Falun Gong and the Future of China by David Ownby (review)

Book Reviews 127 Falun Gong and the Future of China DAVID OWNBY. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. xi, 291 pages. ISBN 978-019532905 -6. US$29.95, £15.99 hardcover. In the immediate aftermath of the 1999 Chinese crackdown on Falun Dafa 法輪大法—known more commonly in the US as Falun Gong 法輪功—journalists wrote a great deal about the movement, on balance perhaps generating more heat than light. The prevailing discourse was framed largely in terms of human rights and religious freedom, with little analysis of the origins and history of the teachings and practices. Expatriate Chinese practitioners of Falun Gong’s distinctive system of qigong 氣功 managed to keep the ongoing suppression of the movement in the headlines for several years, but now, a decade after the movement was outlawed in the PRC, the world seems to have lost interest, weary of the unremittingly bad news coming from China. This is unfortunate, because in recent years scholars have made great strides in understanding the qigong movement and the decisive role Falun Gong played in its demise.1 In Falun Gong and the Future of China, David Ownby pursues several complementary agendas. One of the most important is his ongoing effort to determine the antecedents of Falun Gong in order to establish its proper place within the history of Chinese popular religion.2 Ownby’s conclusion, argued with subtlety and nuance, is that Falun Gong (and the larger qigong movement) represent a post-Mao revival of the moral teachings, general worldview, and body-centered spiritual practices that characterized late Imperial and Republican era “redemptive societies.” The thousands of groups, large and small, that Ownby calls “redemptive societies” (following Prasenjit Duara) have been collectively categorized under a variety of names in the past, including White Lotus, sectarian, folk Buddhist, syncretic, etc. All these names are problematic. By classifying these societies under a neutral, descriptive heading and recognizing their family resemblances, it becomes possible to identify their shared features—charismatic founders; a sense of uniqueness; body-based “cultivation” techniques leading to health, happiness, and salvation; traditional moral values, etc.—and rethink their place and role in the last several hundred years of Chinese religious history.3 Many of the redemptive societies were severely attacked under both Republican and Communist rule—especially during the Cultural Revolution—and most were assumed by outside observers to have been annihilated, but their teachings appear to have survived far better than nearly anyone suspected. Ownby makes a convincing case here that should lead to 1 See especially David Palmer’s excellent La fièvre du Qigong (Paris: Éditions de l'École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, 2005) as well as this book, of course. Editor’s note: Palmer’s book was reviewed by Benoît Vermander in vol.33 (2005) of this journal. 2 For an earlier effort see, David Ownby, “A History for Falun Gong: Popular Religion and the Chinese State Since the Ming Dynasty,” Nova Religio 6.2 (April 2003): 223-243. 3 Ownby convincingly argues that these groups are “religious,” at least in western terms, even if they are not by Chinese definitions and their own self-understanding. 128 Journal of Chinese Religions a major reworking of the history of late Imperial, Republican, and contemporary Chinese popular religion. A second, related concern is to provide an overview and analysis of the qigong boom of the 1980s and 1990s and sketch a preliminary history of Falun Gong. In this effort, Ownby nicely summarizes relevant findings from David Palmer’s La fièvre du qigong while adding his own insights and research. Ownby’s analysis of the complex teachings of Li Hongzhi 李 洪志, the founder and sole “master” of Falun Gong, is especially illuminating. In addition, Ownby provides a chapter-long discussion of social scientific fieldwork he conducted among North American practitioners of Falun Gong, mostly diaspora Chinese, who have worked tirelessly to keep the cause of Falun Gong alive. This North American fieldwork helps clarify the crucial differences between the apocalyptic rhetoric and “gnostic” teachings of Li Hongzhi and the relatively “normal” lives of practitioners. When objectively described and analyzed, the beliefs of Falun Gong appear bizarre, at least to most Westerners; however, the followers of...