CCP’s New Push to Eliminate
Falun Gong and Shen Yun Globally
The CCP has long engaged in transnational repression targeting Falun Gong and a global censorship campaign to silence Shen Yun Performing Arts, an American classical Chinese dance company founded by Falun Gong practitioners.However, the aggressiveness, frequency, and violent nature of incidents has increased dramatically over the past year, especially in the United States. This shift is not accidental. Since June, internal party sources have leakeddetails and instructions from Xi Jinping and other top CCP officials that outline tactics that the regime plans to deploy. These are now manifesting inreal-world events.
- Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual practice in the Buddhist tradition. Falun Gong combines meditation and gentle exercises with a moral philosophy centered on the tenets of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance. Although introduced to the public in China in 1992, its roots extend back thousands of years.
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- In 1999, there were 100 million people practicing Falun Gong in China. Because of its popularity and independence, communist leader Jiang Zemin ordered the practice be “eradicated.” Millions have been detained or imprisoned. Over 100,000 have been tortured or abused in custody, and thousands have died from torture in custody.
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- Since Falun Gong’s introduction in China in 1992, the practice has spread to 100+ countries, transcending barriers of culture, language, and ethnicity. Practice sites are anywhere from Central Park to the beaches of Togo in Africa. Despite differences, what motivates these diverse individuals to practice, and what unites them?
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- From ancient roots extending back thousands of years, to a house-hold name in China during the qigong boom in the 1990s, to the largest group of prisoners of conscience in the world, to an unprecedented grassroots movement throughout China. Learn the real story of Falun Gong.
- Read the Falun Gong story
From a detailed report on 25 years of persecution to updates on the Chinese Communist Party’s latest campaign to silence and malign Falun Gong and Shen Yun Performing Arts worldwide, our latest research draws on diverse evidence to track emerging trends and key tactics.
CCP’s New Campaign to Eliminate Shen Yun and Falun Gong Globally
Incident Tracker and Timeline of New CCP Campaign
12 Things to Know About The New York Times’ “Investigation” of Shen Yun, Falun Gong
Your Voice Can Help End the Persecution
Tens of millions remain at risk. Give voice to those who have none.
Antony Blinken
U.S. Secretary of State
“Today, the United States designated a Chinese Communist Party official for his involvement in the arbitrary detention of Falun Gong practitioners. We will continue to promote accountability for those responsible for religious freedom [violations].”
Mike Pompeo
Former U.S. Secretary of State
“We call on the PRC government to immediately end its depraved abuse and mistreatment of Falun Gong practitioners, release those imprisoned due to their beliefs… and address the whereabouts of missing practitioners.”
Wu Shaoping
Chinese human rights lawyer
“No matter what excuse the Chinese Communist Party uses to arrest Falun Gong practitioners, it is illegal. It has no legal basis whether it’s in China or internationally.”
Nina Shea
Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Religious Freedom at Hudson Institute
“Policymakers should clearly condemn this persecution against Falun Gong and declare it a genocide.”
Freedom House
The Battle for China's Spirit, 2017
“Millions of people in China continue to practice Falun Gong, including many individuals who took up the discipline after the repression began. This represents a striking failure of the CCP’s security apparatus.”
Sam Brownback
Former U.S. Ambassador for International Religious Freedom
“For years, the world kind of turned a blind eye to what the Falun Gong were saying about organ harvesting. But the world can no longer sit back and say… I’d rather just not know.”
Sarah Cook
Senior Advisor for China, Hong Kong and Taiwan at Freedom House
“After nearly 20 years of persecution, Falun Gong survives in China: millions of Chinese still practice the discipline, including hundreds of thousands who have published online statements rescinding denunciations made under torture during ‘transformation’ efforts.”
Amnesty International
March 2000 Report on China
“The crackdown is politically motivated, and the vast majority of its victims are ordinary people who merely exercised peacefully their fundamental rights to freedom of belief.”
Chris Smith
United States Congressman (R-NJ)
“Falun Gong practitioners have been great witnesses of courage and peace. Many members of Falun Gong are great heroes of Internet freedom.”
Patrick Leahy
U.S. Senator (D-VT)
“The Chinese government has arbitrarily detained millions of Falun Gong practitioners… [who] have been interred at reeducation camps, beaten, electrocuted, force-fed, sexually assaulted, starved, and tortured in countless other horrific ways…The Chinese government should immediately cease its arbitrary detention and brutalization of Falun Gong practitioners.”
Arthur Waldron
Lauder Professor, University of Pennsylvania
“Falun Gong activities and publications are doing much to end the lying in China. Their writings are forthright, not couched in ambiguities. They call things exactly as they see them. They also espouse cures to the pathologies of communism, in the traditional Chinese values of truthfulness and human heartedness.”
Freedom House
Annual Report 2017
“Falun Gong practitioners across China are subject to widespread surveillance, arbitrary detention, imprisonment, and torture, and they are at a high risk of extrajudicial execution.”
