The academy of arts acts as a " feeder school" to Shen Yun, which is a type of theatrical dance performance. Two schools are inside the compound - Fei Tian Academy of the Arts and Fei Tian College. There are also more modern buildings within the compound. On the Dragon Springs website, it describes the temple as a blend of man and nature: "There's barely a screw, nail, or metal joint to be found in the buildings' all-timber structures." On the right, there's a temple in the style of the Tang Dynasty, which ruled China between the seventh and 10th century, with a 75-foot pagoda.
Since 2001, the compound has slowly added more buildings. Since Falun Gong is classified as a religion, it's a tax-exempt site. The 400-acre chunk of land was purchased in 2000. Because of this, the intense security is highly necessary, Falun Gong says. Some were tortured and imprisoned, others were orphaned by the authorities. But in Dragon Springs, they can live safely.Īccording to the Dragon Springs website, many of those living in the compound escaped from China. Since then, its followers have been persecuted, and there have been reports the followers' organs are being harvested. N 1999, China's Communist Party officially classed it as an illegal cult. Two lion statues also stand guard.įalun Gong is a system that combines Buddhism, mysticism, and exercise, but it also touches on aliens and ethnic separation. People can't just wander in for a look, though.įences run along the borders of the property and a security team monitors the gate. According to Dragon Springs president Jonathon Lee, the lakes and mountains provide good Feng shui. If you take the train from Otisville to Port Jervis, you can see the buildings through the trees. Hidden by forest below the Shawangunk Mountains, about 100 Falun Gong practitioners live on a closed-off, 400-acre compound in upstate New York. Here's everything we know about Dragon Springs. If allowed, the compound would go from housing 100 people to 500. It wants to build a 920-seat music hall, a new parking garage, a wastewater treatment plant, and turn a meditation hall into a residence hall.
But Falun Gong leaders want to expand it even more. David Ownby, a history professor at the University of Montreal who studied Falun Gong, also calls it a cult and says it exists because of China's efforts to keep traditional religions weak.įor years, nearby towns like Deer Park have been trying to rein in the compound. Inside Dragon Springs, according to sources who spoke to NBC News, internet access is restricted, medicine is barely used, and relationships are often arranged. It's meant to be a mecca for the estimated tens of millions of Falun Gong followers, members of a religious and political group persecuted in China, which calls the group a "cult." Few outsiders are permitted inside.Ībout 100 people are said to be living in a 400-acre property in upstate New York, in the shadow of the Shawangunk Mountains.
Surrounded by forests and guarded by armed security, Dragon Springs is a refuge for persecuted Falun Gong practitioners. Email Inside Dragon Springs, the high-security compound in upstate New York that's home to a 'cult' tyrannized by China Business Insider/SeptemBy James Pasley
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