He is an important democracy advocate from China, now exiled and living in the United states. Even today he is considered "un-cool"- even misguided by mainstream Chinese. His writings and influence is banned in China, where he spent 20 years in an un-heated Beijing prison for involvement in the Tian An Men Square Student Democracy Movement. Today, he is in Exile. The Chinese government released him from prison several years back, but he wishes to be in China to further the cause of human rights.
Now, his primary goals I should point out are to help foster basic democratic freedoms as well as influence society towards egalitarian leadership which is free from corruption. Those freedoms which are dear would be freedom of press, speach, religion, pursuit of happiness and freedom from discrimination etc. The freedoms which Americans enjoy to some substantial extent, or at least feel entitled that we have a basic expectation of receiving such freedoms.
I keep telling people to read his book, "The Courage to Stand Alone". Nobody ever will though. For me, it is among the most impressive and moving works I have ever encountered. It consists of a collection of his memoirs and letters while in prison including statements, letters to Deng Xiao Ping and descriptions of China's political scene and of his own experiences in China and in Prison there.
Warning. The following links contain some shocking imagery. Post-mortem torture victim- a Falun-Gong practitioner. I apologize before hand and ask you not to view it if it is likely to offend you- otherwise be informed that there is a current and steady report from mainland China similar to this case though this one is arguably the highest profile to date.
I have read up on the issue of Falun repression, and so far my assessment
is this: Communist party members are generally not monsters at all- even those who commit monstrous acts are often
caught unawares between an unstoppable force (the communist party, a lifetime of communist "education" and their own
pride and lack of imagination about what a human being might be willing to endure in order to preserve the right to
worship) and an immovable object- the stalwart practitioner. When the political machines marginalization
coercion and repression fails, the pragmatic officials resort to the last act a good parent can make- corporal
punishment. They just can't conceive that a person will not break- their model of human nature doesn't permit
motivations finally more powerful that of self preservation, and so many are going the way of Jesus, or Buddha,
or Martin Luther King, or JFK- name your martyr. I think the extent to which a person knows they will finally be
killed is important- but let's put it this way- anybody that has ever let the way at the forefront of anything
based in peace and in liberation either know they are in danger- or they aught to know, if history tells us much.
Falun Gong High profile Martyr
memorial