Haha ok the statement is a little bit simplified. So during the 90s the cpc promoted a kind of a Chinese traditional culture revival which included things like ancient Chinese history, philosophy and religion.

The head of flg was a dude in the PLA and he saw a way to create his own form of qigong practice that plagiarized a lot of daoist/buddhist/folk religion ideas (he probably pull some strings to have more exposure in the Chinese population at that time)

In the 90s Falun gong was pretty popular as it is a way to promote culture but also healthy practice. The government (local one)actually sanctioned the flg (probably because there are some money involved).

However, flg gained so much momentum that the practitioners practice it in public spaces like the tian an men square. Government started to be very nervous (in general the cpc never really liked any gatherings of any sort). There is also the leader running scam telling the practitioners to abandon modern medical practice for Chinese medicine (ofc they sell their own products to the practitioners)

Government started to do crackdown on the practice and they outright ban it when a practionner decided to self immolate in the Tian an Men square.

The leader fled to the US and now live in a compound and basically the USA gives him a pension and also a lot of resources to start their own media sphere in the diaspora that is anti cpc.