生和北大外国语学院的一封公开信.md Chinese original
* https://github.com/sikaozhe1997/Xin-Yue/blob/master/letter.md in-tree translation "Yue Xin: An open letter to the students and academic staff of Peking University and the PKU School of Foreign Languages"
* 2018-04 https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2018/04/translation-open-letter-on-peking-university-metoo-case/ "TRANSLATION: OPEN LETTER ON PKU #METOO CASE" by <<china-digital-times>>

This was one of the starting points of <<terminus2049>>.

The letter was also apparently embedded into the <<bitcoin-blockchain,Ethereum blockchain>> according to https://theconversation.com/chinese-internet-users-turn-to-the-blockchain-to-fight-against-government-censorship-111795[].

[[politicians]]
== Chinese politicians (中国政治家)

[[xi-jinping]]
=== Xi Jinping (习近平, 2012-∞, Heil卐!)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Jinping
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/习近平

Bibliography:

* https://evchk.wikia.org/zh/wiki/習近平

[[xi-abolishes-term-limits-2018-03]]
==== Xi abolishes term limits (习近平取消国家主席任期限制, 2018-03)

* 包子露宪 https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2018/03/phrase-week-steamed-bun-betrays-constitution by <<china-digital-times>>
* https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/10/world/asia/china-xi-jinping-term-limit-explainer.html
** https://cn.nytimes.com/china/20180312/china-xi-jinping-term-limit-explainer/

.<<rebel-pepper>> cartoon showing Xi Jinping preparing to sleep in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleum_of_Mao_Zedong[Mao Zedong's tomb], meaning that Xi also wants to reach Mao's "eternal ruler" status when he abolished term limits in 2018. https://www.rfa.org/english/cartoons/XiJinping-Eternity-cartoon-02282018104813.html[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Xi_sleep_Mao.jpg[height=400]

.1977 photo showing Mao's actual glass tomb during his funeral, with famous politicians in the background. It is interesting to see that Mao https://mummipedia.fandom.com/wiki/Mao_Zedong[features on the "Fandom Mummipedia Wiki"]. https://apnews.com/a94a0d7a824b474fb11545e8c4481c21[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Mao_coffin.jpeg[height=400]

.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist[The Economist] "Let's party like it's 1793" cover from May 4th – 10th 2013 depicting a painting of Xi Jinping dressed as emperor of China. The famous https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qianlong_Empero[Qianlong Emperor] was in power at that time. The title is likely a joke based on the more well known https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/party-like-its-1969-woodstock-forty-years-on-1722695.html["Let's party like it's 1969"] due to the legendary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodstock[Woodstock festival]. Party is also a play on words between the Communist Party and a night party. TODO why 1793 specifically shows another one from Sep 28, 2020 by French Magazine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Obs[l'Obs] entitled "L'Éternel Empire" (The Eternal Empire), using a similar picture to: <<ciro-santilli-as-qing-emperor,Ciro Santilli as Qing Emperor>>. https://www.cafeyn.co/uk/publication/l-obs-hors-serie/21640297 https://twitter.com/TheEconomist/status/329929668155293696[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Lets_party_like_its_1793.jpg[height=600]

[[panama-papers]]
==== Panama papers (巴拿马文件, 2016)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Papers
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/巴拿馬文件

Leak of financial data implicating <<corruption,many corruption scandals>>.

Most notable people implicated:

* <<xi-jinping>> through his brother-in-law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deng_Jiagui[Deng Jiagui] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/邓家贵[邓家贵]).
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jia_Qinglin[Jia Qinglin] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/贾庆林[贾庆林]), fourth in Chinese power from 2003 to 2013, through:
** Jasmine Li (李紫丹), his granddaughter
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Pak-tam[Li Pak-tam] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/李伯潭[李伯潭]), his son-in-law 
* <<li-peng>> through his daughter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Xiaolin[Li Xiaolin] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/李小琳[李小琳])
* <<bo-xilai>> through his associate https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-bo-devillers-idUSBRE84E0HA20120515[Patrick Henri Devillers]
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Yunshan[Liu Yunshan] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/刘云山[刘云山]), politburo 2012-2017, through his daughter-in-law Jia Liqing

See also <<ciro-santilli>>'s answer to https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-net-worth-of-Xi-Jinping/answer/Ciro-Santilli[What is the net worth of Xi Jinping?] answer on <<quora>>.

===== Foreign citizenship of Xi Jinping's family

<<li-hongzhi,Cult leaders>> hate having <<li-hongzhis-family,their families examined>>. So let's do it.

TODO confirm: https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/c20xf3/almost_every_members_in_president_xis_family/ from <<reddit>>.

One Redditor https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/c20xf3/almost_every_members_in_president_xis_family/ergsu6v/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3[translated]:

* Xi's eldest sis - Canadian
* Xi's 2nd sis - Australian
* Xi's younger bro - Australia
* Xi's daughter - American. Really???
* Hu's daughter - American
* Jiang's grandchild - American
* Deng's son - American
* Deng's grandchild - American
* Mao's grandchild - American

====== Xi Mingze (Xi Jinping's daughter, 习明泽)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Mingze
https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/习明泽

Went to Harvard from 2010 to 2014 under pseudonym, apparently Xiao Muzi (小木子).

The news was apparently broken in 2012 by the UK tabloid Daily Mail: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2234651/Xi-Jinping-Chinas-new-Princess--daughter-Communist-president-studying-quietly-Harvard.html

https://www.businessinsider.com/xi-mingze-harvard-article-goes-viral-2012-11 mentions:

____
The Chinese elite is no doubt keen to avoid questions about how exactly Xi Jinping can afford his daughters fees. Officially, his salary is less than $13,000 a year, and Xi's circle has been remarkably cagey about reports of his family's true wealth before.
____

plus 24-hour bodyguards. <<panama-papers>> comes to mind.

https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/xi-mingze-16091.php says birthday June 27, 1992.

https://answersafrica.com/meet-xi-mingze-xi-jinpings-daughter-is-she-married-where-is-she-now.html gives some public appearances, e.g. in New York in 2018.

[[xi-jinping-memes]]
==== Xi Jinping memes (习近平模因)

Master issue: https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/231

* 習包子: https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=29230 says:
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Xi Jinping got his nickname as "Xi baozi 習包子" ("<<buns,steamed stuffed bun Xi>>") due to the much publicized visit he made to the famous Qìngfēng bāozi pù 庆丰包子铺 ("Qingfeng baozi shop") in Beijing. During and after his visit to the shop, media swarmed over the place and were eager to portray an image of Xi as being down to earth and close to the people. Those who dislike Xi use this nickname sarcastically against him for being a hick and for hypocritically "putting on a show" (zuòxiù 作秀).
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See also: <<buns>>.
* 大撒币: https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=29230 says:
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