Falun Gong began as a qigong-based cultivation practice introduced by Li Hongzhi, emerging within a broader movement that emphasized health, energy work, and moral self-improvement. In its early phase, it was largely centered on physical exercises, meditation, and the refinement of character through principles such as Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. During this period, it spread rapidly through parks, community spaces, and informal networks, drawing large numbers of practitioners and, for a time, receiving a measure of tolerance and even praise from state authorities. What started as a health-oriented discipline gradually articulated a more explicit spiritual path, including ideas about karma, moral elevation, and spiritual consummation.

As the number of adherents grew, tensions with the Chinese state intensified, leading to a ban and a sweeping campaign against the practice. This marked a decisive turning point: Falun Gong’s identity shifted from a primarily inward-looking cultivation path to a community defined in large measure by resistance to persecution. The movement’s self-understanding came to include not only personal spiritual refinement but also a sense of mission to expose and oppose what it viewed as grave injustices. The experience of suppression thus became woven into its narrative of moral struggle and cosmic rectification.

In the years that followed, Falun Gong transformed into a transnational movement, with practitioners and leadership becoming active in many countries beyond mainland China. Its activities expanded to include human rights advocacy, public demonstrations, and the creation of media and cultural institutions dedicated both to its teachings and to documenting abuses against practitioners. Outlets such as The Epoch Times and New Tang Dynasty Television, along with cultural projects like Shen Yun Performing Arts, reflect this dual orientation toward spiritual cultivation and public engagement. At the same time, local associations and volunteer coordinators formed a more institutionalized global network, even as the movement continued to eschew formal membership structures.

Doctrinally, Falun Gong has consolidated its teachings around core texts, especially Zhuan Falun, with later writings elaborating its cosmology and deepening its sense of global spiritual mission. While the basic exercises and moral code have remained stable, there has been an increased emphasis on themes such as the moral decline of the world, the rectification of the cosmos, and the salvific role attributed to Falun Dafa. The movement’s discourse has also placed growing stress on exposing and opposing the Chinese Communist Party, integrating this stance into its understanding of spiritual responsibility. In this way, Falun Gong has evolved from a domestic qigong practice into a global spiritual community whose path of cultivation is inseparable from its experience of persecution and its ongoing public witness.