Friends of Falun Gong USA- News

Introduction

Background:
The Persecution of Falun Gong in China

Reports About China's Suppression of Falun Gong

Personal and Eyewitness Accounts

Videos

Persecution: Introduction

On July 20, 1999, it suddenly became illegal for 70 million people to practice their spiritual beliefs.

On that day, Chinese Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin banned the spiritual practice of Falun Gong, affecting an estimated 70-100 million people in China. Falun Gong practitioners responded by filing legal appeals with a government agency set up for this purpose.

The response from Jiang’s regime? Mass arrests, beatings, and unlawful detentions of thousands of Falun Gong adherents— human rights abuses that have been verified by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the U.S. Department of State, and other organizations. Amnesty International awarded Jiang the title “human rights scoundrel of the year” in 2000.

Since Jiang Zemin announced Falun Gong to be the "No. 1 enemy" of the Communist party, the drive to eradicate the practice has become a focal point of Chinese foreign and domestic policy, reaching beyond the mainland’s borders into democracies throughout the world, including the US.

Examples include:

blacklisting Falun Gong supporters as they attempted to enter Iceland and Hong Kong by providing lists to government and airline officials. With no Falun Gong rosters or membership, how were the lists compiled?
hotel evictions in Germany and Houston, Texas
dissemination of hate materials by Chinese consular officials to media, businesses, and local, state and national goverment officials as part of a systematic effort to intimidate and coerce them into rescinding their support
increasingly granular filtering of Internet sites, search engines and email, and attacks on Falun Gong sites traced to Beijing
an organized campaign of physical attacks, intimidation, threats, property theft, and surveillance of Falun Gong practitioners on US soil

For a more in-depth look at the history of the persecution, please see our background section.

The following articles are our Editor's Picks, which offer an overview of the persecution from several perspectives.

The Wall Street Journal: “A Deadly Exercise: Practicing Falun Gong Was A Right, Ms. Chen Said, up to Her Last Day,” by Ian Johnson

A daring piece of investigative journalism, this in-depth report exposes the story of a Chinese retiree who was beaten to death by Chinese police for practicing Falun Gong. The author won a Pulitzer Prize for his series of articles on Falun Gong, of which this was the first.

A common method of torture used by the PRC

Washington Post: “Torture Is Breaking Falun Gong: China Systematically Eradicating Group,” by John Pomfret and Philip P. Pan

A Chinese government advisor reveals that the government has adopted three approaches in its drive to “eradicate” Falun Gong—widespread use of violence against practitioners, a high-pressure propaganda campaign, and brainwashing classes.

BBC: “The Dark Side of China,” by Rupert Wingfield-Hayes

What CNN’s Beijing Correspondent went through in his efforts to cover the story of 36 Westerners protesting on Tiananmen Square for Falun Gong—detention, intimidation, and harassment by Beijing police.

CNN: “China’s Sect Suppression Carries a High Price,” by Willy Wo-Lap Lam

Citing Chinese Communist Party insiders and political analysts, Lam describes how China’s leader Jiang Zemin is using the suppression of Falun Gong to promote allegiance to himself and augment his power.

The Weekly Standard: “Who Lost China’s Internet?” by Ethan Gutmann

An in-depth look at how the Chinese government uses the Internet to exercise information control and enforce political repression, with the help of foreign corporations.

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