Thousands Gather to Condemn Persecution of Falun Gong

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WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Chinese regime launched a violent and far-ranging persecution against the traditional spiritual discipline Falun Gong ten years ago this week. To commemorate ten years of peaceful resistance, and to call for an end to the persecution, about 3,000 Falun Gong practitioners held various activities over four days in the nation's capital.

The series of events began when practitioners from around the world held a rally on July 16 in front of the Capitol, where nine members of Congress spoke, as did many leaders of human rights and faith-based organizations. Similar rallies have been held every year since 1999, when the under-reported large-scale persecution began.

This year's rally included the wife Gao Zhisheng, the renowned human rights lawyer who was abducted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on February 4 this year. Mr. Gao’s wife, Geng He, and their two children escaped from China via Thailand earlier this year, and were granted asylum in the United States.

Gao risked his life to go to Shandong, Hebei, and Northeast China to investigate the facts of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners there. Geng said that her husband realized that it was not only the Falun Gong practitioners who were impacted, but that the continued policy of the persecution of Falun Gong has affected China. 

“[It made people] lose their humanity, lose their morality, brought a feeling of shame and guilt, and affected the most fundamental values,” said Ms. Geng.

Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey agreed with Geng.

“The Chinese government, in terms of pervasiveness and cruelty, is the worst violator of human rights on the earth,” said Congressman Smith.

Persecution Begins in 1999

The CCP launched a brutal persecution campaign against Falun Gong on July 20, 1999. The practice had increased in popularity so much that, by then, the number of Falun Gong practitioners—between 70 and 100 million—was greater than communist party members. Falun Gong has never been involved in politics since its public introduction by Mr. Li Hongzhi in 1992, but the CCP chairman in 1999, Jiang Zemin, saw it as a threat.

Falun Gong practitioners in mainland China are currently held in labor camps, tortured, and brainwashed for their beliefs, according to numerous independent reports.

One such independent report confirms that organs have been taken from thousands of Falun Gong practitioners while still alive, and sold for profit by the communist regime. The report, “Bloody Harvest,” was written by David Matas, an award-winning international human rights attorney, and David Kilgour, Canada's former Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific, in 2006.

In remembrance of Falun Gong practitioners who lost their lives in China for their belief, a candlelight vigil took place near Capitol Hill following the rally.  

Falun Gong practitioners in China showed "compassion from the depth of their hearts...towards the policemen and the government officials that have treated them unfairly,” said Tony Qiu, 40, a computer engineer who attended the vigil.

Marching on Pennsylvania Avenue

The next morning, after practicing the Falun Gong exercises in front of the Capitol building, practitioners from 20 different countries marched down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Federal Triangle. 

The parade of over 2000 people combined all the elements that have become the hallmark of Falun Gong's celebration and perseverance: from the Divine Land Marching Band to the legion of white-clad ladies carrying funeral wreaths of practitioners killed in the persecution.

In the march was Lee Chinchai from Singapore. He described the contrast between the conditions in China before and after the persecution. He went to China in 1995 and saw practice sites in every park in the area he was in. He said things changed after the persecution began, however.

“When [I] went to China in September of 1999, you could not freely do the exercises, and even when reading Zhuan Falun [the main text of Falun Gong], you had to be quiet or your neighbors would report you to the police,” said Chinchai.

At the end of the parade, a resolution from the Washington, D.C. city council was presented.

Initiated by Council member Harry Thomas Jr., the resolution confirms the benefits of Falun Gong, including its being morally uplifting. The widespread arrests of Falun Gong practitioners and the major propaganda campaign by China’s state media at home and abroad were also acknowledged.

“Chinese official harassment of Falun Gong practitioners has extended to interfering with the exercise of the constitutional rights of assembly and free speech by United States citizens,” the resolution stated in part.

Weekend Sharing and Meditating

On Saturday, Falun Gong practitioners congregated in the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall for the annual Washington, D.C. Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference. Seventeen practitioners of different nationalities shared their experiences of personal improvement, the healing effects of the practice, and their work towards rescuing fellow practitioners imprisoned and tortured in mainland China. At the end of the day, the founder and teacher of the practice, Mr. Li Hongzhi, spoke for about 40 minutes.

On Sunday, participants from many different organizations and the public joined Falun Gong practitioners for “Million Minutes of Meditation.” People sat down at the National Mall for a few minutes to meditate for freedom and human rights in China. Afterward, a rally and concert followed, concluding the four days of events.

With additional reporting by Stephanie Lam and Vicky Jiang