All language subtitles for taiwan_and_china_english

Where in the world can you find more authentic
Chinese culture than in China?

Many would argue.

It is Taiwan.

The island of Taiwan sits off the coast of
mainland China.

Taiwan and China share the same ethnicity,
same culture, same history, the same language,

but there's one very big difference.

Since 1949 China has been ruled by the Chinese
Communist Party, whereas Taiwan is now a democracy.

That one difference has caused these two places
situated a mere 100 miles from each other

to seem like two different worlds.

There is no greater example of this difference
than with the treatment of Falun Gong.

With roots in traditional Chinese culture,
the Buddhist based practice of Falun Gong

grew quickly in both China and Taiwan.

It was first introduced to the public in China
in 1992.

By 1999, 100 million people had taken up the
practice in China.

Similarly, in Taiwan Falun Gong is found in
virtually every city, town or village throughout

the entire island.

In fact, you'd be hard-pressed not to find
a park that has Falun Gong practitioners doing

their sitting meditation or slow-moving exercises
each morning.

Sadly in 1999, a former Chinese Communist
party leader, Jiang Zemin, ordered thatFalun

Gong be eliminated in China.

But that was not so in Taiwan, where Falun
Gong practitioners not only remain free to

practice but are continually recognized by
the government and civic organizations for

their moral character and their contribution
to Taiwanese Society.

Consider the following stories.

In mainland China.

Mr. Wang Zhuwen an engineer in Beijing, was
kidnapped from his home by police and illegally

held in detention for six months before being
thrown into prison for 16 years.

The reason.

Mr. Wang had volunteered his time to help
organize Falun Gong practice sites in Beijing.

In Taiwan.

Mr. Zhang Qingxi a professor of economics
at the National Taiwan University, has received

congratulatory letters from Taiwan's.

president and once played host to the mayor
of Taipei during a Falun Gong conference.

The reason, Mr. Zhang volunteers his time
to help organize Falun Gong practice sites

in Taiwan.

Today in China, Falun Gong practitioners are
kidnapped from their homes.

For meditating seized whilst handing out leaflets
or arrested for posting information online.

They are routinely tortured and killed.

Today in Taiwan there are hundreds of practice
sites in parks and public spaces where people

can go to learn Falun Gong free of charge.

Several Falun Gong summer retreats for elementary
and middle school teachers endorsed by Taiwan's

Board of Education have been organized in
the past years to introduce the principles

of the practice to teachers as part of their
ongoing education.

In China, Falun Gong practitioners are routinely
imprisoned without trial.

Many are sentenced to up to 18 years in prison
or forced labor camps.

In Taiwan, prison officials have welcomed
Falun Gong practitioners as guests invited

to speak to inmates about living upright and
moral lives in the hopes that the spirit of

Falun Gong will help them turn their lives
around.

China and Taiwan were not always on opposite
sides of the spectrum with regards to Falun

Gong.

In China during the 1990s shortly after Falun
Gong was introduced to the public by Mr. Li

Hongzhi, Falun Gong was widely popular and
fully embraced by the Chinese government.

Mr. Li was even invited to speak at senior
government venues and was given awards for

the benefits that Falun Gong had brought to
the health and well-being of the Chinese people.

That all changed tragically in 1999.

The core principles of Falun Gong are truthfulness,
compassion and tolerance.

People who practice aspire to live by these
principles in their daily lives.

For doing so in China, they're vilified and
brutally persecuted.

While in Taiwan, they are celebrated.

This one fact speaks volumes to the difference
between communist China and democratic Taiwan.