Dragon Springs

Dragon Springs, also known as The Mountain,[1] is a 427-acre (1.73 km2) compound located in Deerpark, New York, which serves as the informal headquarters of Falun Gong. Falun Gong founder and leader Li Hongzhi resides near the compound, along with "hundreds" of Falun Gong adherents. Members of Falun Gong extension Shen Yun live and rehearse in the compound, which also contains schools and temples.[2] The compound is registered as a church, Dragon Springs Buddhist, which gives it tax exemptions and greater privacy. Scholar Andew Junker noted that in 2019, near Dragon Springs, in Middletown, was an office for the Falun Gong media extension The Epoch Times, which published a special local edition.[3]

Location

Dragon Springs is located primarily in Deerpark, New York, near the hamlet of Cuddebackville, north of Port Jervis. It sits below the Shawangunk Mountains approximately two hours north of New York City.[1]

Overview

The compound has been a point of controversy among former residents. According to NBC News:

[F]our former compound residents and former Falun Gong practitioners who spoke to NBC News … said that life in Dragon Springs is tightly controlled by Li, that internet access is restricted, the use of medicines is discouraged, and arranged relationships are common. Two former residents on visas said they were offered to be set up with U.S. residents at the compound.

Tiger Huang, a former Dragon Springs resident who was on a U.S. student visa from Taiwan, said she was set up on three dates on the compound, and she believed her ability to stay in the U.S. was tied to the arrangement.

"The purpose of setting up the dates was obvious," Huang said. Her now-husband, a former Dragon Springs resident, confirmed the account. Huang said she was told by Dragon Springs officials her visa had expired and was told to go back to Taiwan after months of dating a nonpractitioner in the compound. She later learned that her visa had not expired when she was told to leave the country.[2]

Fei Tian College and Fei Tian Academy of the Arts

Two schools operate in or around Falun Gong's Dragon Springs compound: A private arts college, Fei Tian College, and a highschool, Fei Tian Academy of Arts.[4] Fei Tian College "acts as a feeder for Shen Yun".[4] Both the college and highschool initially operated out of Dragon Springs before expanding into Middletown in 2017.[5] According to the Times Herald-Record, "the two schools are independent entities but maintain a close relationship".[6]

According to the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, the college offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts in "classical Chinese dance and Bachelor's in Music Performance", student facilities include an on-site basketball court and a gym, and 2015 enrollment consisted of 127 students.[7] Fei Tian College holds institutional accreditation from the New York State Board of Regents.[8] Academic Yutian Wong refers to the college as "[Shen Yun]'s own degree-granting institution".[9]

The high school was first approved by the New York State Education Department for operation in 2007. As of 2012, it operated with 200 students. In 2012, the school became a point of contention with Deerpark officials after discovering its operations, because "they were never told of a performing arts college and high school being run there", leading to the Deerpark Planning Board unanimously denying a six-month extension for a special-use permit for Dragon Springs.[10]

Architecture

According to its owners Dragon Springs is centered on a 75-foot (23 m) tall buddhist temple built in the style of the Tang dynasty. Several other buildings in the compound are also built in the same wood heavy Tang dynasty style.[11] There are also buildings constructed in a modern style.[12]

During construction in 2008, a 54-year-old man from Toronto, Janin Liu, died in a fall. He was a volunteer construction worker rather than an employee, so no investigation was initiated by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). No autopsy was performed because of religious preferences of the family.[12][13]

Conflict with surrounding communities

Acquired by Falun Gong in 2000, the site is closed to visitors and features guarded gates, has been a point of contention for some Deer Park residents concerned. In 2019, Falun Gong requested to expand the site, wishing to add a 920-seat concert hall, a new parking garage, a wastewater treatment plant and a conversion of meditation space into residential space large enough to bring the total residential capacity to 500 people. These plans met with opposition from the Delaware Riverkeeper Network regarding the wastewater treatment facility and the elimination of local wetlands, impacting local waterways such as the Basher Kill and Neversink River. Local residents opposed the expansion because it would increase traffic and reduce the rural character of the area. Falun Gong adherents living in the area have claimed that they have experienced discrimination from local residents.[4]

After visiting in 2019, Junker noted that "the secrecy of Dragon Springs was obvious and a source of tension for the town." Junker adds that, Dragon Springs's website says its restricted access is for security reasons, and that the site claims the compound contains orphans and refugees .[14]

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References
  1. Campbell, Eric; Cohen, Hagar. "The power of Falun Gong". www.abc.net.au. ABC Australia. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  2. Collins, Zadrozny & Ben Collins. 2019. "Trump, QAnon and an impending judgment day: Behind the Facebook-fueled rise of The Epoch Times". NBC News. August 20, 2019. Online Archived 23 August 2019 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Junker (2019: 33, 101).
  4. Hill, Michael (April 2019). "Falun Gong US compound’s neighbors fret over expansion plans". Associated Press.
  5. Nani, James. 2017. "Fei Tian arts academies expanding in Middletown". Times Herald-Record, Feb 20, 2017. Online. Last accessed July 6, 2020.
  6. Nani, James. 2017. "College buys ex-Middletown psych center building to make into dorm", Feb 8, 2017. Times Herald-Record. Online. Last accessed July 6, 2020.
  7. Council for Higher Education Accreditation. Undated. "Fie Tian College". CICU: New York's Private Colleges and Universities. website. Online. Last accessed July 6, 2020.
  8. Undated. "Fei Tian College". Council for Higher Education Accreditation website. [Online https://www.chea.org/fei-tian-college]. Last accessed July 6, 2020.
  9. Wong, Yutian. 2016. "Introduction" in Contemporary Directions in Asian American Dance, p. 12. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 9780299308704
  10. Nani, James. 2012. "Deerpark won’t extend Dragon Springs permit". Times Herald-Record. Nov 16, 2020. Online. Last accessed July 6, 2020.
  11. "Dragon Springs". www.dragonsprings.org. Dragon Springs. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  12. Pasley, James (April 2019). "Inside Dragon Springs, the high-security compound in upstate New York that's home to a 'cult' tyrannized by China". Business Insider. Archived from the original on September 10, 2019. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  13. Sacco, Stephen (May 6, 2008). "Questions remain in Deerpark death". Record Online. Middletown, New York: Gannett. Archived from the original on June 11, 2020. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  14. Junker 2019: 100-101.

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