Is Falun Gong political? My thoughts on the topic
This is a question that has been brought up many times by many people. Is Falun Gong political? And if not, why are they perceived that way?
You may have seen the yellow shirts outside Chinese Embassies, at tourist sites or in parades in your community.
Falun Dafa practitioners holding a banner during a rally in Sydney in Oct. 2025 (courtesy of minghui.org)
Or been familiar with someone giving you a flyer on the street and asking for a signature for a petition, calling for the end of the persecution and organ harvesting in China. [Read: Why Did China Persecute These Seemingly Peaceful Falun Gong Meditators]
It’s natural to wonder what this is all about, and some may assume Falun Gong practitioners are anti-government or anti-China.
To understand this properly, we need to look a little deeper.
What Does “Political” Mean?
Generally speaking, political refers to matters connected with the governance of a country, public policy, or the struggle for power and authority.
By this definition, Falun Gong is not political.
Political means connected with the governance of a country or public policy, or the struggle for power and authority.
In short, Falun Gong and its adherents are not interested in governing China, nor running a country. Nor are practitioners interested in the power struggles that lie within politics or state authority. The focus is on the true cultivation of character, moral improvement and peaceful practice of beliefs—as opposed to seizing power or running governments.
Firstly, what is Falun Gong?
It is a spiritual mind and body practice that embodies the values of Truthfulness, Compassion Forbearance. It consists of moral teachings and five gentle exercises that offer an effective way to improves one’s energy levels.
Picture: A Falun Dafa practitioner performs the meditation exercise. (courtesy of Falun Gong in Perth & Western Australia Facebook page)
The belief system teaches one to let go of unhealthy thought and habits, and strive to attune’s one life with the aforementioned values. It is entirely peaceful and does not believe in violence or killing.
So What Happened?
To understand the historical factors between Falun Gong and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), we’ll have to go back in history.
After the cultural revolution in China (1949), the CCP spent decades destroying all Chinese culture and traditional thought by book burnings and destroying of historical artefacts.
Scholars and intellectuals were regarded as enemies of the state and were treated as such, with torture, beatings and many were driven to suicide.
Traditional Chinese culture and values of kindness, being honest and forbearing were stamped out.
It is estimated that over a million Chinese people were killed with a change to the regime.
When Falun Gong, a Buddhist spiritual practice, was introduced to the China in the 1990s, it became an instant sensation. [Read: 5 Reasons Why Falun Gong is Great]
Not only was it a direct continuation of traditional Chinese culture, but due to the remarkable health benefits (and in just a few short years) over 100 million people started to learn the practice.
Many members of the CCP practiced Falun Gong and it became the most popular practice in China’s history.
It was also completely outside the CCP’s control.
This independence (along with its popularity) was deemed totally unacceptable by the regime and in July 1999, the CCP launched a nationwide campaign to eradicate and persecute Falun Gong.
Picture: A Falun Gong practitioner unfurls a banner with the words Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance in Tiananmen Square, China. (courtesy of Falun Dafa Information Center)
The Persecution and Forced Organ Harvesting
One night in July 1999, the CCP’s head at that time, Jiang Zemin, ordered nationwide book burnings, publishing bans and ransacking of homes to destroy Falun Gong.
Chinese police dragged practitioners to jails, where they were put in brainwashing and labour camps, tortured to give up their beliefs, forced to write repentance statements, and many had their organs illegally harvested if they did not give up their faith.
Propaganda started running ads on TV and radio to demonise the practice to turn the Chinese people against Falun Gong and likewise - sister against sister, husband against wife, mother against son, daughter against father.
Families were encouraged to spy on each other and to hand family members other to the police, even if that meant eventual torture and death. If you didn’t, it meant you were not loyal to the State and were a traitor. Protecting a practitioner meant you could also face labour camps and torture.
Many practitioners in China have fallen victim to illegal forced organ harvesting. Many countries have placed sanctions on people who partake in organ tourism.
Meanwhile, the CCP wants to protect the transplant tourism business - where tourists pay money for an organ in transplant.
It is important to note that the forced organ harvesting of Falun Gong prisoners of conscience in China is ongoing and has been for 26 years.
This business has proved quite lucrative for the CCP, and as such, information is heavily repressed from China to prevent the truth from being revealed, to prevent their business interests compromised.
It is estimated the illegal organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners and other minorities are equal to billions of dollars annually.
(courtesy of Falun Dafa Information Center)
Why the Issue Extends Beyond China?
To protect trade interests, the CCP does not want Western or democratic countries to know the truth about the persecution of Falun Gong, and has actively tried to demonise Falun Gong in other countries in order to suppress the truth. Why?
My understanding is that democratic countries wouldn’t do business with a country that kills its own citizens for profit.
And if western countries believe the CCP’s propaganda, the continuation of the billion dollar organ transplant industry can continue.
Non-violent Resistance
So where does this leave Falun Gong? In order to save lives, practitioners have come up with peaceful, non-violent ways to raise awareness of the persecution and have the worlds people understand that genocide is occurring in China.
Falun Dafa practitioners march down the streets of Sydney CBD with their drums on Oct. 2025 (courtesy of minghui.org)
This is in the forms of beautiful parades, dancing shows (Shen Yun Performing Arts), art exhibitions, tourist sites, movies and media.
To showcase the truth in artistic expression, is not generally regarded as political in a democratic society but a widely and socially expressed form of freedom of speech.
Picture: Falun Gong practitioners take part in a Christmas parade in Bunbury, Western Australian where they won Best Parade in the Community for 2025. (courtesy of minghui.org)
Trying to Help Save Lives
As I understand it so far, asking the CCP to stop killing and torturing their own people does not seem inherently political, but rather an appeal to fundamental human rights and protection of life.
Perhaps a more legitimate question we should be asking instead is - Why is the CCP killing their own people and working so hard to conceal the truth?
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We hope you enjoyed reading this post.
Falun Dafa volunteers are currently holding free online classes where you can learn the exercises from the comfort of your own home. Register for a free Falun Dafa online exercise class here or for the Falun Dafa 9-Day Lecture Series here.
‘Learn Falun Gong—Australia’ is a website run by Australian Falun Dafa volunteers for the benefit of the general public. Falun Dafa is always taught free of charge.
Views expressed in this article represent the author’s own opinions or understandings.