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The Sound Kitchen

The Falun Dafa meditation movement

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This week on The Sound Kitchen, you’ll hear the answer to the question about the Falun Dafa meditation movement. You’ll go on a trip to Taiwan, hear some great music - and of course, there’s the new quiz question. Just click on the arrow in the photo above and enjoy!

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Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday. You’ll hear the winner’s names announced and the week’s quiz question, along with all the other ingredients you’ve grown accustomed to: your letters and essays, “On This Day”, quirky facts and news, interviews, and great music … so be sure and listen every week.

This week you’ll hear an interview with Julien Rousseau from the Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac museum. There’s a new exhibition there called “Paradise Palace” about Taiwanese funeral offerings – zhizha – made in paper and meant to be burnt. This is the house he will tell you about.

This house is made of paper and bamboo, with LED lights. It is a funeral offering, meant to accompany the defunt into the afterlife. The offering is burned after the funeral.
This house is made of paper and bamboo, with LED lights. It is a funeral offering, meant to accompany the defunt into the afterlife. The offering is burned after the funeral. © Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts

There are several zhizha in the exhibit; I was especially taken by these shoes. Hey, even ghosts may want to go dancing, right?

These shoes are made of paper, and are a funeral offering, meant to accompany the defunt into the after life. They will be burnt after the funeral.
These shoes are made of paper, and are a funeral offering, meant to accompany the defunt into the after life. They will be burnt after the funeral. © Skea

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This week’s quiz: On 18  May,  I asked you a question about an article on our website by RFI English journalist Jan van der Made. A fine bit of investigative reporting, the article is called “Fighting Communism - and making a stack on the side”, and is about the Chinese Falun Dafa meditation movement, called the Falun Gong.

I asked you to tell me the name of the man who founded the Falun Dafa meditation movement, and the name of the city in the US where the movement has its headquarters – the organization is outlawed in China.

The answers are: The name of the founder of the movement is Li Hongzhi. The Falun Gong headquarters are in the U-S, in Cuddebackville, New York.

The winners this week are: RFI Listeners Club members Michael Cunningham from Brisbane, Australia and Arne Timm from Harjumaa, Estonia; Samia Arshad from the RFI Pak France International Listeners Club in Chichawatni, Pakistan and Muhammad Shamim, the president of the RFI Golden Eagles Club in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala State, India. Last but not least, Sirin Ara Khanam from the Friends Radio Club in Naogaon, Bangladesh.

Congratulations winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s program: "Listen to Taiwan”: nature sounds recorded at Xiangshan mountain in Taiwan; Chinese traditional music performed on the guzheng; “I Remember You” by Johnny Mercer and Victor Schertzinger, sung by Diana Krall; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and the Miller’s Wife’s Dance from “The Three-Cornered Hat” by Manuel de Falla, performed by Ernst Ansermet and l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.

Do you have a musical request? Send it to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

This week’s question ... You'll have to listen to the show to participate. You have until 29 July to enter this week's quiz; the winners will be announced on the 3 August podcast. When you enter, be sure you send your postal address in with your answer, and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Send your answers to:

english.service@rfi.fr

or

Susan Owensby
RFI – The Sound Kitchen
80, rue Camille Desmoulins
92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux
France

or

By text … You can also send your quiz answers to The Sound Kitchen mobile phone. Dial your country’s international access code, or “ + ”, then 33 6 31 12 96 82. Don’t forget to include your mailing address in your text – and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

To find out how you can win a special Sound Kitchen prize, click here

To find out how you can become a member of the RFI Listeners Club, or to form your own official RFI Club, click here

 

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