Dragon Springs, also known as The Mountain, is a compound in

Deerpark, New York Deerpark is a town in the western part of Orange County, New York, United States, and part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 Census, the population was at 7,509. The center of population of New York is located in Cuddebackville, ...

, US that serves as the headquarters of the global

Falun Gong Falun Gong (, ) or Falun Dafa (; literally, "Dharma Wheel Practice" or "Law Wheel Practice") is a new religious movement.Junker, Andrew. 2019. ''Becoming Activists in Global China: Social Movements in the Chinese Diaspora'', pp. 23–24, 33, 119 ...

religious movement and the

Shen Yun Shen Yun Performing Arts (, "divine rhythm arts troupe") is a United States-based non-profit performing arts and entertainment company that tours internationally, producing dance performances and symphony concerts. It is operated by the Falun G ...

performance arts Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

troupe. Falun Gong founder and leader

Li Hongzhi Li Hongzhi (, born 1951/2) is a Chinese religious leader. He is the founder and leader of Falun Gong, or ''Falun Dafa'', a United States-based new religious movement. Li began his public teachings of Falun Gong on 13 May 1992 in Changchun, and s ...

lives near the compound, as do hundreds of Falun Gong adherents. Members of Shen Yun live and rehearse in the compound, which also has an orphanage, schools and temples.Collins, Zadrozny & Ben Collins. 2019
"Trump, QAnon and an impending judgment day: Behind the Facebook-fueled rise of The Epoch Times"
''

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

''. August 20, 2019. The compound is registered as a church, Dragon Springs Buddhist.

Location

Dragon Springs is primarily in Deerpark, New York, near the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

Cuddebackville Cuddebackville is a hamlet in the town of Deerpark, located in Orange County, New York, United States. Taking US-209, Its location is about north of Port Jervis. Cuddebackville is home to Hamilton Bicentennial Elementary School which is run by ...

, north of

Port Jervis Port Jervis is a city located at the confluence of the Neversink and Delaware rivers in western Orange County, New York, United States, north of the Delaware Water Gap. Its population was 8,775 at the 2020 census. The communities of Deerpark, ...

, in

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

. It sits below the

Shawangunk Mountains Shawangunk ( ) may refer to: In New York *Shawangunk, New York, a town in Ulster County *Shawangunk Correctional Facility, in Ulster County *Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge, in Ulster County *Shawangunk Kill, a tributary of the Wallk ...

approximately two hours north of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. The surrounding communities have many Falun Gong followers. Sociologist and author Andrew Junker noted that in 2019, near Dragon Springs, in Middletown, was an office for the Falun Gong media extension ''

The Epoch Times ''The Epoch Times'' is a far-right international multi-language newspaper and media company affiliated with the Falun Gong new religious movement. The newspaper, based in New York City, is part of the Epoch Media Group, which also operates New ...

'', which published a special local edition.Junker (2019: 33, 101).

Overview

The compound has been a point of controversy among former residents, who have stated Li Hongzhi maintains tight control over daily life.

Fei Tian College and Fei Tian Academy of the Arts

Two schools operate in or around Falun Gong's Dragon Springs compound: Fei Tian College (), a private arts college; and a middle-high school, the Fei Tian Academy of Arts (). Fei Tian College "acts as a feeder for Shen Yun". Both the college and high school initially operated out of Dragon Springs before expanding into Middletown in 2017.Nani, James. 2017. "Fei Tian arts academies expanding in Middletown". ''Times Herald-Record'', Feb 20, 2017
Online
Last accessed July 6, 2020. According to the ''Times Herald-Record'', "the two schools are independent entities but maintain a close relationship".Nani, James. 2017
"College buys ex-Middletown psych center building to make into dorm"
Feb 8, 2017. ''Times Herald-Record''. Last accessed July 6, 2020. According to the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, the college offers a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...

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.

Council for Higher Education Accreditation The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) is a United States organization of degree-granting colleges and universities. It identifies its purpose as providing national advocacy for academic quality through accreditation in order t ...

. Undated. "Fie Tian College". ''CICU: New York's Private Colleges and Universities''. website
Online
Last accessed July 6, 2020. Fei Tian College holds institutional accreditation from the

New York State Board of Regents The Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York is responsible for the general supervision of all educational activities within New York State, presiding over University of the State of New York and the New York State Education Depa ...

.Undated
"Fei Tian College"
''

'' website. Last accessed July 6, 2020. Academic Yutian Wong referred to the college as " hen Yuns own degree-granting institution".Wong, Yutian. 2016. "Introduction" in '' Contemporary Directions in Asian American Dance'', p. 12.

University of Wisconsin Press The University of Wisconsin Press (sometimes abbreviated as UW Press) is a non-profit university press publishing peer-reviewed books and journals. It publishes work by scholars from the global academic community; works of fiction, memoir and po ...

. The high school was first approved by the

New York State Education Department The New York State Education Department (NYSED) is the department of the New York state government responsible for the supervision for all public schools in New York and all standardized testing, as well as the production and administration o ...

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". This led the Deerpark Planning Board to unanimously deny a six-month extension for a special-use permit for Dragon Springs.Nani, James. 2012
"Deerpark won't extend Dragon Springs permit"
''Times Herald-Record''. Nov 16, 2020. Last accessed July 6, 2020.

Architecture

According to its owners Dragon Springs is centered on a tall Buddhist temple built in the style of the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

. Several other buildings in the compound are also built in the same wood heavy Tang dynasty style. There are also buildings constructed in a modern style. During construction in 2008, a 54-year-old man from

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, 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 The Occupational Safety and Health Administration'' (OSHA ) is a large regulatory agency of the United States Department of Labor that originally had federal visitorial powers to inspect and examine workplaces. Congress established the agenc ...

(OSHA). No autopsy was performed because of religious preferences of the family.

Conflict with surrounding communities

Dragon Springs is a point of contention within Deerpark and the surrounding communities. Falun Gong adherents living in the area have claimed that they have experienced discrimination from local residents and from the local government based on their race and religious beliefs.Hill, Michael (April 2019)
"Falun Gong US compound's neighbors fret over expansion plans".
''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

''. In 2014, the town of Deerpark took Dragon Springs Buddhist, Inc. to court over persistent illegal construction in the Dragon Springs compound. The organization has a history of breaking local laws and then paying the associated fines without complaint. In 2018, Dragon Springs Buddhist, Inc. was fined $7,500 since they failed to comply with a local construction law requiring the installation of a sprinkler system for wooden building over four stories tall. They were also issued with a stop work order for the illegal eighth floor of the permitted seven-floor wood building. In 2019, Falun Gong filed for permits 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, and other environmental non-profits and citizens groups regarding the wastewater treatment facility and the elimination of local wetlands, impacting local waterways such as the

Basher Kill Basher Kill is a stream in Orange and Sullivan counties in the U.S. state of New York. It is a tributary to the Neversink River. The stream headwaters The headwaters of a river or stream is the farthest place in that river or stream from i ...

and

Neversink River The Neversink River (also called Neversink Creek in its upper course) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Delaware River in southeastern Ne ...

. Local residents opposed the expansion because it would increase traffic and reduce the rural character of the area, in addition to the negative environmental effects. The public hearing meeting lasted over 3 hours, with a substantial number of speakers expressing their views on the proposed action. After visiting in 2019, Junker noted that "the secrecy of Dragon Springs was obvious and a source of tension for the town." Junker added that Dragon Springs's website says its restricted access is for security reasons, and that the site claims the compound contains orphans and refugees.Junker 2019: 100-101. In January 2022, residents and the non-profit NYenvironcom sued, alleging Dragon Springs violated the

Clean Water Act The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Its objective is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters; recognizing the responsibiliti ...

Notes

References

External links

* {{coord, 41.4468, -74.5905, type:landmark_region:US-NY, display=title Asian-American culture in New York (state) Falun Gong Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area Buildings and structures in Orange County, New York