LATEST ARTICLES
Feeling Qi, Facing Charges: The Criminalization of Spiritual Practice in Taiwan
For those who follow them, the benefits of Tai Ji Men teachings are clear. However, state bureaucrats misunderstood and persecuted the group for decades.
From Mount Zion to Tai Ji Men: Freedom of Religion or Belief Issues in Taiwan
The Tai Ji Men case and the persecution of the New Testament Church: how state control over religion has evolved—but not disappeared.
Why “Bitter Winter” Signed the Taiwan Shadow Report on the Two UN Covenants
Civil society has a watchdog role in checking whether government commitments to uphold human rights are taken seriously. In Taiwan, the Tai Ji Men case is a crucial test.
Taiwan and the Two Covenants: A Shadow Report. 5. Appendix: Brief Introduction to the Tai Ji Men Tax Case
“Bitter Winter” readers are familiar with the case. It is relevant for the Shadow Report, too.
Taiwan and the Two Covenants: A Shadow Report. 4. Article 15 ICESCR: Cultural Rights
Discriminating against traditional organizations through taxes, the government restricts the right to participate in cultural life.
Taiwan and the Two Covenants: A Shadow Report. 3. How Taiwan Violates Article 11 ICESCR
The enforcement of tax bills consistently intrudes on citizens’ lives and unduly restricts fundamental human rights.
Taiwan and the Two Covenants: A Shadow Report. 2. Article 11 ICESCR: Right to an Adequate Standard of Living
The dysfunctional Taiwanese tax system constantly violates taxpayers’ rights and the Covenant.
Taiwan and the Two Covenants: A Shadow Report. 1. Article 2: Equal Rights
Taiwan made the two United Nations covenants on human rights part of its domestic legislation. But is it respecting them?
No Peace Without Justice: Tai Ji Men and the Moral Architecture of Peace
An international webinar warns that Taiwan’s statements for peace would remain empty words without a just solution to the Tai Ji Men case.
Calling for a Solution of the Tai Ji Men Case
We join Tai Ji Men in respectfully asking the government of Taiwan, whose commitment to democracy in a region plagued by non-democratic regimes we appreciate and applaud, to return through a political act the confiscated sacred land to Tai Ji Men and publicly confirm that, as Taiwan’s Supreme Court stated, they never violated the law nor evaded taxes.
It would be a small step for Taiwan’s government, but a crucial one to tell the world Taiwan is truly committed to freedom of religion or belief and to the protection of religious and spiritual minorities that were once persecuted by its authoritarian and post-authoritarian regimes.
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“The Tai Ji Men Case” web site is a project by Action Alliance to Redress 1219 whose aim is to collect and put at the readers’ easy disposal articles, documents, and videos—from academic studies to magazine articles—about the case of Tai Ji Men, a mempai (similar to a school) of qigong, martial arts, and self-cultivation headquartered in Taiwan, which has been victim of discrimination and persecution in its home country since 1996, and whose street protests have generated widespread international protests. Here you can find an exhaustive chronology of the case.
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