Bay Area/ San Francisco
Published on March 24, 2014
Update On Falun Gong Purchase Of Boys & Girls Club SpacePhoto: Amy Stephenson/Hoodline
Last week we reported that the Boys & Girls Club building had been sold to Falun Gong for $6.9 million. Turns out that it's not exactly Falun Gong, but it is Falun Gong-related.

The space will be a new campus for the Fei Tian Academy of Arts California, an unaccredited fine arts academy which was founded by a group of Falun Gong members in 2010, according to the Examiner.

Although the purchase was funded mostly by Falun Gong practitioners, and the school itself is funded and run by Falun Gong practitioners, the CEO of the school, Xue Erong "Sherry" Zhong, denies that this will be a Falun Gong school. Zhong told the Examiner that it's "simply a middle and high school that teaches traditional Chinese arts as well as academics." 

She goes on to say that whoever spread rumors about this being a Falun Gong school might have been working with the 
People's Republic of China and their campaign against the group, which makes the whole situation more confusing because Falun Gong is technically behind the academy and the purchase of its new space.

Regardless, the academy is set to move in later this year. We'll keep an eye on it.