README.adoc

* https://www.weibo.com/crb912 (unable to archive)
* https://github.com/crb912 | https://archive.is/heGfd which suggests a possible real name

By Googling the email found on the GitHub repos, we find: http://www.360doc.com/content/15/0809/11/25724933_490492490.shtml | https://archive.is/2UnGL which might, at last, contain a photo of my nemesis.

My public message to the reporter whomever he may be:

____
While you have also raised issues that were raised a thousand times before, and clearly answered in the FAQ, at least you were able to take some actual action leading to an actual ban, and I respect you for that.

I hope that one day you will redirect that cunning and initiative towards taking down the root cause of the problem, which are the Chinese communist Party and their Firewall themselves.
____

===== Zhihu questions related to Ciro Santilli

Parent section: <<backlinks>>

All Zhihu posts related to Ciro Santilli were deleted following <<zhihu-purge>>. Some had been deleted before.

* 2019-06-12: https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/68869259 (https://web.archive.org/web/20190905071450/https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/68869259[archive before deletion], (https://web.archive.org/web/20191103072349/https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/68869259[archive after deletion])) "德国极端分子黑我们大中国！犯我中华者，虽远必诛！！". Ciro wonders why the poster thought Ciro was German.
* 2019-03: https://www.zhihu.com/question/316700162 (https://archive.is/ewxqb[archive before deletion], (https://web.archive.org/web/20191103065512/https://web.archive.org/screenshot/https://www.zhihu.com/question/316700162[archive after deletion])) "如何看待Github Trending上Ciro Santilli的众多开源项目？". Due to: https://github.com/cirosantilli/x86-bare-metal-examples being featured on Hacker News: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19428700
* 2018-11: https://www.zhihu.com/question/302738350 (https://archive.is/lkQxS[archive before deletion], (https://web.archive.org/web/20191103065759/https://www.zhihu.com/question/302738350[archive after deletion])) "如何评价Ciro Santilli对Stack Overflow和GitHub的扰乱？"
* 2017-03-07: https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/25600138 (https://archive.is/DkooN[archive before deletion], (https://web.archive.org/web/20191103065808/https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/25600138[archive after deletion])) "StackOverflow 上的一个智障用户"
** 2017-03 https://sololand.moe/2017/03/06/brain-fucked-user-on-stackoverflow (https://web.archive.org/save/https://sololand.moe/2017/03/06/brain-fucked-user-on-stackoverflow/[archive]) by https://github.com/brglng/ (https://web.archive.org/web/20180802090918/https://github.com/brglng/[archive]) "StackOverflow 上的一个智障用户" contains a copy of the post by the same author. It just makes Ciro smile whenever he thinks that their post criticizing Ciro was deleted by the CCP, and they still might support the CCP, <<meant-to-be-used,Stockholm syndrome comes to mind>>.
* 2015-08-18: https://www.zhihu.com/question/34775392 (https://web.archive.org/web/20160219094646/https://www.zhihu.com/question/34775392[archive before deletion], (https://web.archive.org/web/20191103065816/https://www.zhihu.com/question/34775392[archive after deletion])) "你们怎么看stackoverflow上某人故意屏蔽中国访问的事件？"

A random control question that shows that archive.org 404's are actually deleted questions: https://www.zhihu.com/question/316700165 (https://web.archive.org/web/20191103065449/https://www.zhihu.com/question/316700165[archive]).

Mentions not yet deleted as of writing:

* https://www.zhihu.com/question/21099730 at <<zhihu>>

[[zhihu-ted-chiang-answer]]
====== Answer to the Zhihu question "How do you evaluate Ted Chiang's 'Evil Chinese Characters' essay?" "如何评价姜峯楠（Ted Chiang）在纽约客上的随笔《坏汉字》？"的回答

https://www.zhihu.com/question/47205991/answer/967940202 (http://web.archive.org/web/20200628101940/https://www.zhihu.com/question/47205991/answer/967940202[archive])

Contains reactions to the post: <<evil-chinese-characters-by-ted-chiang>>, and this answer says that even though Ciro Santilli is amazingly smart, he cannot be bothered to learn Chinese characters, quoting Ciro's comments from: <<does-ciro-santilli-speak-chinese>>.

This post was interesting because it happened after <<zhihu-purge>>, which indicates that Zhihu did not setup an automated "Ciro Santilli" filter.

[[zhihu-46957710]]
====== github.com@cirosantilli 是谁维护的，为什么会收集邮箱地址？

https://www.zhihu.com/question/46957710 (https://archive.is/PVOLd[archive before deletion], (https://web.archive.org/web/20191103065828/https://www.zhihu.com/question/46957710[archive after deletion])).

Asked in 2016-09 after Ciro published: https://github.com/cirosantilli/all-github-commit-emails

Deleted after <<zhihu-purge>>. Ciro's answer before deletion:

____
你用的git config user.email当然是公开的：谁都会git clone就知道了。

问题就是git repository很大，我们不会都clone.

但是github有一个API，收集很多信息，包括邮件。

然后，Google用了那个API给他们的https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/...信息。

BigQuery对程序员很容易提取信息，是我用的。

我发表邮件以后，两个东西变化了：

1. Google 把邮件从BigQuery删除
2. GitHub 更新他们的隐私声明GitHub Privacy Statement

这就是我的木比：保护人们的隐私权

我的README.md更详细地解释。
____

==== Quora

https://www.quora.com/profile/Ciro-Santilli

Quora is a generally shitty website, with mechanisms that allow <<wumao,wumaos>> to quench freedom of speech.

Ironically, as usual, is it also blocked in China:

* according to <<greatfire>>: https://en.greatfire.org/https/www.quora.com
* 2018-03 news coverage https://www.businessinsider.com/china-banned-zhihu-over-censorship-2018-3?r=US&IR=T

Examples of activity related to Ciro Santilli:

* 2016 Ciro Santilli's profile was blocked because it had Chinese keywords on both my username and credentials. Justification: "non-English".
+
* 2017 created one in English: Cook <<tiananmen,Tiananmen Square>> Noodle Shop, from <<falun-sweden>>
+
Added my Noodle shop to maps: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Tiananmen+Square+Noodle+Shop/@60.6132538,15.6687509,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x94603408e3c63fb3!8m2!3d60.6132538!4d15.6687509
+
Leach websites that picked it up: https://kvalster.se/Falu/Uthyres/Lagenheter/Gammelvagen_49_1417351

Quora is also shitty because wumaos can downvote your answer privately regardless of reputation and make it become collapsed as "Answer may need improvement", which means it goes to the bottom and readers have to click an "expand collapsed answers" button to see it, so that very few people will ever see it.

Then have to appeal and wait for moderators to evaluate it.

This happened for example at: https://www.quora.com/What-would-happen-if-I-walked-around-Beijing-with-a-t-shirt-that-said-freedom-of-speech-is-pretty-great/answer/Ciro-Santilli (see also <<t-shirt>>).

Ciro appealed in 2020-03-10 and the answer was reinstated on day later, but by then the question was already not being suggested as much to readers, and the other wumao answers (which criticize the USA rather than answering the question about China).

While there is some probability that the answers themselves are not wumaos, their upvoters almost certainly are and must be investigated.

Other shitty aspects of Quora include:

* block <<wayback-machine>> archives with their robots.txt, gotta use <<archive-today>>
* automatically add random topics that you don't care about to your suggestions, with no easy way to prevent that.
* questions cannot have more than one sentence. There used to be a question body, but it was replaced with a "link for context". Ridiculous.

As a result, on the few occasions that Ciro posts on Quora, all content will also be mirrored here. Ciro's China Quora answers include:

* https://www.quora.com/What-would-happen-if-I-walked-around-Beijing-with-a-t-shirt-that-said-freedom-of-speech-is-pretty-great/answer/Ciro-Santilli[What would happen if I walked around Beijing with a t-shirt that said "freedom of speech is pretty great"?] (https://archive.is/PxjJA[archive]) see also: <<t-shirt>>
* https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-net-worth-of-Xi-Jinping/answer/Ciro-Santilli[What is the net worth of Xi Jinping?] see also: <<panama-papers>>

Some <<wumao,wumaos>>:

* http://archive.is/WzIcg[]: a Han supremacist!

[[ptt]]
==== PTT Bulletin Board System 批踢踢實業坊

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PTT_Bulletin_Board_System | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/批踢踢

Popular <<taiwan,Taiwanese>> forum system and server from 1995, pre HTML, works from telnet terminal, so likely very programmer heavy, and obviously anti-CCP, as of 2020 often shows <<falun-gong>> ads.

Ciro Santilli's appearances on PTT:

* 2020-01-31: https://www.ptt.cc/bbs/Gossiping/M.1580484253.A.37A.html "stackoverflow菁英卻痛恨中國" by https://pttweb.tw/user/Eric0605/["Eric0605 (我還有點餓)"] on the Gossiping board
* 2017-06-19 https://pttweb.tw/s/2K9zV "Ciro Santilli <<the-709-crackdown,709大抓捕>> 六四事件 法轮" on the Gossiping board
* 2016-10-03 https://www.ptt.cc/bbs/Soft_Job/M.1478104872.A.916.html "Github也出現網軍了嗎?" by gocreating on the Soft_Job board

Archaic, fucking impossible to learn how to use. Ciro Santilli hasn't managed yet, so if you want a reply from him, open an issue on this repo instead.

TODO: can anyone comment, without having a Taiwanese university address? This suggests no: https://www.reddit.com/r/taiwan/comments/1etbvb/anyone_on_pttcc_advice_suggestions/ Also asked at:

* https://www.quora.com/unanswered/Can-you-comment-on-the-PTT-Bulletin-Board-System-at-ptt-cc-from-Taiwan-without-working-or-studying-at-a-Taiwanese-university
* https://github.com/cirosantilli/china-dictatorship/issues/92

Maybe the email requirement is the only way to prevent <<wumao,wumaos>> from flooding the website.

Normal people see it on a web viewer hosted on: https://www.ptt.cc/bbs/index.html

However it is fucking impossible to web archive that web interface because there is a cookie I'm 18-years-old confirmation before the first connection.

This shows how to connect for the first time: https://www.ptt.cc/index.firstbbs.html

One attempt is:

....
luit -encoding big5 telnet ptt.cc
....

But the main page says:

"本站目前暫停開放新帳號註冊。" "This site is currently suspended for new account registration."

And you try `new` it says: "目前無法註冊帳號![按任意鍵繼續]" "Account cannot be registered at this time."

OK, ptt2 went further:

....
luit -encoding big5 telnet ptt2.cc
....

Then there is a registration process that seem to require you to prove that you work at Taiwanese university, but not sure it is mandatory to post.

But I couldn't find Gossiping there either, which is the only board that matters, so not sure it is on this server.

[[google]]
==== Google 谷歌

Related subjects:

* <<google-china>>
* <<google-cache>>

[[google-mirrors]]
===== Google mirrors 谷歌镜像

Do the names mean anything? Are they owned? The fact that they are Alexa top 1000 domains is just so funny, Google redirects for China.

Alexa top 1000 domains and blocked in China as per <<greatfire>>:

* https://gdl5vtbbv0lj.com
* https://au79nt5wic4x.com

https://library.ac.cn/ large list of university Google/Google Scholar/Wikipedia/Twitter mirrors maintained by Chinese university students under an unified system. Each one asks for verification that you are from that university via some little known fact about the university:

* https://g.luciaz.me from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhejiang_University[Zhejiang University] "需要验证您是否来自浙江大学". Question: "请问浙江大学内网最大的论坛中, 每天发帖量最大的版块是哪个?" (Ask your colleagues on the internal forum, what is the most popular section of the forum every day?)
* https://g0.njuu.cf/ from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanjing_University[Nanjing University] "需要验证您是否来自南京大学" Question: "西大楼是哪个系的?" (Which department is in the big Western building?)
* https://g0.library.edu.eu.org/

Other mirrors:

* https://chacha.design/
* https://g0.nuaa.cf/
* https://g1.liuxiongb.in/
* https://google.zenith.workers.dev/
* https://proxy.juchiahau.com/
* https://seeres.com 闭站维护中
* https://www.muzhiso.net/
* https://www.sanzhima.com/

No HTTPS?!?! Brains?!?!

* https://g.histsci.org/
* http://o.poetpalace.org/

Lists of mirrors:

* https://cjh0613.github.io/blog/GoogleMirror.html

[[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!

* 2018-12 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzWApdCNdik "100 Christians detained in China crackdown" published by CNN
* 2018-09 Vatican Christian pope makes deal with China
+
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China–Holy_See_relations#September_2018_Holy_See–China_Agreement
+
.<<rebel-pepper>> 2018-09 cartoon showing the Pope 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::https://web.archive.org/web/20180930134934im_/https://www.rfa.org/english/cartoons/vatican-china-cartoon-09282018102133.html/180927RFA-vatican-china.jpg/@@images/190bb54e-d6be-4c98-9599-b4a88aa6b959.jpeg[height=400]
* 2018-01 Chinese authorities demolish Christian mega-church "Golden Lampstand" sparking fears of religious persecution
** https://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-authorities-demolish-christian-mega-church-in-crackdown-2018-1
+
.China's Golden Lampstand Church being demolished. https://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-authorities-demolish-christian-mega-church-in-crackdown-2018-1[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191013080937if_/https://image.businessinsider.com/5a572ca3a75e205e138b4b5f?width=1300&format=jpeg&auto=webp[height=400]
* 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::https://web.archive.org/web/20191012075042im_/https://www.rfa.org/english/cartoons/china-crackddown-Christianity-cartoon-09072018150421.html/180907RFA_thelastsupperinChina_1000.jpg/@@images/ac0553ed-a46d-43f6-98d8-288ce76901af.jpeg[height=400]

.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Hongtu[Zhang Hongtu] cartoon showing <<mao-zedong,Mao Zedong>> and other communist officials at the Last Supper instead of Jesus and the Apostles. https://musicandculture.blogspot.com/2010/03/massive-last-supper-parodies-post.html[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191107094724if_/http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_W8pwMnZMNuQ/S5YAJmo1Q1I/AAAAAAAAC_A/YKRCKXUiSAM/s1600/meal.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]

[[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.

[[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:

* 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::https://web.archive.org/web/20200315112421if_/https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/e46c18a434972d717b3aa03e8ea4ef835d1c1e31/318_0_1809_1086/master/1809.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=f358c97022133c523489fa55dbe7273b[height=400]

See also:

* 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
* <<gay-putin>>
* https://www.zhihu.com/question/370080866/answer/1046195468 at <<zhihu>>

.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. https://web.archive.org/web/20200301223317/http://www.chinatoday.com/entertain/tiananmen_kiss.htm[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20200301223317im_/http://www.chinatoday.com/entertain/china.funny.pictures/tiananmen.kiss_1.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::https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Love_play_in_China.jpg[height=400]

[[falun-gong]]
=== Falun Gong 法輪大法

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Falun_Gong
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/610_Office

<<flg-religion,Religion>> created in the '80s by a Chinese dude called <<li-hongzhi>>.

With the support of the Communist Party to Qigong movements, it reached 70 million believers in 1999, at which point the commies decided they had to be shut down and banned the religion.

Li fled to the USA and lives near New York, where he continues to run the religion as of 2020.

.Falun Gong believer arrested by police in Beijing <<tiananmen,Tiananmen Square>> in 15 August 2001. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TAM_Arrest4.jpg[Source].
image::https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/TAM_Arrest4.jpg[height=500]

[[zone-theory]]
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClvX7ED8UUI Tim and Eric's Zone Theory. If you want to stop <<falun-gong>>, 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>>.
video::ClvX7ED8UUI[youtube,width=600,height=400]

[[aarvoll-shenyun]]
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=IAQ14AnAsmU YouTubber under pseudonym "Aarvoll" (TODO full real name, face shown in channel all the time) tells about his experience playing trumpet for Shen Yun in 2013 as a non-believer and Falun Gong in general. Reading the sacred books and doing Falun Gong exercises were mandatory. He also talks about <<flg-organized>>. Ciro agrees/finds what he says convincing. In one interesting anecdote, he tells how although Li Hongzhi claims to be a God, he looked like an average slightly overweight dude, and had a trumpet since he used to play it, but couldn't really play it because he hadn't practiced in so long. He also comments on the obvious fact that Li does not speak English very well, e.g. on the Shen Yun tour bus he was there one day answering questions, and a translator was needed.
video::IAQ14AnAsmU[youtube,height=400,width=600]

[[christine-marie]]
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwoO7Nekmpw&t=445 Christine Marie, founder of http://voicesfordignity.com/[Voices for Dignity] which takes care of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamentalist_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-Day_Saints[FLDS] leaves, was interviewed in VICE documentary "Polygamist Mafia: Escaping The Kingston Clan". While Ciro does not believe Falun Gong is as extreme as FLDS, he does really like the things Christine says. E.g., she calls "cult leaders" with the neutral <<flg-religion,religious>> form "<<li-hongzhi,prophet>>", just like Ciro, and mentions the important fact that "And the another thing that the public doesn't realise, is that there are also beautiful thing within those communities". This is the mindset of <<intolerance,tolerance>> that the world needs.
video::GwoO7Nekmpw[youtube,height=400,width=600,start=445]

[[flg-important]]
==== Why is it important to talk about Falun Gong?

The main reason <<ciro-santilli>> emphasizes FLG is that it shows how the CCP can mercilessly crush a 70M strong group (according to CCPs own statistics) out of a population of 1.3B in 2000, i.e. 5% of the population, and of course not because of <<flg-bias>>, since Ciro is completely and totally unbiased.

If that number is correct, Ciro wonders curious what you would consider an important movement? :-)

Anything much larger would take down the government and change China's history forever.

OK, maybe the fact that 69M of those were likely old ladies didn't help much either. Tip to next <<li-hongzhi,prophet>>: make something that appeals to aspiring military officers.

Let's try to gather some well sourced footage showing huge numbers of believers on the streets:

* https://www.aparchive.com/search?query=falun%20gong&from=1&orderBy=OldestFirst#7e34a6 AP Archive: could not find a good one there
* rehashes of Falun Gong propaganda videos with good footage:
** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7cz4Tkbwy8 contains old good footage
** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDRUp50XkSs Chinese with English subs, above is rehashed from this one most likely

.Thousands of Falun Gong practitioners in Guangzhou, China, 1998. https://www.theepochtimes.com/finding-the-balance-between-ancient-and-modern_2248694.html[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20200315112422if_/https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2017/05/10/GuangzhouPractice_big-700x420.jpg[height=600]

.Thousands of Falun Gong practitioners in Liaoning Industrial Exhibition, China, likely 1998. https://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2016/5/21/157091.html[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191108081906im_/http://falunau.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/1a1744bca5595d8dc0c0aa3ca1280f04.jpg[height=600]

.Hundreds of Falun Gong believers in Chengdu, China, 1998. https://faluninfo.net/falun-gong-the-practice/[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20200315112422if_/https://faluninfo.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/chengdu.jpg[height=500]

[[does-ciro-santilli-believe-in-or-practice-falun-gong]]
==== Does Ciro Santilli believe in or practice Falun Gong? 三西猴相信法轮功吗？

No, Ciro is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnosticism[agnostic] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/不可知论[不可知论]) and therefore believes that all the metaphysics that <<li-hongzhi>> says is bullshit.

Here are some things that he doesn't like about Falun Gong for example: <<things-ciro-santilli-dislikes-about-falun-gong>>.

Ciro believes Falun Gong can be split into two parts, like any other <<flg-religion,religion>>:

* the "self-help" "how to live well" part, including the physical exercises and meditation, which cannot be proven or disproven, like any other self-help and <<democracy-is-a-religion,political opinion>>
* the metaphysics, most notably, Li Hongzhi is a living God, and all other non verifiable things he claims like aliens, alternate dimensions, etc., see:
** <<flg-religion>>
** <<flg-verifiable>>

Ciro thinks that FLG's self-help part could potentially be good for you, just like many other meditative practices such as Yoga, Buddhist meditation, Tai chi, deep Catholic prayer, etc. As far as he has heard, all of it sounded good standard religious self-help: be peaceful, be good to others, etc. Like any other well managed religion, FLG does have good things to offer, see also: <<christine-marie>>.

However Ciro believes that the metaphysics is all complete and utter bullshit, child stories made up by Li Hongzhi, and just as real as Father Christmas or the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster[Flying Spaghetti Monster].

Also the "obligation to reach Salvation" is boring like for many other prophetic <<flg-religion,religion>>.

From a purely strategic point of view, the metaphysics is a trade-off:

* some people will believe you are a freaking living God
* others will laugh at you and say you are a charlatan

It may be argued however that Li played this card beautifully: since all Chinese power is concentrated in the CCP, any non-CCP movement dies out, so he was better off long run playing the metaphysics game. The only other choice would have been joining the CCP.

To Ciro it is obvious that Falun Gong is just one of the many very similar movements that came out of the Qi Gong Boom, such as: <<zhong-gong>>. It just happens to be the one that survived due to better luck and strategy.

The absolute truth is already known by the <<li-hongzhi,prophet>>, although he does not want to give clear evidence for reasons: <<flg-verifiable>>, and Ciro finds that utterly boring. There's no fun in living in a world where the absolute truth has been found.

For these reasons, Ciro cannot bother to read even into the self-help part: how can you read that when there is so much bullshit every other page?

Ciro would really like to know if <<li-hongzhi>> really believes in FLG himself, or is just a complete manipulating charlatan, but unfortunately we will never know that. Just imagine if before he died he published a video saying: "it was a joke, gotcha!". Now that would be **epic**!

Since Ciro is good-natured, it's hard for him to believe that he doesn't believe in anything, how can anyone be that evil? Maybe he believes in part of it, but made up some stuff to sell it better, maybe with good intentions that selling the fake part would also lead more people to see the good part?

Like any other prophetic religion, FLG gives tiny evidence that you can directly feel through meditation. The energies, which Ciro believe are real feelings. And then using that entry point asks you to believe a whole lot more, that you can't feel: <<flg-verifiable>>.

This becomes especially strong when a critical mass of believers is reached, and then they start interpreting all sorts of events as miracles, and you start to believe other believers without questioning them, and a circle is formed.

This post by a former believer gives what Ciro feels is a realistic account that matches Ciro's observations: <<me-and-li-by-ben-hurley-2017>>.

And yet, all those who love freedom, must oppose FLG ban, or be themselves enslaved by tyrants themselves: <<democracy-is-a-religion>>.

In any case, at least FLG got one thing right: the commies are <<ccp-evil,evil>>, and we have to get rid of them.

See also: <<flg-fake>>.

[[how-much-does-ciro-santilli-know-about-falun-gong]]
===== How much does Ciro Santilli know about Falun Gong? 三西猴对法轮功有多熟悉？

He hasn't read their <<flg-canon,canon>> himself, no patience, but he has had <<flg-bias,constant contact with believers>> and so has an idea of its content.

Ciro has summarized his thoughts about <<falun-gong>> at: <<does-ciro-santilli-believe-in-or-practice-falun-gong>> and <<flg-religion>>

[[flg-religion]]
==== Is Falun Gong a religion? 法轮功是一个宗教吗？

If asked if they follow a religion, most FLG believers will say "no", and <<li-hongzhi>> explicitly says that in <<flg-canon>>, e.g. https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/jjyz52.htm[]:

____
Falun Dafa is not a religion, but future generations will regard it as one.
____

E.g. they call themselves "practitioners" or "students" (学员) or "disciples of the Great Law" (大法弟子, or mare accurately, of <<li-hongzhi>>'s Law) instead of "believers", and their peers "practitioner colleagues" (https://baike.baidu.com/item/同修[同修]).

And if you say you don't believe in their FLG metaphysics bullshit, they will often reply "he does not understand".

To them, it is not about belief, the truth is clear, and you just don't see it yet.

To this you should reply: "and you don't understand that <<li-hongzhi,Li Hongzhi>> is a master manipulator dude who deceived you and millions of others".

But <<ciro-santilli>> strongly believes that this is just a language barrier/FLG propaganda question (see also "Different levels of truth" from <<orange-papers>>), and that 99.9999% of people in the West would classify FLG as a religion just like <<christianity>> if they are told about FLG's beliefs:

* absolute truth comes from an enlightened <<li-hongzhi,prophet>>, who is perfect and has superhuman abilities
* weekly in-person meetings (学法 "study the Fa", or more verbosely "study the law (of the universe (of <<li-hongzhi>>))"）or daily online meetings where they read from a <<flg-canon,sacred book>>, either written by the prophet, or transcribed from his presentations to disciples, including the disciples questions, much like traditional Chinese texts like link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analects[The Analects of Confucius], just like Christians read from the Bible over and over again.
+
In both cases, some believers claim that sometimes even reading the same text again gives them new insight.
* prescribed daily meditation exercise hours, somewhat like Muslim https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salah[Salah] prayers which they call https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fazhengnian[发正念 (fa1 zheng4 nian4)], which means "send righteous thoughts". They seem to believe that this meditation helps external good magic things happen, so it is half meditation half prayer.
* longer "less mandatory" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qigong[Qigong-like] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/气功[气功]) exercises followed by a meditation (打坐) and which they collectively call https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/修道_(道教)[修炼] "practice austerities". note that this term is borrowed from Taoism but possibly with different precise meaning. There are exactly 5 exercises (meditation being the fifth) some with a fun supernatural name, on <<flg-canon>> https://www.falundafa.org/book/eng/flg_2006_4.htm[] "The Falun Gong Practice System":
** Buddha Stretching a Thousand Arms
** Falun Standing Stance
** Penetrating the Cosmic Extremes
** Falun Cosmic Orbit
* higher intelligent beings
* some believers who practice really well can also get some "supernatural powers" (功能), but not everyone develops them (luckily only so many people are that manipulable!), and you are <<flg-verifiable,not allowed to show your poweres to "ordinary people">> of course, from <<flg-canon>> https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/zfl_34.htm[]:
+
[[flg-supernatural-powers]]
____
What will one develop in the course of his cultivation? He will develop supernatural powers which are called supernormal capabilities for short.

Do you want to use them among ordinary people? You are absolutely not allowed to use them among ordinary people at will.
____
+
See also "You don't get the promised goodies" from <<orange-papers>>
** other dimensions, which some select people with vision superpowers can see, this being one of the supernatural powers that may be developed, the "Celestial Eye" https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/zfl_21.htm[]:
+
[[flg-cross-dimensional-vision]]
____
A cultivator of a particular attainment level can only see the scenes on that level. He cannot see or believe the truth beyond that level. Therefore, he only believes what he has seen on his own level. When he has not gone up to such a high level of cultivation, he would think those things do not exist and are incredible.
____
+
and the "Supernormal Capability of Remote Sight" is a closely related ability: https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/zfl_22.htm:
+
____
A supernormal capability directly connected with the Celestial Eye is called the Remote Sight. Someone says that he can see scenes in Beijing, in America or scenes on the other side of the earth while sitting here.
____
+
And finally there is also the past-future vision ability "Supernormal Capability of Total Recall" https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/zfl_23.htm[]:
+
____
 There is another supernormal capability which has a direct relation with the Celestial Eye. It is called Total Recall. Now there are six supernormal capabilities which are generally recognized in the world. They include the Celestial Eye, Remote Sight, and Total Recall. What is Total Recall? It is a supernormal capability with which one can know a person's future and past; if the ability is great, one can know the rise and decline of a society; if the ability is even greater, one can see the Law of the change of the whole celestial body.
____
* aliens that look like humans are amongst us, they gave us part of our modern technology, some are evil, others not so evil. E.g. https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/lectures/19980530L.html[]:
+
____
Science, however, is not something gods imparted to humans. Instead, it was passed down to humans by alien beings inside the Three Realms, and for the purpose of controlling humankind. People's belief in it has surpassed everything. But I tell you that precisely because of its shallowness, this science has caused the degeneration of morality in human society.
____
+
Despite this however, Falun Gong benefits from information technology enormously. For example, many believers use the Internet daily to study the Fa, and to organize their <<falun-gong-media,media outlets>>.
* meetings in which people tell their religious testimonies ("experience sharing" TODO Chinese name, possibly just "分享修炼的美好", e.g. https://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2015/9/29/分享修炼的美好-印尼召开修炼心得交流会（图）-316838.html[source]): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testimony#Religion
+
As Jesus put it in Matthew 18:20:
+
____
For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them
____
+
which highlights the critical believer mass effect of reinforced beliefs.
* an impending link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Judgment[final judgment]-like event, which will happen "very soon" (<<flg-verifiable,unspecified date>>), and in which the just will be rewarded
+
Ciro predict that when <<li-hongzhi>> dies, the claim will be that he went to another dimension so save us all, therefore putting this final judgment on hold, a bit like Jesus.
* link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-air_preaching[street preaching] (http://www.minghui.org/mh/glossary.html[讲真相] "truth-telling") with stands and leaflets on the streets exactly like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah's_Witnesses[Jehovah's Witnesses].
+
The Falun Gong organization also specifies guidelines on how to preach, although these might not be <<flg-canon,canon>>, even though if they are not, it is extremely likely that <<li-hongzhi,LHZ>> is directly involved in their specification
+
Falun Gong has also used <<flg-telemarketing,phone call preaching>>.
+
All of this is part of their effort to "save people (救人)", i.e. convert them to Falun Gong.
* non-believers are fundamentally different from believers. Although non-followers who do good things are actually doing FLG without knowing it.
+
FLG has a specific terminology for non-believers, which is translated in English as https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/zfl_new_4.html["ordinary people"] (常人), as opposed to Falun Gong Believers, which Li calls Falun Gong disciples (大法弟子).
+
Non-FLG people should therefore logically call Falun Gong believers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abnormal_psychology[abnormal people] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/異常心理學[异常人]) in return, much like Ciro likes to call the Chinese who call him 老外 as "老内".
+
Like other aspects of FLG however, this appears in other religions, e.g. my mother mentioned the funny term used by her Protestant's group term but Ciro forgot it, and you can see it in Harry Potter as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muggle[The Muggles].
* xref:flg-organized[You can support FLG by doing X and Y, it is not mandatory, but why wouldn't you since you are saving other people?]. Explaining that Falun Gong is good contrary to CCP propaganda also known as "Fa-rectification" in the English translation jargon.
* alternate dimensions
* pre-civilization: civilization is actually much older than what we believe, and was supe radvanced, but https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Societal_collapse[societal collapse] events led us to forget about it, a bit like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantis[atlantis].
+
Notably, this also implies that the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution[theory of evolution] is wrong, since there existed modern humans hundred of millions of years ago (the current scientific estimates for anatomically modern humans is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_modern_human[500,000 years]): https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/zfl_14.htm
+
____
Archaeologists have found in the world a kind of organism called "three-leaves insect", which came into being between 600 million and 260 million years ago, and became extinct thereafter. An American scientist found a fossil of "three-leaves insect", on which there was also a human footprint, left by a shoe he was wearing, and clearly printed on the fossil. Aren't they joking with the historians? How could there possibly have been human beings 260 million years ago according to Darwin's theory of evolution?
____
* xref:flg-medication[Maybe FLG will make you healthier, but no promises, but it will make you a better person, and that's why you should do it, but if you really really believe, you get healthier]. But people who seemed to be believers also die, because deep within their hearts, there was a belief problem.
* <<is-chinese-politician-x-evil,the CCP is evil>>, not figuratively, but literally as in they are representatives of, or evil supernatural beings themselves. E.g. <<jiang-zemin>> is actually an evil frog in some alternate dimension, literally, not just memecally. The Chinese Government is literally responsible for creating <<corona,Covid-19>>. They give the CCP too much credit. The CCP are just a bunch of lazy and greedy people like you and me.

From this, it is obvious that Falun Gong is just a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Age[New Age] (ttps://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/新纪元运动[新纪元运动]) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncretism[syncretic] religion combining https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qigong[Qigong], https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism[Buddhism], some aspects of <<christianity>>, and whatever other crazy things <<li-hongzhi>> believes in.

Or you could call Falun Gong a <<flg-cult,cult>>, which is nothing but a new/small religion with negative connotation, and thus meaningless.

FLG is very similar to Scientology in Ciro's view: a new religion that mixes elements of both old and new. And just like any other religion, <<democracy-is-a-religion,their practice must be allowed>>.

But consider this: how to classify what a religion is?

Some would answer: science is what every one can perceive with their own senses.

But FLG followers claim to feel FLG energies when doing the exercises, and a few of them have the power of seeing the other dimensions.

On the other hand, how many of your friends have experienced the laws of quantum field theory or general relativity in a very direct way?

And aren't pro-democracy believers also taking actions based solely on a shared belief, possibly organized by a pro-democracy leader?

From a purely strategic point of view, the "religion" denomination would be:

* good to FLG because the concept of freedom of religion carries considerable weight in the West
* bad for FLG because people who already have a religion would be less likely to try it out and start believing
+
Falun Gong's recruitment strategy is to focus on the exercises first, and in particular its <<flg-medication,health benefits>> and then as some people start to feel things, they start introducing the metaphysics.

See also: "Different levels of truth" from <<orange-papers>>.

See also: <<flg-daily>>.

[[flg-cult]]
===== Is Falun Gong a cult? 法轮功是邪教吗？

Falun Gong does share many many many characteristics with what many people classify as a "cult", see e.g.: <<orange-papers>>, so "yes" could be a reasonably answer.

However, <<ciro-santilli>> strongly believes that so does any other existing religion e.g. <<christianity>>, and that Falun Gong is not any worse or better than those other well known religions.

Ciro therefore believes that the only reasonable stances are to either:

* be against all religions (including Christianity and Falun Gong), and classify all of them as Cults
* allow both Christianity and Falun Gong to exist, and support religious freedom

but not "oppose Falun Gong" and support Christianity.

Some people will say: Falun Gong is a cult because it is too new and therefore obviously fake!

So, if I tell a lie today, will it become true in a thousand years? Or a truth today become a lie? The Romans called <<christianity>> the "Cult of Jesus"!

Try sending an email to <<li-hongzhi,LHZ>> asking him to <<flg-verifiable,prove his powers to you>> :-)

Others will say: Falun Gong is a cult because its prophet is still alive!

But then, worry not, because Li Hongzhi was born in 1951, and therefore will almost certainly die by 2040, unless he truly is a living God as he claims.

Now, for the really important question of weather Falun Gong is a "good" or "bad" religion, <<ciro-santilli>> has seen absolutely nothing in it that is worse than any <<flg-religion,other major religion>> say, e.g., <<christianity>>.

Some possibly neutral Cult analysts analyzing if FLG is good or bad:

* https://www.icsahome.com/articles/the-prc-and-falun-gong-langone

Against:

* https://www.culteducation.com/group/1254-falun-gong.html

In the end however, since there is nothing obviously completely creepy about FLG, all such discussions are basically equivalent to <<democracy-is-a-religion,"is the Left better than the Right">>, and cannot be answered.

One interesting linguistic aspect is that "cult" normally translates in Chinese as "邪教" which means "Evil religion".

As mentioned before, Ciro does not believe that FLG is an "Evil Cult", just another "Acceptable Cult", and therefore would not use "邪教" to describe it.

Amusingly, <<li-hongzhi,Li>> calls the communists Communist Evil Party (中共邪党) in cannon, well played: https://gb.falundafa.org/chigb/jiangfa5_2.htm

The word "Cult" is much more ambiguous in the West however, and does not necessarily imply "Evil" in certain contexts, just "worship".

For example, People from <<ciro-santilli>>'s mother's Protestant Church in Brazil, all say that they are going "to the cult" when referring to when they are going to church to pray, sing and read the Bible together.

And obviously, the origin of the word "cult" is exactly the same as that of https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cultivate#Etymology["cultivate"] as in "cultivate the crops" (which is also how Falun Gong believers refer to practicing Falun Gong: "cultivation practice"). All of those come from the https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cult#Etymology[Latin "colō"], which means simply "to protect".

====== Orange Papers

https://www.orange-papers.org/orange-cult_q0.html

Down as of 2020-04, https://web.archive.org/web/20160205090248/https://www.orange-papers.org/orange-cult_q0.html[2016-02-05 archive]

This is an amazing website talking about Cults and many other things! TODO who is the author? Copyright says by "A. Orange". Is it the real name, or just a pun for "I ate an orange"?

And the website also has a Free Tibet flag at the bottom.

Many of the points highlighted at are very very interesting and Ciro feels that they apply strongly to <<falun-gong>>:

* "Instant Community" and "Instant intimacy": you instantly join the cult family, and are very very likely to believe or at least consider anything anyone else in the cult says about their religious experiences, no matter how far-fetched, even though it is not <<flg-canon,canon>>
+
Conversely, this also poses a risk for the Cult Leader, as new community ideas can spread very quickly, and if you try to fight them off, they might create a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schism[Schism].
* "Cult-speak": see also "Newspeak" from <<nineteen-eighty-four>> and some common Falun Gong Cult-speak see: <<flg-religion>>
* "Denigration of competing sects, cults, religions, groups, or organizations": yes, <<li-hongzhi>> does this all the time, see: <<zhong-gong>>
* "Personal testimonies of earlier converts": see "experience sharing" at <<flg-religion>>
* "The group and its members are special", "Enemy-making and Devaluing the Outsider": see: "ordinary people (常人)" at <<does-ciro-santilli-believe-in-or-practice-falun-gong>>
* "Making cult members work long hours for free": yes, many FLG members work long long hours for free. Why wouldn't you if you are saving people's souls?
* "No Humor": see also <<funny>>
* "Different Levels of Truth", "Deceptive Recruiting": Falun Gong people don't talk freely about their funny beliefs like <<flg-religion,aliens are amongst us>> to outsiders. Rather, they lure you in with the exercises first. Ciro has personally heard the following said many times: "you should not tell this to non-believers, they are not ready for this truth yet".
* "Front groups, masquerading recruiters, hidden promoters, and disguised propagandists": <<falun-gong-media>>
* "Promised Powers or Knowledge" and "It's a con. You don't get the promised goodies": they seem to believe in a <<flg-religion,Judgement Day like event>> and <<flg-medication,health benefits>>
* "The Guru is always right", "You are always wrong", "No Graduates", "The Guru Is Extra-Special", "Everybody else needs the guru to boss him around, but nobody bosses the guru around", "The guru criticizes everybody else, but nobody criticizes the guru.": obviously: <<li-hongzhi>>
** "Group-think, Suppression of Dissent, and Enforced Conformity in Thinking"

There are also however some points which Ciro feels don't apply, and Ciro praises Falun Gong for those:

* "Dual Purposes": not much of that, most of their propaganda is "we are persecuted unfairly by China", not "let's help the poor"
* "The End Justifies The Means": Li has made it clear that believers must follow the laws of their countries. Cults that violate this tend to not last as long, this is the smart move for cult leaders.

And some points which Ciro feels apply which were mentioned in some other article, (or maybe in Orange Papers but he couldn't find them, TODO find reference?)

* "No time for fun": how could you possibly spend leisure time watching television, etc. when you could be saving the world instead?
* "Focus on the persecution of the Cult": while obviously people who have been persecuted have the right, and almost an obligation, to look for help and share their stories, it is also clear that this is a selling point for the Cult.
+
Why would a nation state attack a Cult? This could give the impression that it is because there is something powerful and true in the Cult, and actually menaces this nation state.
+
For example, Falun Gong puts huge emphasis on its persecution in China, much like the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martyr[Martyrdom] of the Catholic Saints is highly emphasised.
* "Careful control of your imsage": the cult leader is a master at controlling how people view him.
+
One aspect of that, is to limit your public appearances to situations in which you have the most control, and notably being surrounded by your believers.
+
Li does not announce where he is going, even though he is followed by millions: he just shows up, and local believers whisper to one another and come to see him.
+
This reminded Ciro of the following 2012 video he watched, in which VICE was allowed to visit and interview <<russia,Siberian>> prophet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vissarion[Vissarion] (real name Sergey Anatolyevitch Torop Серге́й Анато́льевич То́роп, AKA "The Russian Jesus"), and they note how well he controlled his appearance.
+
[[vissarion]]
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2Cv5hZfOmk&t=1177
video::W2Cv5hZfOmk[youtube,height=400,width=600,start=1177]

This is especially interesting, because the website does not mention Falun Gong at all it seems: it really seems that all those cults are very similar.

It should also be mentioned though that these points extend to any type of human organization, e.g. <<flg-religion,other religions>>, <<democracy-is-a-religion,political parties>>, job associations, etc.

[[flg-canon]]
==== What are the canonical Falun Gong texts?

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

It appears that Falun Gong cannon is present at: https://falundafa.org/

The two main books are:

* "China Falun Gong" (中国法轮功) AKA just "Falun Gong" published in April 1993. 2006 English translation https://www.falundafa.org/book/eng/flg_2006.htm[]. Wikipedia comments:
+
____
Falun Gong is an introductory book that discusses qigong, introduces the principles of the practice, and provides illustrations and explanations of the exercises.
____
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teachings_of_Falun_Gong#Zhuan_Falun,_the_main_book[Zhuan Falun] (转法轮), published in January 1995. 1998 English version: https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/zfl_01.htm[]:
+
According to Wikipedia:
+
____
Zhuan Falun is the main teaching and the most comprehensive work; it is an edited version of Li's nine-lecture series, 54 of which he taught across China between 1992 and 1994.
____
+
Believers very often read from this text when they <<flg-religion,"study the Fa">> in their gatherings. They often read one chapter per session, and can often just say "we read the Nth teaching" (第N讲, so apparently each chapter corresponds to a separate talk).

It contains <<li-hongzhi,LHZ>>'s approved texts/speech transcriptions, which are sacred.

The only sacred version is Chinese which is a sacred language, and of which there is only one perfect revision. Islam also appears to place great importance on the sacredness of Arabic in which Mohamed first spoke, perhaps even more: https://nationalinterest.org/feature/plight-uyghurs-why-muslims-wont-speak-their-brethren-112466 Protestants and later the Catholic church, have moved away from such really bad strategy however, the accessibility of Christianity is seen on the entrance of many many churches which have a sign "ALL are welcome". Well played.

<<ciro-santilli>> heard <<li-hongzhi,LHZ>> claims the specifically chose to reincarnate in China this last time.

The English translation is made by followers, and gets new revisions to reduce translation imperfections.

However, the Chinese language seems to be fundamentally sacred, and there might never be a sacred English version approved by LHZ.

LHZ is of course a de-facto God with superpowers, and can of course speak all languages, but https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=for%20reasons[for reasons] he didn't just write an English translation himself.

This is a reasonable command to download the English cannon for grepping:

....
wget -r -l inf --no-remove-listing --no-clobber --no-parent -w 2 https://en.falundafa.org/falun-dafa-books.html
....

TODO: need to find a way to wrap lines, otherwise grep might fail on sentences.

But funnily the Canon books appear to all be copyrighted, likely "to avoid other people from modifying his sacred text", which is funny since the dude's the voice of absolute truth of the universe, but you still gotta copyright that I guess.

Nothing else is canonical. LHZ seems to have said that there are enlightened followers, but has not specified who, so we can't derive canon from anyone else.

Notably, <<flg-organized,FLG media>> such as https://www.minghui.org/ is believer led and thus not canonical, even though believers have very high confidence in it, and LHZ <<flg-organized,directly supports it>>.

==== Does Ciro Santilli support FLG, or just use it because it is censored?

Ciro Santilli doesn't support FLG specifically, only freedom of religion. See of course: <<flg-bias>>.

Ciro uses it in his usernames simply because it is the most banned and censored one in China today.

He believe that <<thoughtcrime,individuals should only be put in jail for what they do, not for what they believe>>.

He considers FLG <<flg-religion,a religion like any other>>, and he is against its ban, as that of all other religions.

He also believes that freedom of speech and democracy imply that FLG and other religions will exist. If you want freedom, you have to <<intolerance,accept other people's choices>>.

Otherwise, <<democracy-is-a-religion,democracy and communism can also be considered as religions>>, and banned.

See also: <<flg-verifiable>>.

[[flg-daily]]
==== How is it like to live with Falun Gong believers?

This will obviously vary from believer to believer, but here is my experience.

Like any other religion that is taken seriously, they spend several hours per week doing their standard religious activities: <<flg-religion>>.

I never seen them, or anyone we know from FLG say or do something that I consider morally incorrect because of FLG.

This does not prevent <<wife,my wife>> from working normally.

My mother-in-law, who is retired, dedicates all her time to Falun Gong when she is not taking care of the house.

My mother is also religious (link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestantism[Protestant]), and I get a very similar feeling about both groups.

Like other religions, Falun Gong gives them meaning in life, and I admire that they pursue their belief energetically.

I much prefer that my mother-in-law does Falun Gong, which is a noble meaningful goal, rather than watch stupid crap on television.

Also, although I am <<does-ciro-santilli-believe-in-or-practice-falun-gong,agnostic>>, I also live in a similar way.

My religion is that of science and technology, and I pursue it fervently by trying to learn and teach it and spend several hours a week doing that, even when it does not give me money immediately.

If I pursue my meaning, why should I prevent anyone from pursuing theirs?

Previously, my wife and mother-in-law would sometimes try to persuade me to learn FLG, which was annoying.

But every time I told them very clearly that I know where to download the books if I want to, and that I may never want to read them, and that my wife must either accept this fact or leave me.

And they have accepted that: they think I'm a good person, and they can accept that you can also be a good person even without doing FLG.

I do feel Falun Gong makes my mother-in-law more reluctant to use or actively search for <<flg-medication,medication or treatment>>. But I think it is also linked to the fact that she didn't have a very good education or a good health system around. However, if we give her something, she will take it. My wife does not have any resistance to medication.

One thing that does worry me is that my mother in law sleeps too little every night, doing one of the Falun Gong meditations late in the evening, and then waking up very early to a long series of reading and exercise sessions.

Bibliography:

* https://www.zhihu.com/question/27659795 at <<zhihu>>

==== In the Tweet about his mother in law, Ciro Santilli says "correctional facility", but reeducation through labour has been abolished

He was not very precise https://twitter.com/cirosantilli/status/579270450984984576[here], the precise term is "jail". He was _not_ talking about: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Re-education_through_labor Unfortunately it is not possible to edit a Tweet.

[[flg-changed]]
==== Falun Gong is completely different in the West than it was in China

I believe that it has changed.

But isn't that the case of every cultural religious movement that migrates to a completely new culture?

Main points which may have changed:

* It has become more organized.
+
But why shouldn't they organize to defend themselves now that they have the chance without being put into prison?
+
The CCP is highly organized and has way more resources.
* Less emphasis is given to the religious/mystical aspect, and more to the corporal exercises, and health aspect.
+
This may be because people in the "West" are:
+
** are "scientific-educated" atheists who wouldn't go for a "religion"
** already have other religions, which would view FLG as a taboo

Also maybe only the richest and most educated believers managed to escape China, and thus the movement carried that bias outside China.

If you know more ways in which it may have changed, let me know.

But once again, we can know nothing for sure about the past in China because of censorship.

Even if you saw something yourself, how can you be sure that it is representative?

And if it has changed, now that it has changed, maybe China should unban it?

See also:

* https://www.zhihu.com/question/23988890 at <<zhihu>>

==== FLG has been funded by the US government at least once, therefore it is evil

1.5M USD in 2010 for a FLG controlled internet freedom group https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8678760.stm

But well, if you are going to do something anyway, and someone offers you money, why wouldn't you take it?

Taking the money does of course give a "bad impression" that someone is trying to buy influence, but does it in itself imply that you are doing something bad?

But do you really think that the US government paid that to buy influence in FLG? What would they force upon that FLG group that they didn't already want to do? Isn't it more likely that the US government wanted them to continue doing exactly what they were doing?

Every government funds groups it supports, it is an all out war I suppose. Compare that to the propaganda funds of the CCP.

What about the funding of political campaigns, which vastly outnumbers 1.5M USD every year?

[[follow-the-law]]
==== FLG is illegal in China, we must follow the law

This might be a bad law that should be changed.

It was perfectly legal for <<nazi,Nazis>> to kill Jews. Does it make that right?

But many times, the commies don't even bother passing a law, they just fuck people anyways without one: <<rule-of-law>>.

[[flg-fake]]
==== FLG is fake 法轮功是假的

The same can be argued about any other religion or political belief of type: it is better if we organize society in this or that way.

How can you disprove their belief, when as in any other religion, every affirmation made hinges on "miracles only happen around when true believers are around" or "only true believers can perceive evidence in their hearts / minds directly". He died of cancer or <<corona>>? Not a true believer, deep withing his heart, something was wrong.

Conversely, do you understand the full sequence of experiments that imply quantum field theory? Have you seen videos of those experiments? Have you attended live demonstrations? Do you understand the construction of the experimentation apparatus? Yet, why do you believe it?

More importantly: what do you propose that should be done about it? Should we kill followers? Or is jail enough?

Also do let me know when you have achieved irrefutable proof that democracy/freedom of speech are the optimal ways to organize the government: <<democracy-is-a-religion>>.

See also: <<flg-religion>>

[[flg-verifiable]]
===== FLG never makes any predictions that can be reasonably verified by non-believers

Exactly, just like any other <<flg-religion>>, this is why <<ciro-santilli>> is <<does-ciro-santilli-believe-in-or-practice-falun-gong,agnostic>> and things Falun Gong metaphysics is bullshit.

Notably, <<li-hongzhi>> explicitly forbids display of magical powers gained by believers to non-believers: <<flg-supernatural-powers>> for "reasons". What a convenient coincidence, that prevents any verifiability!

The closest claims to observable Ciro has heard are:

* when pictures are taken in sacred events, notably <<shen-yun>>, sometimes you can see magic Falun energy wheels in the pictures
* in the homes of some followers, small magic good plants-like fungi-like things have grown
+
.Image of the magic good small plants that grew on a believer's home. They took a photo and it published on <<falun-gong-media,Minghui>> as a 2018 Chinese New Year good wish page to <<li-hongzhi>>. If any biologist reads this, for the love of God send me a Wikipedia page with the possible species. TODO transcribe the Chinese. https://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2018/2/17/168396p.html[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20200312085051im_/http://en.minghui.org/u/article_images/e9c2b07e224d28984998a094deb53f85.jpg[height=400]
* the <<flg-canon,sacred books>> of some believers had a closed lotus flower when they were bought, and after several years, the flower opened

but Ciro suspects they are not even <<flg-canon,canon>>, just believer oral culture.

Of course, like every other religion, reality happens to be is constructed in a way that prevents non-believers to verify anything with their eyes in a reproducible way.

Or a Jesus put it in https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+4&version=NIV[Luke 4]:

[[luke-4]]
____
Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.

"If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written:

“'He will command his angels concerning you,

and they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"

Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
____

Ah good old <<li-hongzhi,prophets>>, their tricks haven't changed a bit in 2 thousand years! This is why <<ciro-santilli>> follows instead the religion of <<democracy-is-a-religion,science and freedom of speech>>, because those religions instead say:

____
Test your God. Test your God a billion times. And if your God proves wrong just once, disbelieve it.
____

The Pontius Pilate Scene from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Temptation_of_Christ_(film)[The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)] comes to mind, quotes:

____
Pontius: It's also said that you do miracles? Is this good magic or bad magic? Can we have some sort of demonstration?

Jesus: No, I'm not a trained animal, I'm not a magician.

Pontius: Well, that's disappointing. This means that you are just another Jewish politician.
____

and:

____
Pontius: It's one way to change the way that people live, but you want to change the way that they think and that they feel.

Jesus: All I'm saying is the change will happen with love. Not with killing.

Pontius: Either way it's dangerous. It's against Rome. It's against the way the world is. In killing or loving, it's all the same. It simply doesn't matter how you want to change things, we don't want them changed.
____

.https://youtube.com/watch?v=pXGsio9H1xs The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) - Pontius Pilate Scene (5/10) | Movieclips.
video::pXGsio9H1xs[youtube,height=400,width=600]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurama[Futurama] also has an interesting take:

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObbVO3A3BvA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bender_(Futurama)[Bender] meets God in Futurama S03E20 "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godfellas[Godfellas]". In their talk, they comment on how "if as God you give them everything, they will grow dependent on you, and if you give them nothing, they will despise you". And so the best approach as a God might be "to influence things as if you weren't there".
video::ObbVO3A3BvA[youtube,height=400,width=600]

[[against-censorship-and-flg]]
==== Many people both are against censorship and FLG

Ciro know that, and that supporting FLG is "bad" for his public image with most Chinese, including those that are against censorship.

But <<dictator-needs-gfw,without censorship, there will be democracy>>, and with democracy FLG followers will have voting rights, and FLG will become legal.

Ciro thinks that the situation is very similar to <<flg-religion,Scientology>> in the USA today: most people dislike it, but believe that you can believe whatever you want.

Democracy and Communism <<democracy-is-a-religion,can also be considered as religions and persecuted>>.

Isn't it convenient when a dictatorship gets rid of those weirdos for you? But not so much when suddenly you or your family is the weirdo...

If you are not ready to accept the beliefs of others, dictatorship is the only choice for you.

It is also interesting to note how Falun Gong is a good source of <<censorship-circumvention>> material.

See also: <<flg-bias>>

[[democracy-is-a-religion]]
===== Why does Ciro Santilli say that democracy is a religion just like Falun Gong?

Because it also specifies irrational and fundamental aspects of how one should live, notably voting and freedom of speech.

Like the Cult of CCP has one fundamental belief: <<stability,the Party is always right>>, or as mentioned in <<orange-papers>> section "The Guru is always right." (highlight by Ciro):

____
The Guru, his church, and his teachings are always right, and above criticism, and beyond reproach.

In some cults, the guru is dead, but the principle is the same. I use the word "guru" loosely here; in many cults the charismatic leader has the title of minister, priest, yogi, swami, prophet, or all-knowing wise man. **Or even, "Chairman Mao."** In any case, the leader is always right.
____

And they also claim that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholics_Anonymous[Alcoholics Anonymous] could be characterized as a cult. Very cool. What else could be powerful enough to get you off a physical addiction, than a mental addiction, right?

Ban FLG, and you have banned democracy.

Accept democracy, and you will have FLG.

There is no in-between.

[[flg-stability]]
===== Falun Gong had to be banned because it was a threat to the stability of the country

Then they link to the Taping Rebellion:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Heavenly_Kingdom

Of course FLG was a threat to the stability of the country.

It is, as <<ciro-santilli>> has said, a highly organized political power: <<flg-political>>.

However, <<democracy-is-a-religion,democracy>> is a threat to the stability country in the exact same way:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolution

Anything that goes against a dictatorship is a threat to the stability of the country.

Now read: <<stability>>

==== Many people say they do FLG only to get VISAs to the USA

<<ciro-santilli>> heard this a few times, and I believe it has happened.

But I don't see how this is relevant at all to this discussion:

* if they are not really FLG believers, they should be prosecuted, but this says nothing about the real FLG believers,
* if they are, then why wouldn't they seek a VISA, since they are in constant threat of going to jail or worse in China, and the USA law gives them that right?

Sample news:

* https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/09/28/652218318/thousands-could-be-deported-as-government-targets-asylum-mills-clients

[[flg-witness]]
==== I have personally seen people do bad things because of Falun Gong

Either direct suicide or <<flg-medication,dying because of not taking medication>>.

First, I'm not saying I don't believe you, and I'm sorry about what happened.

But your testimony is worthless unless you give the following:

* clear unique personal identification
+
This is because the CCP has thousands of <<wumao,wumaos>> who could make fake reports.
+
There are basically two ways to do that:
+
. your testimony is done in video form on YouTube clearly showing your face as you make it
. links between a notable social media presence that is hard to achieve, e.g. Twitter with many followers, Stack overflow with a lot of rep, and the account
+
Either of those must contain / link to information that uniquely identifies you. Generally, full name, city and date of birth is enough.
* a precise testimony that states exactly what you saw happen with your own eyes, or heard from people that are very close to you.
+
The testimony must include:
+
--
** when the events happened
** where they happened, in which city at the very least
** the full names of who did what
--
+
This is to:
+
** make it easier to verify the truth of the event
** uniquely identify the event so we don't count a single event multiple times

If you do provide all of the above, I add your report to a list of reports that I will maintain. This list does not exist yet because there were no valid reports yet.

Next consider this:

* are you sure that Falun Gong made the person do the bad thing, and that the person wouldn't have done it anyway?