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Our History
How and why the Falun Dafa Information Center was established
The Information Center began informally in July of 1999 with the banning and persecution of Falun Gong in China. At that time Falun Gong was virtually unknown in the West, despite being a household name in China, and information on the practice (reliable or otherwise) was scarce.
When the suppression commenced that July, the international community was caught off guard as it were, and allowed Chinese communist authorities to speak—or accuse—Falun Gong largely without qualification. Complicating the matter was the fact that Falun Gong had little formal organization; it was by and large a grassroots, personal meditation practice that was loosely structured if at all. The group hadn’t an “official” office to turn to for a reply or a more nuanced, and less loaded, account. News coverage hence often repeated the Party line, albeit unwittingly.
The initial incarnation of the Center in July of 1999 was the brainchild of a small group of Falun Gong adherents in New York City. The group was particularly informed about the practice and its intricate predicament in mainland China, its constituents having traveled there and spent time with practitioners there. Two of the individuals had spent most of their lives in the mainland.
The Center was formally incorporated in the spring of 2000, and has from that time been granted the privilege of formally representing or speaking on behalf of the practice.
Since that time the Center’s work has expanded to include regular news bulletins; press releases and statements; investigative reports; human rights documentation; government and community outreach; advocacy work, and more. The Center is staffed and funded by volunteers.
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