URI presents Chinese culture for MLK Jr. Week

Almost 50 years after the Communist Party of China became the ruling party in 1949 and stripped the population of personal and political freedoms, Falun Gong was introduced to the public.

Falun Gong is a spiritual practice that combines meditation of the mind and body and moral principles. The practice is nonviolent and nonpolitical. However, in 2009, the New York Times reported the Chinese government had “imprisoned tens of thousands of practitioners and claimed at least 2,000 lives.” This spiritual practice was introduced and demonstrated to a group of University of Rhode Island students on Tuesday at the Multicultural Center as part of the center’s 30th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Week celebration.

Jenny Wang, a third-year finance student at URI, led the workshop with a presentation of Chinese culture and an overview of Falun Gong. Wang said she read Mai He’s presentation, an assistant professor at Brown University.

“I benefit from it a lot, mentally and physically,” Wang said. “I want to let more people know about this.”

Falun Gong is a type of Qigong, which was a “new form of cultivation that survived the Cultural Revolution and promotes good health,” Wang said.  Qigong was created during a time when people feared talking about spirituality. The Communist Party of China disrupted spirituality, stripped culture and promoted atheism as the country’s religion.

Falun Gong was introduced to the public in 1992 and has two components – slow, gentle exercises and moral philosophy. The exercises are not unlike Tai Chi; it includes very subtle movements of the hands and feet. The moral philosophy that practitioners hope to maintain is better health and spiritual enlightenment.  

However, the Chinese government considers Falun Gong an “evil cult.” Like Dr. Martin Luther King’s philosophy, it promotes nonviolence. Practitioners who are prosecuted by the Chinese government have stayed committed to the ideas of compassion and nonviolence.

Today, volunteers present workshops and demonstrations around the world. Not only do they show the health benefits of Falun Gong, but also present how the Chinese government is trying to restrict it.

“I’m a volunteer and have become more compassionate from it,” Wang said. “I think it’s something that everybody could benefit from.”

The Multicultural Center’s Dr. Martin Luther King Week continues through Friday. Today, there will be a screening of a documentary film titled “King: Man of Peace in a Time of War” from 12-1 p.m. From 5-6 p.m., they will host a discussion titled “The Transformation of the Nation of Islam: From Malcolm x to Imam Warith.” Friday will be the last day of the weeklong celebration. From 10-1 p.m. on Friday, middle school students will come and experience the importance of higher education from a group of URI students.

“All 13 of these events celebrate Martin Luther King or his nonviolent approach,” said Melvin Wood, the director of the Multicultural Center. “There are so many nonviolent movements going on around the world. We try to equip our students with that knowledge whenever we can.”