Despite the Supreme Court’s clear verdict in 2007, the Tai Ji Men case was not solved.
by Daniela Bovolenta
An article already published in Bitter Winter on July 23rd, 2024.
On July 13, 2024, CESNUR, the Center for Studies on New Religions, and Human Rights Without Frontiers organized one of their webinars on the Tai Ji Men case, with the title “Who Stole Tai Ji Men’s Victory?” The webinar was organized on the 17th anniversary of the decision of Taiwan’s Supreme Court that on July 13, 2007, found Tai Ji Men defendants innocent of all charges, including tax evasion.
Italian sociologist Massimo Introvigne, who serves as managing director of CESNUR and editor-in-chief of “Bitter Winter,” presented a video with moving testimonies of Tai Ji Men dizi (disciples) who were there when on December 19, 1996, the case started with raids against multiple Tai Ji Men locations in Taiwan and the detention of Tai Ji Men’s Shifu (Grand Master), Dr. Hong Tao-Tze, his wife, and two dizi.
Introvigne then introduced the webinar by reflecting on the statue Dr. Hong received at the Turin Book Fair in Italy on May 11 this year when he was honored with the Turin Global Peace Award 2024. Introvigne explained that he indicated the features of the statue to the specialized company in Tuscany that produced it. It is a modern rendering of the Greek goddess of victory Nike. Introvigne was inspired by the Nike of Samothrace in Paris’ Louvre Museum, he said, but took into account also the many statues of the goddess sculpted after World War I, commemorating together victory and peace. The statue alludes to Dr. Hong’s victorious campaigns to promote throughout the world a culture of love, peace, and conscience. He deserved credit, Introvigne said, also for the 2007 legal victory, and for guiding Tai Ji Men dizi in resisting those who “stole” it by continuing an unjust tax harassment.
Introvigne then introduced the first two speakers, Argentinian anthropologist María Vardé and Sara Susana Pozos Bravo, a research professor at Universidad Sämann de Jalisco in Guadalajara, Mexico. Vardé summarized the story of the Tai Ji Men case and stated that the aftermath of the 2007 victory was an example of “incomplete justice.” The Supreme Court decision failed to produce its intended consequences and the Tai Ji Men case was not closed. This was due, Vardé said, to an imbalance of powers in Taiwan. A sector of the executive power, the one dealing with taxes, escaped the control of both the Legislative Yuan and the Judicial Yuan. Even Taiwan’s peculiar institution, the Control Yuan, which should check the other branches of the government, found serious violations of law in the Tai Ji Men case but was not able to solve it, Vardé concluded.
Pozos Bravo stated that, seen from a faraway country such as Mexico, the Tai Ji Men case appears incomprehensible and even “scandalous.” Its origin in 1996 may be understood as typical of a post-authoritarian state where those who do not support the politicians in power are identified as “the others” and persecuted. The scandal, Pozos Bravo said, is that as Taiwan transitioned to democracy amidst international praise, Tai Ji Men dizi continued to be treated as “others” and their case was never solved. This did not discourage Dr. Hong and Tai Ji Men, she concluded, and their fight for justice, although not yet completely successful, is “inspiring” for many scholars and friends of freedom of religion or belief throughout the world.
Willy Fautré, co-founder and director of Human Rights Without Frontiers, chaired the second session and presented the second video. It featured a short story about a cruel magistrate in Qidong, Shandong, who arrested and tortured a widow and her father accusing them of having poisoned a group of relatives. It turned out they were innocent, but the magistrate who had made a serious mistake received only a mild punishment. The story shows that misguided and cruel magistrates can sometimes create more injustice than those who take bribes.
Fautré stated that “victory” is an ambiguous word and predicted that, whatever the military outcome, both sides in the war in Ukraine will claim victory as in all likelihood each would have reached some of its goals, although not all. Politicians always claim victory, although some of these victories are “pyrrhic,” a reference to the Greek king Pyrrhus, whose successes against the Romans costed so much in terms of lives and resources that they had the same effects as defeats. Tai Ji Men’s 2007 victory, Fautré said, was not “Pyrrhic” and had real positive effects. However, the Supreme Court decision was never fully enforced and the fight for justice had to continue.
Fautré then presented the testimonies of six dizi. Ann Chen, who works as an attorney in California, reported that she has been practicing Qigong with Tai Ji Men since she was 7. At age 10, she participated in her first cultural exchange trip with Dr. Hong and happily played the drum in 1999 at the Seattle Seafair Torchlight Parade. Since then, she has visited nine countries with Dr. Hong. She evoked her recent moving meetings, together with Dr. Hong, with Pope Francis (who shook hands with her) in St. Peter’s Square and with Nobel Prize laureate Jerry White. She expressed the hope that Taiwan’s government will acknowledge the global work of Tai Ji Men and stop harassing it through ill-founded tax bills.
Lana Tien, a primary school teacher of English, reported how teaching in a rural school and applying to her profession the principles she learned from Dr. Hong taught her that education is not simply a job but the effort to build a nation’s future. She also tries to teach children the importance of human rights and how they are rooted in conscience. The Tai Ji Men case, Lana Tien said, demonstrates the tragic consequences of abandoning conscience and losing sight of human rights.
Tiffany Yeh, a medical device R&D specialist, told how she started participating in protests about the Tai Ji Men case when she was in primary school. She did not fully understand the meaning of the protests then but was impressed by the dizi’s willingness to sacrifice their free time and holidays to attend the demonstrations. Later, she developed an understanding of the tax problems in Taiwan and also attended international events, such as the inauguration of two new Tai Ji Men academies in California in October 2023. These events powerfully awaken consciences, Yeh said, and will hopefully one day also wake up the conscience of Taiwan’s authorities.
Hayo Tien, an English teacher for public welfare groups, told the audience that he is also celebrating an anniversary, as he joined Tai Ji Men in 2004, twenty years ago. As a teacher, he learned from Dr. Hong how to care for each pupil with conscience, breaking down the barriers of class and cultural disparities. He was also able to help the more problematic children. Tien suffered for the injustice of the Tai Ji Men case. At the same time, he understood that, for the dizi who “came from the water and went to the fire” the persecution was an opportunity to refine their qualities as martial arts practitioners who are not afraid of suffering.
Joey Chiang, a new graduate and filmmaker, unlike other participants in the webinar did not grow up in Tai Ji Men and only joined it during his college years. At that time, studying cinema, he was interested in movies of the so-called Taiwanese New Cinema about the horrors of the White Terror. He believed that injustice and violations of human rights had largely ended in Taiwan with the end of the Martial Law. By learning about the Tai Ji Men case, he realized this was not the case. Although shocking, this realization led Chiang to spend time in fighting for tax and legal reform. He is also inspired, he said, by the example of Shimu, Dr. Hong’s deceased wife, although he never met her personally.
Joyce Lin, a retired teacher, reported how practicing Qigong with Tai Ji Men helped her in the thirty years she engaged in her demanding work. After her retirement, she devoted more time to traveling around the world with Dr. Hong and helping him spread his message of peace, love, and conscience. Lin remembers the day of the July 13, 2007, victory and how Tai Ji Men dizi expected their suffering to be over. However, this did not happen. Today, Lin realizes that she has lived for more than half a century, and for 28 years she had to confront the consequences of the fabricated Tai Ji Men case. But she has learned never to lose hope and wants to believe that the case will soon be resolved.
Marco Respinti, an Italian journalist and scholar who serves as director-in-charge of “Bitter Winter,” offered the conclusions of the webinar. Through a comparison with the American Constitution, he suggested that, while Taiwan recognizes religious liberty, perhaps the problem is that it does not put it at the center of all other human rights, as the Founding Fathers of the United States did. Respinti also quoted an incident in the life of Alexander the Great, who refused his generals’ suggestion to attack under cover of darkness as he found it disloyal. As he said, he “did not want to steal his victory.” The 2007 victory was stolen from Tai Ji Men, Respinti concluded, but their hearts remained pure, and their loyalty will one day be rewarded.
The event concluded with a musical video about Tai Ji Men protests in Taiwan, “Rising Winds and Surging Clouds.”