Cultural Economy of Falun Gong in China

Cultural Economy of Falun Gong in China

A Rhetorical Perspective

Emerging in China in the early 1990s, Falun Gong is viewed by its supporters as a folk movement promoting the benefits of good health and moral cultivation. To the Chinese establishment, however, it is a dissident religious cult threatening political orthodoxy and national stability. The author, a Chinese national once involved in implementing Chinese cultural policies, examines the evolving relationship between Falun Gong and Chinese authorities in a revealing case study of the powerful public discourse between a pervasive political ideology and an alternative agenda in contention for cultural dominance.

Posited as a cure for culturally bound illness with widespread symptoms, the Falun Gong movement's efficacy among the marginalized relies on its articulation of a struggle against government sanctioned exploitation in favor of idealistic moral aspirations. In countering such a position, the Chinese government alleges that the religious movement is based in superstition and pseudoscience. Aided by her insider perspective, the author deftly employs Western rhetorical methodology in a compelling critique of an Eastern rhetorical occurrence, highlighting how authority confronts challenge in postsocialist China.

  • Cover
  • Contents
  • Series Editor’s Preface
  • Acknowledgments
  • Prologue
  • ONE: The Rise of Falun Gong
  • TWO: Challenging Contemporary Political Culture: Falun Gong’s Departure from Marxist Materialism, Authoritarianism, and Scientism
  • THREE: Why Is Falun Gong Popular?
  • FOUR: As Powerful as Weapons: The Use of Tropes as Ideological Instruments
  • FIVE: “Wildfire won’t wipe it out—Spring wind blows it back”: The Transfiguration of the Political Sensibility of the Chinese People
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
  • Index
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