In this Book
- The Cultural Economy of Falun Gong in China: A Rhetorical Perspective
- Book
- 2012
- Published by: University of South Carolina Press
- Series: Studies in Rhetoric/Communication
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.
Table of Contents
- Series Editor’s Preface
- pp. ix-x
- Acknowledgments
- pp. xi-xii
- One: The Rise of Falun Gong
- pp. 8-31
- Three: Why Is Falun Gong Popular?
- pp. 51-68
- Bibliography
- pp. 117-136