Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003, Page 197
2 Randy Kluver, ‗Political Culture and Political Conflict in China‘, in G.M. Chen and R. Ma (eds.),
Chinese Conflict Management and Resolution (Westport: Greenwood 2001), received via
attachment Feb. 2001.
3 Ibid. pp.25–6.
4 Robin Munro, ‗Syncretic Sects and Secret Societies: Revival in the 1980s‘, Chinese Sociology and
Anthropology 21/4 (Summer 1989) pp.10–11. Munro credits Harrell and Perry for describing
Chinese ‗secret societies‘ as ‗syncretic religious sects‘.
5 To address objections to the use of the word ‗sect‘ I use the word ‗sectarian‘ in the hope that it will
not be taken as a derogatory term but as descriptive and historical. I use the word to refer to
groups considered unorthodox or heterodox by the ruling power in China.
6 Daniel L. Overmyer, Religions of China: The World as a Living System (San Francisco: Harper &Row
1986) p.37.
7 David Ownby, ‗Chinese Millenarian Traditions: The Formative Age‘, The American Historical Review
104/5 (Dec. 1999) pp.1–21, www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr.
8 Celestial Masters Daoism. Note: Daoism can also be spelled Taoism. I use Daoism except when
quoting.
9 Frederick Wakeman, ‗Rebellion and Revolution: The Study of Popular Movements in Chinese
History‘, Journal of Asian Studies 36/2 (Feb. 1977) pp.201–36.
10 Ibid. pp.205–6.
11 Li Hongzhi, Zhuan Falun II, http://www.falundafa.org/book/eng/2fl2.html, accessed 31 Aug. 1999,
chapter entitled ‗Mankind in the Ending Period of Catastrophe‘ pp.3/4, 4/4. ‗The human
morality is slipping down rapidly and mankind are facing an impending danger …Each time the
catastrophe comes to the world, mankind have lost their morality. This is the manifestation of
the Ending Period of Catastrophe‘. Note: This book is not numbered sequentially, rather, each
chapter begins with number 1. I therefore give the chapter title and the page number within
the chapter. Also, this book used to be available for downloading in English from the Minghui
website, which is how I obtained my copy in 1999. As of December 1999 it was removed from
the list of English available books. It remains available in Chinese. This is one example of how
some FLG material is available to Chinese readers but not to English readers.
12 Judith A. Berling, The Syncretic Religion of Lin Chao-en (New York: Columbia 1980) p.48.
13 Ibid. p.24.
14 .David Ownby, Transnational China Project Commentary, ‗Falungong as a Cultural Revitalization
Movement: An Historian Looks at Contemporary China‘, talk given at Rice University 20 Oct.
2000. Text based on audio transcript.
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~tnchina/commentary/ownby1000.html.
15 Ownby (note 7) p.12.
16 James W. Tong, Disorder Under Heaven: Collective Violence in the Ming Dynasty (Stanford:
Stanford University Press 1991) p.59.
17 Thomas DuBois, The Sacred World of Cang County: Religious Belief, Organization, and Practice in
Rural North China During the Late Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, PhD dissertation 2001,
University of California Los Angeles. See ch.7, ‗Yiguandao: Sectarian Recruitment, Wartime
Collaboration, and Showdown with the Communist Government, 1930–1960‘.
18 Munro (note 4) pp.102–3. In this 1985 Appendix titled ‗Sects and Societies Recently or Currently
Active in the PRC‘, 57 groups are listed including the Yi Guan Dao (Way of Unity).
19 DuBois (note 17).
20 Li (note 11), chapter entitled ‗All Ways Lead to the Origin‘, p.1/2.
21 Munro (note 4) ch.15, pp.49–84.
22 Kluver (note 2) p.25.
23 Munro (note 4) p.84.
24 Zhu Xiaoyang and Benjamin Penny (eds.), Chinese Sociology and Anthropology: The Qigong Boom
27/1 (Fall 1995) p.35.
25 Ibid. p.5.
26 Ibid. p.35. The phrase ‗Reading with the Ear‘ came to be synonymous with paranormal abilities.
27 Ibid. pp.37–8.
28 Ibid. p.42.
29 Benoit Vermandeer, ‗The Law and the Wheel: The Sudden Emergence of the Falungong: Prophets
of Spiritual Civilization‘, China Perspectives 24 (1999) p.19. ‗A petition calling for better
environmental protection, launched jointly by some Qigong groups from Sichuan and
Heilongjian managed to gather several hundred thousand signatures‘.
2 Randy Kluver, ‗Political Culture and Political Conflict in China‘, in G.M. Chen and R. Ma (eds.),
Chinese Conflict Management and Resolution (Westport: Greenwood 2001), received via
attachment Feb. 2001.
3 Ibid. pp.25–6.
4 Robin Munro, ‗Syncretic Sects and Secret Societies: Revival in the 1980s‘, Chinese Sociology and
Anthropology 21/4 (Summer 1989) pp.10–11. Munro credits Harrell and Perry for describing
Chinese ‗secret societies‘ as ‗syncretic religious sects‘.
5 To address objections to the use of the word ‗sect‘ I use the word ‗sectarian‘ in the hope that it will
not be taken as a derogatory term but as descriptive and historical. I use the word to refer to
groups considered unorthodox or heterodox by the ruling power in China.
6 Daniel L. Overmyer, Religions of China: The World as a Living System (San Francisco: Harper &Row
1986) p.37.
7 David Ownby, ‗Chinese Millenarian Traditions: The Formative Age‘, The American Historical Review
104/5 (Dec. 1999) pp.1–21, www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr.
8 Celestial Masters Daoism. Note: Daoism can also be spelled Taoism. I use Daoism except when
quoting.
9 Frederick Wakeman, ‗Rebellion and Revolution: The Study of Popular Movements in Chinese
History‘, Journal of Asian Studies 36/2 (Feb. 1977) pp.201–36.
10 Ibid. pp.205–6.
11 Li Hongzhi, Zhuan Falun II, http://www.falundafa.org/book/eng/2fl2.html, accessed 31 Aug. 1999,
chapter entitled ‗Mankind in the Ending Period of Catastrophe‘ pp.3/4, 4/4. ‗The human
morality is slipping down rapidly and mankind are facing an impending danger …Each time the
catastrophe comes to the world, mankind have lost their morality. This is the manifestation of
the Ending Period of Catastrophe‘. Note: This book is not numbered sequentially, rather, each
chapter begins with number 1. I therefore give the chapter title and the page number within
the chapter. Also, this book used to be available for downloading in English from the Minghui
website, which is how I obtained my copy in 1999. As of December 1999 it was removed from
the list of English available books. It remains available in Chinese. This is one example of how
some FLG material is available to Chinese readers but not to English readers.
12 Judith A. Berling, The Syncretic Religion of Lin Chao-en (New York: Columbia 1980) p.48.
13 Ibid. p.24.
14 .David Ownby, Transnational China Project Commentary, ‗Falungong as a Cultural Revitalization
Movement: An Historian Looks at Contemporary China‘, talk given at Rice University 20 Oct.
2000. Text based on audio transcript.
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~tnchina/commentary/ownby1000.html.
15 Ownby (note 7) p.12.
16 James W. Tong, Disorder Under Heaven: Collective Violence in the Ming Dynasty (Stanford:
Stanford University Press 1991) p.59.
17 Thomas DuBois, The Sacred World of Cang County: Religious Belief, Organization, and Practice in
Rural North China During the Late Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, PhD dissertation 2001,
University of California Los Angeles. See ch.7, ‗Yiguandao: Sectarian Recruitment, Wartime
Collaboration, and Showdown with the Communist Government, 1930–1960‘.
18 Munro (note 4) pp.102–3. In this 1985 Appendix titled ‗Sects and Societies Recently or Currently
Active in the PRC‘, 57 groups are listed including the Yi Guan Dao (Way of Unity).
19 DuBois (note 17).
20 Li (note 11), chapter entitled ‗All Ways Lead to the Origin‘, p.1/2.
21 Munro (note 4) ch.15, pp.49–84.
22 Kluver (note 2) p.25.
23 Munro (note 4) p.84.
24 Zhu Xiaoyang and Benjamin Penny (eds.), Chinese Sociology and Anthropology: The Qigong Boom
27/1 (Fall 1995) p.35.
25 Ibid. p.5.
26 Ibid. p.35. The phrase ‗Reading with the Ear‘ came to be synonymous with paranormal abilities.
27 Ibid. pp.37–8.
28 Ibid. p.42.
29 Benoit Vermandeer, ‗The Law and the Wheel: The Sudden Emergence of the Falungong: Prophets
of Spiritual Civilization‘, China Perspectives 24 (1999) p.19. ‗A petition calling for better
environmental protection, launched jointly by some Qigong groups from Sichuan and
Heilongjian managed to gather several hundred thousand signatures‘.
