Marchers Carrying Colorful Banners Through Chinatown, San Francisco, USA
This photo was taken during an extraordinary protest demonstration in Chinatown, San Francisco in September 2012. The march was organised by supporters of Falun Dafa (or Falun Gong, literally meaning 'Dharma Wheel Practice'). Falun Gong is a spiritual discipline first introduced in China in 1992 through public lectures by its founder, Li Hongzhi. It combines the practice of meditation and slow-moving exercises with a moral philosophy. Falun Gong emphasises morality and the cultivation of virtue in its central tenets of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. Although the practice initially enjoyed considerable support from Chinese officialdom, by the mid- to late-1990s, the Communist Party and public security organs increasingly viewed Falun Gong as a potential threat due to its size, independence from the state, and spiritual teachings. In October 1999 the ruling Chinese authorities declared Falun Gong a "heretical organization" and began banning Internet access to websites that mention Falun rights groups report that Falun Gong practitioners in China are subject to a wide range of human rights abuses; hundreds of thousands are believed to have been imprisoned extrajudicially, and practitioners in detention are subject to forced labor, psychiatric abuse, torture, and other coercive methods of thought reform at the hands of Chinese authorities. The demonstration winding through the streets of Chinatown, San Francisco was, by contrast, colourful and harmonious.
Size: 4032px × 3024px
Location: Chinatown, San Francisco, California, USA
Photo credit: © Kevin O'Donohoe / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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