MADISON HEIGHTS -- Banned and persecuted in China, the Falun Gong movement is finding a much friendlier reception in Oakland County.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a blend of exercises, meditation and quasi-Buddhist and Taoist principles. Banned in China since 1999, the sect has attracted devotees in Metro Detroit and racked up an impressive collection of proclamations and citations from local governments.
This week is Falun Dafa Week in the city of Madison Heights, where practitioners gave city council members a demonstration of the slow, graceful movements of Falun Gong exercises before collecting its latest honor.
"I've seen people doing these exercises before (in community parks), and now I know what it's all about," said city manager Jon Austin, adding that the proclamation was not meant to endorse a religion or political movement. Falun Dafa followers deny that it is either of those things.
"Asian-Americas are Madison Heights' largest minority population, about 3 to 4 percent of our entire population, and this request was made by members of that segment of our population," Austin added.
In recent months, the Oakland County Commissioners, the cities of Rochester Hills, Farmington Hills, Troy and the township of West Bloomfield have issued similar proclamations and declared honorary Falun Dafa days of their own. Around Metro Detroit, Wayne and Washtenaw counties and the cities of Ann Arbor and Roseville also have honored the group, as have U.S. Sen. Carl Levin and U.S. Rep. John Conyers.
A local Falun Dafa Web site, www.umich.edu/falun, lists a dozen Falun exercise or study groups around the region.
In China, the nine-year-old Falun Gong movement is condemned by the government as an evil cult with an insidious political will. Its practitioners reportedly outnumber official members of the Communist Party.
The government has admitted to arresting hundreds of group leaders for suspected subversive activities, but local human rights groups say tens of thousands of people have been rounded up and sent to reeducation camps, despite heavy criticism from the United States, United Nations and other governments.
Falun Dafa draws on the ancient breathing and meditation techniques of qi gong, the exercise movements of tai chi, a medly of spiritual teachings that aim to refine body, mind and moral character. The American Falun Dafa movement has distanced itself from the original movement, which also claims to help practitioners develop extrasensory perception and super-human powers.