Friends of Dragon Springs
Do you have a question or concern about Dragon Springs?
You’re probably not alone. Over the years, a combination of misunderstandings, cultural differences, and erroneous media coverage have given rise to a few concerns in our community. Therefore, we put together the following Q&A to address the most common questions we’ve heard over the years.
Frequently asked questions...
Who started Dragon Springs and why?
Dragon Springs was started by people who practice Falun Gong, which is a Buddhist-based spiritual practice that teaches people to live by three principles: integrity (真), compassion (善), and tolerance (忍).
Falun Gong was widely popular in China throughout the 1990s. In fact, a Chinese government survey conducted in 1998 found there were 70-100 million people doing the practice. Because it was so popular, the communist regime effectively banned the practice in 1999, and launched a nationwide campaign to stamp out Falun Gong by any means necessary. State-run media flooded the country with fabricated reports aimed at demonizing the practice, and much of this false narrative was picked up by Western press and spread around the world. For the last 23 years, anyone who practices or supports Falun Gong in China is subject to imprisonment, forced labor, and/or torture. Thousands have died from torture. Human rights lawyers and researchers have confirmed that Falun Gong detainees have been killed “on a large scale” so their vital organs can be extracted and used to fuel a booming organ transplant business in China. You can read more about these terrible crimes here, or watch videos about them here.
In the spirit of our American forebears, Falun Gong practitioners fled persecution in their homeland and established a new life for themselves here in Deerpark at the site of Dragon Springs. Although starting with almost nothing, through hard work and faith, they have built not only a home for themselves, but also a world class arts and cultural center through which they can share the beauty and depth of authentic Chinese culture with the world. You can read more about the annual global tour here.
Is Dragon Springs a “secretive compound?”
To many of us who’ve done work at Dragon Springs, we find this idea of “secretive” silly and wholly inaccurate. Every day, there are delivery trucks, service, and maintenance companies, etc. passing through or working on site. Teachers and staff commute daily to work on site. Parents of students are often here picking up or dropping off their kids. In other words, it’s very much like any other boarding school or college/corporate campus you might find across the country.
As for it being a “compound,” this term also very misleading. Dragon Springs is not walled in, but rather, set amidst 400 acres of woodland, complete with a network of beautiful walking paths and exquisite Tang Dynasty-style architecture. The blending of this architecture into the natural landscape makes for a breathtaking scene, and one can often see students and faculty alike strolling through the grounds, performing exercises outside, or simply gathered among the many outdoor rotundas for study and socializing.
Why security at the gates?
Like many colleges and educational institutions throughout the U.S., Dragon Springs does have security guards at the gates (no, they do not patrol the gates with AK-47s as some of the more exaggerated rumors have proclaimed). There is, however, a very important reason for the security.
For those of us who have done some work at Dragon Springs, we have learned that almost every Chinese person there has a story from China: a mother that was killed, a brother that is imprisoned. Some had been, themselves, tortured in jails and labor camps. What is particularly surprising is that many of these folks continue to receive threats even today, in America. Some have even been assaulted on U.S. soil by Chinese government thugs. The people at Dragon Springs explain that the gates are primarily in place to protect people from these agents hired by the Chinese regime, who have, in fact, tried many times to enter the site. And it’s not just acts of violence they have to worry about. Many who live or work at Dragon Springs have family back in China. If they are identified by Chinese agents as being at Dragon Springs, it puts their families back in China at great risk. It is common for Chinese police to threaten, harass, or even imprison family in China of those abroad who speak freely about the crimes of the communist regime.
What many people don’t realize is that the Chinese communist regime has made a top priority to marginalize, intimidate, and silence Falun Gong communities around the world, and Dragon Springs is named specifically as a “high priority” target. The reasons for this are tragic and somewhat complicated, so you can read more about it here. However, the bottom line is that Dragon Springs must protect itself from threats and danger posed by the largest communist regime in the world. That’s not something to be taken lightly, especially given the fact that there are children and young adults on campus.
Does Dragon Springs negatively impact the environment?
There have been some accusations that the Dragon Springs site has polluted a nearby river. Repeated testing by a licensed operator and inspections by state agencies have shown, however, this is simply not true. Dragon Springs operates a modern wastewater treatment plant that includes a UV unit for disinfection. The treated water is released into the ground, not to any nearby river. In addition to quarterly testing done on the plant, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) performs inspections of Dragon Springs’ Wastewater Treatment Plant and operations.
In fact, Dragon Springs has never discharged wastewater directly to nearby streams, rivers, or any surface water.
Dragon Springs has also installed enhanced erosion control systems to prevent soil erosions during heavy storms. These systems are maintained and inspected regularly by NYSDEC certified staff.
Some neighbors may see the stream along Galley Hill Road occasionally becomes brownish after heavy rains due to soil erosions and thought it must be from Dragon Springs. However, the drainage area of the stream covers a large area along the upper Galley Hill Road, not only Dragon Springs land. Any man made or natural soil erosions in this area could and does cause discoloration in the stream during heavy rains.
Often when a complaint is made to the DEC upon observing brown sediment flowing into the Basher Kill river from the Galley Hill stream, DEC staff have come to Dragon Springs to inspect both the wastewater treatment plant and storm water prevention measures, and found the allegations were not true.
The accusations about alleged river pollution stems almost entirely from an organization with overt and clear ties to communist China. In other words, it’s pretty clear the Chinese communist regime is influencing and/or funding people to target Dragon Springs using environmental attacks as the weapon of choice. You can read more about these groups and the link to communist China here, with an update to the story here.
Fortunately, their illicit actions have failed, with the latest Clear Water Act (CWA) complaint against Dragon Springs dismissed in federal court with prejudice, which means the court has made a final determination on the legal and factual issues of the claim, and the plaintiffs may not bring the same claim again. In plain English, the allegations against Dragon Springs were found to be so lacking and without merit that they cannot be made again. In dismissing the latest CWA complaint, the judge said the complaint against Dragon Springs is “riddled with deficiencies,” repeatedly changes accusations, and even fails to identify the alleged source of pollutants. Throughout the decision, the judge uses terms like “vague,” “illogical,” and “an oxymoron” to describe the complaint’s allegations.
Is there excessive building at Dragon Springs?
As some of us who have done work at Dragon Springs can attest to, the opposite is true. Dragon Springs sits on more than 400 acres of land: only 17% of that land has been developed, with the remainder being maintained as natural woodland. Furthermore, aside from a few religious education buildings, the architecture of the core temple area is built following the Tang ideal: blending the manmade with the natural. It’s a wonderful harmony between the buildings and the landscape.
Additionally, construction at Dragon Springs follows industry-standard procedures, including obtaining building permits from the town, inspections from government agencies, and certifications from licensed architects and engineers.
Does Dragon Springs build without permits?
Dragon Springs follows building permitting procedures, such as applying to the building department for permits or presenting plans before the planning board. The rumor that Dragon Springs constantly “builds without permits” is a gross distortion of reality. Here’s what is really going on…
At Dragon Springs, there are a few areas of development:
-
A temple area consisting of traditional Buddhist temple style buildings
-
An education complex, consisting of buildings where people both study, work, and live.
-
A few other isolated buildings, such as a residential home and warehouses.
Altogether, the above buildings constitute over 98% of the developed space, and 100% of the working/inhabitable space (i.e. places where people either regularly work or live). Here's the important part: every single one of these buildings had a building permit issued by the town.
Over the last 22 years, the only incidents of “building without permit” involve one of the following extraneous and rare circumstances…
-
Small structures vital for protection/safety for which timely construction was needed to avoid damage to vital equipment.
-
Ancillary structures for which it was unclear if a building permit was required
-
A few projects which had a building permit, but construction took longer than expected, beyond a permit expiration date.
All of the above incidents represent a small fraction of the buildings at Dragon Springs and occured many years ago. Furthermore, regardless of what happened in the distant past, today Dragon Springs has building permits from both Deerpark and Mr. Hope. And yet, some hostile actors have distorted the above facts into a false narrative that Dragon Springs “always builds without a permit" and continues to do so today. This story-line has been a potent weapon to escalate animosity towards Dragon Springs among residents, and today, has no basis in reality.
Is the Dragon Springs community "insular"; and not really part of the broader community?
If you look at the Falun Gong folks who have moved into the area over the last 20 years, counted among them have been Rotary Club members, volunteer fire fighters, school teachers, etc. Some have opened small businesses in the area, such as restaurants.
Each year, Falun Gong people are a mainstay of local town events such as the Christmas parades, and National Night Out events. Notably, each fall, Falun Gong volunteers hold a grand "Moon Festival" in Mt. Hope or Deerpark, attracting thousands from around the area, and raising over $20,000 for the local fire department. During the holidays, they host a Christmas Market and Holiday Wonderland event that is free to the public.
Falun Gong volunteers have also frequently spearheaded donation drives, garbage clean-ups, and meal deliveries throughout the area. In particular, they delivered medical masks to key front-line heroes, such as care-givers, police, etc. throughout the pandemic.
I heard Dragon Springs does not pay taxes?
Dragon Springs is a religious nonprofit, and like all nonprofits across the country, is tax exempt. This is federal law and applies equally to Christian churches, Jewish temples, religious schools, etc. Dragon Springs is no different. However, it should be noted that more than 80% of all staff that work at Dragon Springs do not live there. They have private homes in the surrounding areas where they pay taxes, and contribute to the local economy like everyone else.
Why can’t I visit Dragon Springs?
From our experience, this question is perhaps the one that pains the folks at Dragon Springs the most. Time and time again, they tell us how eagerly they look forward to the day when they can open their site to the public. This has always been and remains one of Dragon Springs' primary goals. So, what’s stopping them? Two things: (1) Development has progressed more slowly than they had hoped, and so they still don’t have all the facilities built that they would need to open to the public. They are working hard to get there! (2) The on-going persecution of people who practice Falun Gong in China and the communist regime’s rampant use of agents here in the U.S. to silence, threaten, and attack dissidents makes it difficult. We can see, however, that everyone at Dragon Springs remains optimistic that the construction can be finished, and efforts of governments and human rights workers around the world will help put an end to the persecution. On that happy day, we’re told that Dragon Springs will gladly open its gates to all!
Are the news reports about Dragon Springs accurate?
When the persecution of Falun Gong first started, most journalists, including those stationed in Beijing, knew nothing about Falun Gong. Unfortunately, into this void China’s state-run media poured a barrage of propaganda. These false reports were picked up by many news agencies in the U.S. and throughout the West mostly because they did not have any other sources to draw from. Subsequent news reports often draw from these flawed initial reports, thereby acting as a repeater of the communist regime’s lies about Falun Gong. Over the years, this problem has worsened as most major media companies are now owned by high net-worth individuals or companies with significant business ties to China. The end result is that when we read the news reports about Dragon Springs, we often find them describing something that is nothing like the Dragon Springs we’ve come to know.
The Chinese regime says they are a “cult.” Is there any truth to this?
Let's keep in mind this is the same regime that calls Tibet's Dalai Lama a "tyrant" and the democratic island of Taiwan a "renegade province." They are not exactly big on truth.
Since the communist party seized power in China in 1949, it has systematically targeted any group whose belief system challenged communist ideology. The regime does this with the goal of instilling Marxism in people so they will revere only the communist party. Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, and others have been systematically suppressed, often violently, by the Chinese communist regime.
Unlike 20th century China that was somewhat isolated from the world and could persecute its own people with relative impunity, when the regime ordered that Falun Gong be “eliminated” in 1999, China had partially opened itself to the international community to draw in foreign investments. Foreign journalists and businesses were in major Chinese cities. The regime knew it couldn’t just imprison and kill a group of people en masse without the international community taking notice. It needed an excuse to give to the world for its suppression of Falun Gong, and so it built a narrative around the lie that Falun Gong was a ‘cult’ and sold it to the international community.
This is all the more tragic given the fact that Falun Gong is the very opposite of a cult. There are thousands of personal accounts of how the practice empowers the individual spirit and helps bring families and communities together. One thing our friends at Dragon Springs remind us of is that Falun Gong is always taught for free, everywhere around the world. Its books and instructional videos are available for free online. You never have to pay a penny nor sign up for any organization if you want to start practicing.
You can read more about this false ‘cult’ label here.
But some U.S. news reports paint a picture of life at Dragon Springs that seems cultish. Is there any truth to this?
Personally, we find these reports to be bizarre and paint a highly distorted picture of what life is really like at Dragon Springs. We simply do not recognize the community they portray. However, we also notice that these reports exhibit similar characteristics:
-
Cherry pick: these reports cherry-pick a tiny, unrepresentative sample of former performers to cast wide ranging accusations, which fly in the face of the accounts from an overwhelming majority of current and former staff/students who spent time at Dragon Springs. Many of these accounts are available at Shen Yun Community or Shen Yun Creations.
-
Undisclosed ties: in some reports, the main interview subjects have undisclosed ties to Chinese government entities and/or social media influencers back by the Chinese regime. At the very least, this represents an undisclosed conflict of interest, but more likely, indicates CCP proxies are being platformed with a clear purpose to propagate false narratives about Dragon Springs.
-
Cultural ignorance, bias: the articles often displays a shocking level of cultural and religious illiteracy and bias.
-
Limited knowledge of reporters: the reporters possess little to know knowledge of traditional Chinese culture and spiritual practices, often imposing ignorant Western value judgements upon the culture and people of Dragon Springs.
In September 2024, an NGO did an in-depth study of these articles and reveal how they draw extensively from interview subjects with undisclosed ties to the Chinese government, are riddled with biases, and disregard information from experts, including doctors, lawyers, and China specialists that disproves their central narratives.
Some U.S. news reports say they are “far right.” Is there any truth to this?
Even a cursory glance at the beliefs of Falun Gong practitioners, or a casual acquaintance with those who practice, demonstrates this is false. Yet, in recent years, this label has been repeated, sometimes from reputable news organizations. Why? It mostly stems from the growing popularity of the Epoch Times newspaper, which some consider to be right-leaning or even “far right.” Because this newspaper was founded by people who practice Falun Gong, critics make the mistake of characterizing the editorial direction of the Epoch Times as “in line with” or even directed by Falun Gong beliefs. We have found this is not true because among Falun Gong practitioners, like with most religious groups, you will find conservatives, centrists, and liberals. What is more, there are 100 million people practicing Falun Gong around the world, with the majority found in China or Taiwan. Certainly, a vast number of these people have no knowledge of nor interest in American political leanings, be they left or right.
Here is a short video that explores this question in more depth.