Last weekend was the bag-o-dino search for my nephew which landed me in Chinatown. Which in itself is an adventure as I photographed the Lion dance, window displays and last but not least the Falun Dafa march through the center of Chinatown. History of Falun Dafa The Falun Dafa movement is one tradition within Xulian -- ancient Chinese methods to cultivate mind and body as a means of keeping fit and healing oneself. They appear to have pre-historic roots that may date back many millennia. However, the term Xulian had long been associated with practices that had religious sounding names. In order to make the practices more acceptable to the government, the leaders of Falun Dafa adopted a new word: Qigong (pronounced chee-gong). Qi means universal life energy; Gong means cultivation energy. Falun Dafa incorporates Buddhist and Taoist principles, and combines them with exercise and body cultivation. Many individuals are drawn to Falun Gong because of the beneficial impact produced by its practices and exercises. "Published experiences by practitioners stress the positive effects for their health. Given the growing expense of the health system to many people and faltering mutual support networks, the positive effects of Qigong practice and the support networks resulting from membership will have been supportive for the spread of the Falun Gong." However, the Falun Dafa is taught as a path which is more than just the practice of Qigong; is seen a way of life. 1 Founder Li Hongzhi (a.k.a. Master Li) has said that, in the past, its secrets were passed only from master to student. Hongzhi made the movement public in China in 1992. It is now available to anyone. It currently has branches throughout the world. It claims a membership of 70 million on China and 30 million elsewhere in the world. Theirs is not a religious organization in the conventional sense of the term. They continually deny being a religion, cult or sect. They are mainly "a network for transmitting information and practices, in which people may dip on an incidental basis or more regularly." 1 Falun Dafa was registered with the Qugong Research Association of China in 1992. However, it became obvious that Qugong's emphasis on "healing illnesses and keeping fit, as well as displaying supernormal powers at exhibitions" did not match Falun Dafa's emphasis on "genuinely guiding people to higher dimensions." So Li Hongzhi withdrew the movement from the Association. By this time, the Chinese government had become concerned about the popularity of the Falun Dafa. The number of Falun Dafa practitioners had exceeded the number of people in the Communist Party. In fact, Falun Dafa had included many party members. The government refused the Falun Gong permission to join any other association. Thus they have remained an independent group without legal protection or status in China.