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Republicans Call for Action as China Turns US Into ‘Hunting Ground’ for Dissidents

Beijing Exports Religious Suppression by Printing Propaganda in US Textbooks: Report

The Chinese regime has exported its ultra-leftist suppression of religions to U.S. soil through defamatory materials in college textbooks, a new report has found. Titled “Surveillance, Slander, and Censorship,” the report released ...
05-30-2023
About Falun Gong
What Is Falun Gong Persecution in China Why Persecution? Statistics, Evidence, & Sources Forced Organ Harvesting Civil Disobedience
what's Falun Dafa

What Is Falun Gong

Falun Gong, or Falun Dafa, is a spiritual practice rooted in traditional values that emphasizes self-improvement through the study of teachings, as well as gentle exercises and meditation, according to the practice’s website. The teachings emphasize adhering to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, and encourage learners to let go of unhealthy habits (or attachments), such as desiring fame, being prideful, and ignoring the welfare of others.

The practice was introduced to the public in 1992 by Mr. Li Hongzhi in Changchun, in China's northeastern Jilin Province. Within six years, Chinese state sources reported that 70 million to 100 million people were practicing. Today, millions continue to practice Falun Gong in more than 100 countries, including in China, where the ruling communist regime brutally persecutes adherents for their faith.

Violent Persecution

In 1999, a few leaders in the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched a systematic campaign to “eradicate” the spiritual practice, after witnessing its widespread popularity. This campaign aimed to violently suppress the tens of millions of people who practiced Falun Gong.

For more than 20 years, millions of Falun Gong practitioners in China have been subject to police harassment, abduction, imprisonment, torture, and death in custody. Furthermore, untold numbers have been killed and their organs extracted to fuel a booming, multibillion-dollar organ transplant industry in China.

Meanwhile, the CCP’s vilifying propaganda has been carried over by some media in the West.

Despite the persecution, an estimated 20 million to 40 million practitioners continue to engage in peaceful civil disobedience throughout China.

Why Does the CCP Persecute Falun Gong?

Four key factors are:

1. In 1998, an official regime survey found that 70 million to 100 million people were practicing Falun Gong. This meant that the spiritual practice saw more popularity than the CCP, which had approximately 60 million members at the time, a fact that some CCP leaders saw as threatening.

2. Falun Gong has no formal membership and no houses of worship, and is loosely organized. Consequently, the practice became the largest group outside of the regime’s control.

3. Falun Gong’s spiritual teachings were perceived by some CCP leaders as a threat to the communist culture of atheism, materialism, and struggle.

4. Ultimately, the decision to persecute Falun Gong boiled down to the personal motivations of then-CCP leader Jiang Zemin. Despite opposition from other Party leaders, Jiang orchestrated the campaign to eliminate Falun Gong and assert his power over the Party and the country.

Key Statistics

What is the scale of the persecution of Falun Gong today? Drawing from first-hand accounts, victim testimonies, documentation by independent human rights organizations, research by investigative journalists, leaked government documents, and whistleblower interviews, the scope of the CCP’s campaign against Falun Gong is clear.

Amid a persecution targeting 70 million to 100 million Chinese people, at least several million have been detained. At least hundreds of thousands have been tortured. More than 4,900 have been confirmed to have been killed via torture or sustained abuse in detention, and sources estimate that hundreds of thousands have been killed through forced organ harvesting.

Meanwhile, Falun Gong practitioners continue their efforts to resist the persecution and expose the truth to their neighbors and communities. Today, an estimated 20 million to 40 million practitioners are actively engaged in exposing the CCP’s human rights abuses, constituting the largest civil disobedience movement in the world today.

Forced Organ Harvesting

A growing body of evidence shows that Chinese hospitals have colluded with the CCP to forcibly remove the organs of prisoners of conscience, killing them in the process. The main source of these organs is practitioners of Falun Gong.

Prisoners of conscience are regularly screened for their blood and tissue types, then killed on demand when a matching patient needs an organ transplant. This lucrative state-run business is estimated to be worth at least $1 billion annually.

Deeper analyses of China’s organ donation system, the profiling of detained prisoners and their disappearances, and the accounts of prison guards and Chinese doctors who witnessed the removal of organs from unwilling, living people have painted a picture of this heinous crime.

In 2019, the China Tribunal, an independent people’s tribunal to investigate these allegations, unanimously concluded that “forced organ harvesting has been committed for years throughout China on a significant scale.”

Civil Disobedience

For two decades, a grassroots movement consisting of tens of millions of people across China has peacefully challenged the hate and violence perpetuated by the Chinese Communist Party.

These individuals produce leaflets exposing the Chinese regime's human rights abuses, as well as its historical crimes, and distribute them—often under cover of night—to communities throughout China in an effort to inform their fellow citizens, who would otherwise only have access to the propaganda produce by state-run media. They also report abuses inside China to overseas volunteers and organize petitions.

These combined efforts constitute the largest civil disobedience movement in the world today.

What Is Falun Gong
Violent Persecution
Why Does the CCP Persecute Falun Gong?
Key Statistics
Forced Organ Harvesting
Civil Disobedience
Falun Gong Publications

Article by Falun Gong Founder Mr. Li Hongzhi

Mr. Li Hongzhi is the founder of the spiritual discipline Falun Gong. The practice combines meditation and gentle exercises with a moral philosophy centered on the tenets of truthfulness, compassion, ...

Falun Gong Founder Mr. Li Hongzhi Publishes ‘How Humankind Came To Be’

Mr. Li Hongzhi is the founder of the spiritual discipline Falun Gong. The practice combines meditation and gentle exercises with a moral philosophy centered on the tenets of truthfulness, compassion, ...
Videos
2022

Medical Genocide: Hidden Mass Murder in China’s Organ Transplant Industry | Documentary

China now performs the most organ transplants in the world, yet has few voluntary donors. While the regime has admitted to harvesting organs from death row prisoners, they account for ...
2022

‘Single Largest Whistleblower of the CCP’s Crimes on the World Stage’: Levi Browde on Falun Gong

In this special episode, we sat down with Levi Browde, executive director of the Falun Gong Information Center. He sheds light on how the persecution of Falun Gong in China ...
2022

Recalling Persecution of Falun Gong in China

Twenty-three years ago, the Chinese Communist Party officially started clamping down on Falun Gong. We hear from someone who practices the meditation discipline and how he refused to back down ...
2022

Panel: Persecution of Falun Gong Helped Chinese Regime Pioneer 21st Century Surveillance Apparatus

On July 20, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), led by former leader Jiang Zemin, launched a massive campaign to persecute the religious group called Falun Gong, or Falun Dafa. ...
2022

2022 End the Persecution of Falun Gong Rally and Parade in Washington

The persecution of Falun Gong or Falun Dafa, a spiritual meditation practice, is ongoing in China. This July 20 marks the 23rd year of the persecution by the Chinese Communist ...
2022

Finding Courage | Documentary

A former journalist for the Chinese Communist Party (Yifei Wang), living in exile in San Francisco, struggles to settle into life in America while working to heal her family’s wounds ...
2022

International Religious Freedom Summit 2022: The Persecution of Falun Gong in China

The Epoch Times will livestream the International Religious Freedom Summit 2022 panel "Pandemic, Persecution, and Pushback—Trends and Analysis from the Suppression of Falun Gong" on June 30, 2022, from 4:30 ...
2022

Unsilenced | Feature Film

This film is only available in the US and Canada. We provide both Chinese and English subtitles. Please make sure you can select your preferred language by clicking the CC ...
Viewpoints
Mary HongMar 29, 2023

Young Chinese Woman Finds Her World Revived in the US

Su Biwen is a confident woman from Fujian on China's southeastern coast. She’s well aware of the pervasive communist brainwashing in China, she’s against the forced military reunification of Taiwan ...
Torsten TreyFeb 15, 2023

Forced Organ Harvesting From Prisoners of Conscience in China Must End Now

Commentary Chinese state media have accused the U.S. government of being “hysterical,” “laughably juvenile,” and “losing its calm” after U.S. fighter jets shot down four objects, including a Chinese spy ...
Terri WuFeb 13, 2023

‘How Humankind Came To Be’ Carries a Good Message for the Test of Life, Teachers Say

Mary Rose Martin, an elementary school teacher, sees life as a test and agrees that the purpose of life is to pave the way to heaven. Upon reading “How Humankind ...
Heng HeJan 19, 2023

Recent Deaths of China’s Top Officials and Elites Amid COVID Surge Expose an Unspeakable Crime

Commentary During the new wave of COVID-19 cases and deaths in China, it’s hard not to notice the number of deaths among high-ranking officials and elites. For example, in less ...
Nathan SuDec 10, 2022

China’s Deception Leader Jiang Zemin Died After Making Fool of Western World

Commentary Following the death of former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) head Jiang Zemin, many Western media and academics surprisingly praised him as a reform leader. But was he really one? ...
Heng HeDec 7, 2022

Jiang’s Rule by Corruption

Commentary Most Westerners know about Jiang Zemin through Robert Lawrence Kuhn’s biography “Man Who Changed China: The Life and Legacy of Jiang Zemin.” Now that Jiang is gone, it’s time ...
Anders CorrDec 3, 2022

Don’t Mourn Jiang Zemin

Commentary Former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) chief Jiang Zemin is dead. Some are misty-eyed, perhaps due to his supposedly friendly demeanor. Jiang performed for world leaders, including singing attempts for ...
Bradley A. ThayerDec 2, 2022

The Undertaker of Any Chance of Political Reform: Jiang Zemin’s Death in Historical Perspective

Commentary Jiang Zemin’s death (1926–2022) is an appropriate occasion to reflect on his historical significance as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989–2002 and as chairman ...