Falun Gong Outside of China

AbstractThis chapter examines Falun Gong in the post‐1995 period, as it became a transnational movement following founder Li Hongzhi's relocation from China to the United States. It focuses on the many Falun Gong practitioners who are members of the Chinese diaspora in North America, among whom the author did fieldwork between 1999 and 2002. The results of this fieldwork suggest that some 90 per cent of Falun Gong practitioners in North America are recent Chinese immigrants, who are better educated and wealthier than the average American or Canadian. Some have joined Falun Gong for health reasons, others because they find in Falun Gong answers to their questions about the meaning of life. As revealed in their witness statements to one another at experience‐sharing conferences, practitioners believe that their lives are a series of “tests” which enable them to burn off karma and advance in their cultivation.