Zhang Erping first heard about Falun Gong in 1994 at an introductory talk organised by the Chinese consulate in New York.

Falun Gong members in Taipei mark the 10th anniversary of the crackdown on the spiritual movement within China

At the time, the Chinese Communist party was promoting the nascent spiritual movement abroad, along­side traditional cooking and handicrafts, as part of its “cultural propaganda to the west”.