Becoming Activists in Global China

"The student-led democracy movement of 1989 and Falun Gong are famous cases of popular opposition movements in reform-era China, but scholars do not typically see them as belonging to a common class of social phenomenon. The 1989 student movement, which was part of a broader Chinese democratic movement known as Zhongguo minzhu yundong or just "Minyun," is seen as a progressive social movement and a pivotal turning point in modern Chinese history. Before and after June 4, 1989, domestic Chinese politics were starkly different. For better or worse, the significance of Minyun for contemporary Chinese history is widely recognized. The Falun Gong case, by contrast, more often than not goes unseen. When it is beheld, it is usually noted as a reactionary, semi-religious aberration in Chinese politics-as-usual. Falun Gong had spectacular but ephemeral importance in 1999 and shortly thereafter, but today remains a topic left mostly to the rare subfield specialist. This book takes the unconventional stance that these two movements ought to be apprised together"--