Mainland Chinese Send Lunar New Year Greetings to Falun Gong Founder

Falun Gong adherents march during a parade calling for the end of the Chinese Communist Party’s 25 years of ongoing persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China at the National Mall in Washington on July 11, 2024. Larry Dye/The Epoch Times

It has long been a tradition for Chinese people to welcome the Lunar New Year by sending greetings and goodwill to loved ones and those they respect.

As China ushers in the Lunar Year on Jan. 29, people from both inside and outside the country have sent well wishes to Mr. Li Hongzhi, the founder of the spiritual practice Falun Gong.

Gu Guoping, a retired teacher living in Shanghai. Courtesy of Gu Guoping

“I want to express my deep respect and heartfelt gratitude to Mr. Li Hongzhi,” said Gu Guoping, a retired college lecturer living in Shanghai. “Wishing you health, happiness, and longevity.”

Though Gu is not a Falun Gong practitioner, he has been inspired by Mr. Li’s writings, particularly the one published two years ago, titled “How Humankind Came To Be.”

“Mr. Li Hongzhi is truly remarkable. He has written many articles that explain the universe and the relationships between the divine, humans, and society,” Gu recently told the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times.

“They have opened my eyes to new perspectives and provided me with a profound understanding” of the universe, he said.

“It’s my sincere hope that Mr. Li continues to guide us in understanding the world and seeing life through a new lens.”

Geng Luyi, a music teacher now residing in the United States, expressed a similar sentiment.

“I sincerely wish Mr. Li Hongzhi a Happy New Year,” he told The Epoch Times. “May truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance spread further and awaken the conscience and kindness in more people.”

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a discipline rooted in ancient Chinese traditions that includes meditative exercises and moral teachings centered on the tenets of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.

After Mr. Li introduced Falun Gong to the Chinese public in 1992, it attracted people from all walks of life—from high-ranking officials to farmers—and by the decade’s end, there were an estimated 70 million to 100 million practitioners in the country.

Although Geng doesn’t practice Falun Gong, he finds its moral teachings enlightening.

“These principles—truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance—have transformed how I perceive my words and actions in daily life. They remind me to be sincere, have a kind heart, and build resilience in the face of challenges,” Geng said.

“In the current era of declining morality, these philosophies bring people hope and inner peace, inspiring us to search for the deeper meaning of life.”

‘Meaning of Life’

Geng Luyi attends a Shen Yun performance at Zellerbech Hall in Berkley, Calif., on Jan. 12, 2025. Courtesy of Geng Luyi

Initially, Geng knew little about Falun Gong. The relentless media attacks and Beijing’s negative narratives about the practice flooding the Chinese internet piqued the young man’s curiosity. By bypassing the “great firewall,” Geng accessed unfiltered information about the practice. What he learned surprised him, he said.

“Falun Gong encourages people to be good, improve their morality, and purify their hearts,” Geng said. “This journey made me more aware of the lies and malicious agenda behind the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda.”

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) sweeping campaign to eradicate Falun Gong started in July 1999, when the number of practitioners surpassed the Party’s membership. Millions have been sent to prisons, brainwashing centers, and other detention facilities, where practitioners are subjected to mental and physical torture in an attempt to force them to recant their beliefs. A large unknown number are believed to have been killed for their organs.

After more than 25 years of persecution, practitioners in mainland China continue to hold onto hope and show resilience against the CCP’s brutal campaign. This was recently highlighted by the tens of thousands of e-card greetings sent to Mr. Li published on Minghui, a U.S.-based website that tracks and records the persecution of Falun Gong.

Further, more and more Chinese have taken up the practice.

A Beijing resident shared how she learned about Falun Gong in her greeting message to Mr. Li.

One day, she said, a message appeared in her neighborhood group chat, asking residents to assist the authorities in “secretly monitoring” an elderly woman, a Falun Gong practitioner, living there. She mentioned feeling uneasy about this request and began to wonder who this neighbor was and why so many people needed to be involved.

Then, when she finally met the elderly woman, she was taken aback.

“How can they call her elderly? Her face is radiant, free of wrinkles, and her soft eyes show kindness,” she said in a video accompanying the greeting. “It took less than a minute for us to become friends.”

When she asked the elderly woman how she stayed youthful, she gave her a book titled “Zhuan Falun,” the core text of Falun Gong.

“After reading it, I found all the answers I had been searching for,” she said. “I found the meaning of life.”

A Chinese New Year greeting card for Mr. Li Hongzhi from a practitioner in Beijing is posted on the Minghui website. Courtesy of Minghui

Li Yuanming and Yi Ru contributed to this report.