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| Format | Weekly Broadsheet Newsprint |
|---|---|
| Owner(s) | Kanzhongguo Association, Inc. |
| Editor-in-chief | Lily Zhang |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Website |
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| Free online archives | pdf |
Vision Times (simplified Chinese:看中国;traditional Chinese:看中國), also known asKanzhongguo, is aFalun Gong-affiliated Chinese language weeklynewspaper.[1] It was founded in 2001 as a website, www.secretchina.com. In 2006, it began publishing weekly print versions in major U.S. cities and Australia (asVision China Times) where large Chinese communities exist. In 2007, print versions were launched in Europe.[2]
Vision Times operates multipleYouTube channels, includingChina Observer,China Insights andVision Times Post.
Vision Times is one of the news organizations referred to as "our media" byLi Hongzhi, founder ofFalun Gong, anew religious movement that opposes theChinese Communist Party.[1] The newspaper's president is the spokesperson for theFalun Dafa Association in New York, and is chair of another Falun Gong group called Quit the CCP.[1] In 2020, ABC'sBackground Briefing confirmedVision Times as a Falun Gong publication through testimonies of ex-practitioners and emails of Falun Gong members.[3] In 2021,The Atlantic calledVision Times a "doppelgänger site" ofThe Epoch Times.[4] In the same year, David Brophy wrote thatVision Times' general manager is part of theAustralian Government's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade'sNational Foundation for Australia-China Relations.[3]
According toSemafor, the YouTube channel China Insights is affiliated withVision Times.[5]
In an interview withHoover Institution, a conservative think tank, Peter Wang, the publisher of the New York edition, claimed the paper is not a Falun Gong operation despite some of the staff being Falun Gong adherents. He claims the purpose ofVision Times was to address the issue of the shrinking space for independent Chinese voices in the United States.[6] The Hoover Institution's 2018 survey of the Chinese language media landscape in the United States said, "The space for truly independent Chinese-language media in the United States has shrunk to a few media outlets supported by the adherents of Falun Gong, the banned religious sect in China, and a small publication and website calledVision Times."[6]
According to the report from theAustralian Strategic Policy Institute,Vision Times andThe Epoch Times were established with Falun gong links, with the former sharing domain names and branding with US-basedVision Times. The AustralianVision Times was established by Sydney-based businessman Don Ma, but the ownership was later transferred to Wu Liewang.Vision Times is also affiliated withDecode China, a short-lived website arranged byUnited States Department of State. The report determined that the falun-gong-backedVision Times andThe Epoch Times were the only outlets absent from political and commercial connections in China.[7]
Some China experts such as David Brophy from Sydney University have questionedVision Times' editorial independence from Falun Gong. Brophy saidVision Times presented as factual a report that doctors recovered fromCOVID-19 by reciting the nine sacred words of Falun Gong. ABC'sBackground Briefing noted thatVision Times had also published an unsourced report that former Chinese political leaders were interested in eating human brains.[1]
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