The government strictly regulates publishing in an effort to prevent materials deemed subversive, pornographic or threatening to Communist Party rule from reaching China's book markets. Falun Gong publications were among nearly 4.95 million illegal books printed by two of those sentenced in Guangzhou, Liang Jiantian and Liu Jingsong, Xinhua said. Liang was sentenced to life imprisonment and Liu was given a 20-year term, both on charges of manufacturing obscene materials and conducting an illegal business, Xinhua said. Ironically, the Chinese crackdown has pushed membership of the Taiwan Falun Gong Research Society to new heights. The Taiwanese branch, run by Tsao Huei-Ling and her husband, now has 30,000 members.
Believers are undisturbed as they perform their slow-motion exercises.
The memorial hall that looms over their daily ritual houses not Chairman Mao, but an exhibition to his arch enemy Chiang Kai-shek. We are not plotting to overthrow the Communist Party, that's ridiculous. Falun Gong practitioners should not be concerned with politics. But unlike their mainland cousins, the 23 million citizens of Taiwan are somewhat spoilt for choice. More than 11 million people follow one of 16 different religions.