Quote Originally Posted by andyandy
its a bit much to accuse someone highlighting China's less than impeccible human rights record as "anti Chinese." That's certainly not the case - im not anti-chinese any more than i am anti-american because i disagree with Bush's policies or anti-iranian because their PMs a righwing bigot.....im not anti any country - they've all populated by mostly nice folks with a few jerks who give the rest of them a bad name.....
it's pretty disingenious to paint china as a tolerant society based on church
architecture.....main religions are tolerated only as long as they dont threaten the one party state.....as for any kind of trade unions, student unions, democratic forums, political parties, free politcal discourse on tv, radio, newspapers or online - forget it - unless that is you don't mind a lengthy prison stay. You seem to be missing the point slightly by focusing on the negative characteristics of the fulan gong - they are not persecuted in china because of some nanny state attempt to protect the populace from their teachings - but because any anti-CCP sentiment is harshly dealt with...whether that comes from a wacky cult or not.

Hey Andy, didn't mean to accuse you of being anti-Chinese. You're comment of "they've all populated by mostly nice folks with a few jerks who give the rest of them a bad name" shows that you are far more intelligent than a great deal of Americans who can'tseem to differentiate between a counties govt and its people.

My post was mainly to agree with Breukelen about his comment of Falun Gong being a cult. And, to point out that it is wrong for people, who are "anti-China", to use the Falun Gong of an example of China's oppression of religion. I have no doubt that the enthusiasm the Chinese govt has for going after the Falun Gong has much to do with the fact that they are so critical of the Chinese govt. but that is similar to the old chicken or the egg deal. Is the Falun Gong presecuted because they are critcal of the govt? Or, are the Falun Gong critcal of the govt because they were persecuted?

I've lived in China and have my own experience with the terribley corrupt govt. Trust me, I've got some stories that Pissy would have a field day with and I have no doubt that my exepriences are just the tip of the iceberg. Still, I have to say that China is terribly misunderstood by most Americans. Our media does a wonderful job of villianizing China by seizing isolated incidents and blowing them out of proportion or taking them out of context. I just try to point them out when I see them.