China and Falun Gong
Released: 2006-08-11T00:00:00

Overview

Since July 1999, when the Chinese government began detaining thousands of Falun Gong (FLG) adherents, the spiritual exercise movement has gained the attention of many U.S. policy makers, primarily as an international human rights concern. Many FLG practitioners reportedly have died or remain in PRC prisons or other forms of detention. In 2005, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended that China remain as a "country of particular concern" (CPC) and stated that crackdowns on the group have been "widespread and violent." On the basis of this recommendation, the State Department, in its annual International Religious Freedom Report (November 2005), designated China as a CPC for the sixth consecutive year, noting: "The arrest, detention, and imprisonment of Falun Gong practitioners continued; those who refused to recant their beliefs were sometimes subjected to harsh treatment in prisons and reeducation-through-labor camps, and there were credible reports of deaths due to torture and abuse."

The PRC government appears to have been largely successful in not only suppressing FLG activity in China but also discrediting Falun Gong in the eyes of PRC citizens and preventing linkages between Falun Gong and other social protest movements. Nonetheless, FLG followers have displayed a remarkable tenacity and dedication both domestically and abroad. They have become a recurring irritant in China's efforts to project an image of a peaceful world power that abides by international norms, and have raised suspicions among some PRC leaders that the U.S. government is colluding with them. On April 20, 2006, at the official welcoming ceremony of PRC President Hu Jintao's visit to Washington, D.C., Ms. Wang Wenyi, a reporter for the Epoch Times , interrupted Hu's speech by shouting in support of Falun Gong for more than two minutes before being hustled away by U.S. security agents. Although ostensibly not a political movement, Falun Gong practitioners in the United States have become visible and vocal, particularly in major U.S. cities and in Washington, D.C., in criticizing the PRC government and publicizing human rights abuses against their fellow members in China. The PRC government reportedly also has been aggressive abroad, attempting to refute FLG claims and counteract their activities.

Basic Descriptions and Major Events

What is Falun Gong?

"Falun Gong,"also known as "Falun Dafa," combines an exercise regimen with meditation, moral values, spiritual beliefs, and faith. The practice and beliefs are derived from qigong , a set of movements said to stimulate the flow of qi —vital energies or "life forces"—throughout the body, and Buddhist and Daoist concepts. Falun Gong upholds three main virtues—truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance ( zhen-shan-ren) —which may deliver practitioners from modern society's "materialism" and "moral degeneration." FLG adherents claim that by controlling the "wheel of dharma," which is said to revolve in the body, one can cure a wide range of medical ailments and diseases. They believe that by practicing Falun Gong, or "cultivation," they may achieve physical well-being, emotional tranquility, moral virtue, an understanding of the cosmos, and a higher level of existence or salvation.

Some observers maintain that Falun Gong resembles a cult and refer to the unquestioning support given to its founder, Master Li Hongzhi, departure from orthodox Buddhism and Daoism, and emphasis on supernatural powers. Others criticize the spiritual practice for being intolerant or exclusive. The PRC government charges that Falun Dafa has disrupted social order and contributed to the deaths of hundreds of Chinese practitioners and non-practitioners by discouraging medical treatment and causing or exacerbating mental disorders leading to violent acts. FLG followers counter that the practice is voluntary and that levels of faith and involvement vary with the individual practitioner. They also emphasize that Falun Gong is not a religion—there is no worship of a deity, all-inclusive system of beliefs, church or temple, or formal hierarchy.

Formation and Organization

During the mid-1990s, Falun Gong acquired a large and diverse following, with estimates ranging from 3 to 70 million members, including several thousand practitioners in the United States. Falun Gong attracted many retired persons as well as factory workers, farmers, state enterprise managers, entrepreneurs, intellectuals, and students in China. The practice's claimed healing powers became especially attractive as economic reforms caused many citizens to lose medical benefits and services. In addition, Falun Gong reportedly was embraced by many retired and active Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and government cadres and military officials and personnel. In 1999, then Vice-President Hu Jintao stated that of 2.1 million known members of the Falun Gong group, one-third belonged to the CCP.

Falun Gong's apparently loose but effective organization has remained somewhat mysterious. During the early phase of the crackdown, adherents of Falun Gong generally characterized their objectives as personal and limited in scope. They described their movement as being loosely organized and without any political agenda beyond protecting the constitutional rights of practitioners in China. According to some analysts, however, the movement was well organized before the crackdown in 1999. After the government banned Falun Gong, a more fluid, underground network, aided by the Internet, pagers, and cell phones, carried on for over two years.

Master Li Hongzhi

Li Hongzhi ("Master Li"), a former Grain Bureau clerk, developed Falun Gong in the late 1980s, when qigong began to gain popularity in China. In 1992, Li explained his ideas in a book, Zhuan Falun . Falun Gong was incorporated into an official organization, the Chinese Qigong Association, in 1993 but separated from it by 1996. Around this time, Li reportedly left China. Since 1999, Li, who lives with his family outside New York City, has remained in seclusion, but has made occasional appearances at Falun Gong gatherings. In 2005 and 2006, Li gave lectures to followers in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Some reports suggest that Li Hongzhi has directed his adherents from behind the scenes and that his public statements are interpreted by many Falun Gong practitioners as instructions.

The 1999 FLG Demonstrations and PRC Government Crackdown

On April 25, 1999, an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 Falun Gong practitioners from around China gathered in Beijing to protest the PRC government's growing restrictions on their activities. Some adherents presented an open letter to the Party leadership at its residential compound, Zhongnanhai , demanding official recognition and their constitutional rights to free speech, press, and assembly. Party leaders reportedly were split on whether to ban Falun Gong and conveyed contradictory messages. Premier Zhu Rongji reportedly met with a delegation of practitioners and told them that they would not be punished. By contrast, President Jiang Zemin was said to be shocked by the affront to Party authority and ordered the crackdown. Jiang was also angered by the apparent ease with which U.S. officials had granted Li Hongzhi a visa and feared U.S. involvement in the movement. The government produced circulars forbidding Party members from practicing Falun Gong. Security forces collected the names of instructors, infiltrated exercise classes, and closed book stalls selling Falun Dafa literature. Tensions escalated as followers engaged in 18 major demonstrations, including occupying a government building in the city of Nanchang and demonstrating in front of China Central Television Station in Beijing.

The official crackdown began on July 21, 1999, when Falun Gong was outlawed and an arrest warrant was issued for Li Hongzhi. On October 30, 1999, China's National People's Congress promulgated an "anti-cult" law (article 300 of the Criminal Law), effective retroactively, to suppress not only the Falun Gong movement but also thousands of religious sects across the country. However, Ye Xiaowen, director of the State Bureau of Religious Affairs, stated that police would not interfere with people who practiced alone in their own homes. In Beijing alone, public security officers closed 67 teaching stations and 1,627 practice sites. In the immediate aftermath, the state reportedly detained and questioned over 30,000 followers nationwide, releasing the vast majority of them after they promised to quit or identified group organizers.

Under article 300, cult leaders and recruiters may be sentenced to 7 or more years in prison, while cult members who disrupt public order or distribute publications may be sentenced to three to seven years in prison. During the first two years of the crackdown, between 150 and 450 group leaders and other members were tried for various crimes and sentenced to prison terms of up to 18-20 years. Estimates of those who have spent time in detention or "labor reeducation" range from 10,000 to100,000 persons. According to estimates by the State Department and human rights organizations, since 1999, from several hundred to a few thousand FLG adherents have died in custody from torture, abuse, and neglect. Many other followers have been suspended or expelled from school or demoted or dismissed from their jobs.

It took the PRC government, employing methods of social control that have deep roots in both Chinese Communist Party practice and Chinese history, over two years to subdue the Falun Gong organization. Incremental improvements in the rule of law in China in the past decade have had little if any effect in protecting the constitutional rights of FLG followers. In 1999, the central government reportedly combined an intensive propaganda campaign with stern internal party directives and reliance upon a system of informal control at the local level. At first, the local enforcement of government decrees, such as those requiring universities, employers, and neighborhood committees to obtain individual repudiations of Falun Gong, was often lax. Some reports suggested that local officials had hoped that they could persuade Falun Gong members to give up the practice or at least refrain from engaging in public protests in the capital. However, between July 1999 and October 2000, many Falun Gong adherents continued to journey to Beijing and staged several large demonstrations (involving several hundred to over a thousand persons)—many participants were sent home repeatedly or evaded the police. As Falun Gong demonstrations continued, the government crackdown took on a greater sense of urgency. The PRC leadership employed a traditional method of threats and incentives toward lower authorities to prevent public displays of Falun Gong, particularly demonstrations in Beijing. Central leaders turned a blind eye to local methods of suppression against unrepentant practitioners, including the reported use of torture. The largest memberships and severest human rights abuses have been reported in China's northeastern provinces.

Falun Gong Activities Underground and Overseas and Continued Government Repression

There has been little, if any, FLG activity reported in the past year, although the State Department reported that in 2005, there were still hundreds of thousands of practitioners in the country. Many FLG followers are believed to be still practicing in their homes or meeting secretly. One source estimates that there are 60,000 FLG practitioners left in China: half of them are still in detention while the other half remain under surveillance. According to another expert, there are between 15,000 and 25,000 political or religious prisoners in China, half of whom are linked to the Falun Gong movement. FLG members in the United States claim that adherents in China continue to disseminate written information about the practice.

Interruption of Television Broadcasts

Between 2002 and 2005, in about a dozen reported cases, Falun Gong members interrupted programming in several large Chinese cities and broadcast their own images, possibly with the aid of sources outside the country. In 2002, PRC courts sentenced 27 practitioners to prison terms of 4 to 20 years for carrying out these activities. In July 2005, satellite broadcasts reportedly were interrupted by a 15-minute FLG video. On May 19, 2003, U.S. citizen Charles Li was sentenced to three years in prison for "intending to sabotage" Chinese television broadcasts. Li returned to California after he was released in January 2006. U.S. consular officials had maintained regular contact with Li through his detainment. In a letter that he sent while under incarceration, Li reportedly wrote of physical and mental abuse in prison.

Alleged Concentration Camps and Organ Harvesting

In March 2006, U.S. Falun Gong representatives claimed that thousands of practitioners had been sent to 36 concentration camps throughout the PRC, particularly in the northeast, and that many of them were killed for profit through the harvesting and sale of their organs. Many of these claims were based upon allegations about one such camp in Sujiatun, a district of Shenyang city in Liaoning province. The Epoch Times , a U.S.-based newspaper affiliated with Falun Gong, first reported the story as told by a Chinese journalist based in Japan and a former employee of a Sujiatun hospital that allegedly operated the camp and served as an organ harvesting center. According to Epoch Times reports, of an estimated 6,000 Falun Gong adherents detained there, three-fourths allegedly had their organs removed and then were cremated or never seen again. American officials from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and the U.S. consulate in Shenyang visited the area as well as the hospital site on two occasions—the first time unannounced and the second with the cooperation of PRC officials—and after investigating the facility "found no evidence that the site is being used for any function other than as a normal public hospital." Amnesty International spokespersons have stated that the claims of systematic organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners cannot be confirmed or denied.

The PRC government has rejected claims about live organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners. In December 2005, Chinese officials reportedly confirmed that executed prisoners had been "among the sources of organs for transplant" and admitted that a market for such organs had existed, but denied that they had been removed without consent. In March 2006, the Chinese Ministry of Health announced stricter regulations that would require written consent from organ donors, ban the sale of human organs, and limit the number of hospitals allowed to perform transplants.

The Kilgour-Matas Report

On July 6, 2006, two Canadian investigators, former Liberal Member of Parliament David Kilgour and David Matas, an international human rights attorney, published Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China. The report concludes that the allegations that "large numbers" of Falun Gong practitioners in the People's Republic of China (PRC) have been victims of live organ harvesting are true. For the most part, however, the report does not bring forth new or independently-obtained testimony and relies largely upon the making of logical inferences. The authors had conducted their investigation in response to a request by the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of the Falun Gong in China (CIPFG), a U.S.-based, non-profit organization founded by the Falun Dafa Association in April 2006. In addition to interviewing the same former Sujiatun hospital worker as featured in the Epoch Times , Kilgour and Matas refer to recordings of telephone conversations provided by CIPFG. In these recorded calls that CIPFG members allegedly made from locations outside China to PRC hospitals, police bureaus, and detention centers, telephone respondents reportedly indicated that organ harvesting of live Falun Gong detainees was common.

Although many claims and arguments in the Kilgour-Matas report are widely accepted by international human rights experts, some of the reports's key allegations appear to be inconsistent with the findings of other investigations. The report's conclusions rely heavily upon transcripts of telephone calls in which PRC respondents reportedly stated that organs removed from live Falun Gong detainees were used for transplants. Some argue that such apparent candor would seem unlikely given Chinese government controls over sensitive information, which may raise questions about the credibility of the telephone recordings.

Falun Gong Activities Overseas

Hong Kong

Practicing Falun Gong is permitted in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and local members, which number an estimated 500, frequently stage protests against PRC policies toward Falun Gong on the mainland. In November 2004, a Hong Kong appeals court reversed convictions for "obstructing a public place" against sixteen Falun Gong members who had participated in a demonstration in March 2002. The judges ruled that the defendants had been exercising their right to demonstrate. In May 2005, the Court of Final Appeal overturned the convictions of eight other protesters for assaulting and obstructing police, stating that "the freedom to demonstrate peacefully is protected by law." The HKSAR government reportedly has occasionally barred entry to foreign Falun Gong adherents. In February 2006, 83 overseas Falun Gong practitioners, mostly from Taiwan, were refused entry prior to a conference organized by the Hong Kong Association of Falun Dafa, leading some to speculate that PRC authorities keep tabs on overseas and Taiwan FLG members.

The United States

There are an estimated several thousand Falun Gong practitioners in the United States and similarly large numbers of adherents in other countries with large ethnic Chinese populations. The movement has become highly public in the United States. Members regularly stage demonstrations, distribute flyers, and sponsor cultural events. In addition, FLG followers are affiliated with several mass media outlets, including Internet sites. These include The Epoch Times , a newspaper distributed for free in eight languages and 30 countries (with a distribution of 1.5 million); New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV), a non-profit Chinese language station based in New York with correspondents in 50 cities worldwide; and Sound of Hope, a northern California radio station founded by FLG members. These media outlets report on a variety of topics but emphasize human rights abuses in China, particularly against Falun Gong members, and publish mostly negative or critical reports on PRC domestic and foreign policies.

Two U.S. Internet companies founded by Chinese Falun Gong practitioners, Dynaweb Internet Technology Inc. and UltraReach Internet Corporation, have been at the forefront of overseas Chinese and U.S. efforts to breach the PRC "Internet firewall." They have each developed software to help Chinese Web users—estimated at 111 million in 2005—to circumvent government censorship and access websites which the PRC government has attempted to block. The United States Broadcasting Board of Governors has provided funding to these companies in order to help sustain their efforts in enabling Web users in China to freely access the Internet, including Voice of America and Radio Free Asia websites.

On behalf of plaintiffs in China, Falun Gong adherents in the United States have filed several civil complaints in U.S. federal courts against PRC leaders for violations of the Torture Victim Protection Act, the Alien Tort Claims Act, and other "crimes against humanity." In September 2003, a U.S. District Court judge in Chicago dismissed a lawsuit filed against former PRC President Jiang Zemin, on the basis of lack of jurisdiction and sovereign immunity. In December 2004, a U.S. District Court in San Francisco ruled that Beijing Party Secretary and former Beijing mayor Liu Qi had broken U.S., international, and PRC law for his role in violating the human rights of Falun Gong practitioners.

PRC officials in the United States have engaged in a public relations blitz to counter FLG efforts. In 2001, over one dozen U.S. mayors reported pressure from PRC officials urging them not to give public recognition to Falun Gong. In 2002, according to Falun Gong practitioners, PRC consulates sent approximately 300 letters to local U.S. officials, including mayors and the governor of Washington state, asking them not to support Falun Gong. The Wall Street Journal wrote: "Chinese diplomats spend a lot of time writing letters and making visits to governments, local newspapers and television outlets, politicians and others...warning them about the movement."

Since 2001, Falun Gong plaintiffs have filed several lawsuits in federal courts claiming that the PRC officials in the United States have been responsible for dozens of isolated incidents of physical and verbal harassment, eavesdropping, and destruction of property of Falun Gong adherents and supporters in the United States. However, plaintiffs often have possessed little evidence of direct involvement by the Chinese government in the alleged incidents. PRC consular officials deny participation in such criminal activity in the United States and claim that they are entitled to diplomatic immunity. In November 2002, the Circuit Court of Cook County charged a PRC immigrant with battery for having physically assaulted a Falun Gong hunger striker in front of the Chinese Consulate in Chicago in September 2001. In February 2005, Falun Gong members in the United States reported that a coordinated, world-wide campaign (in over 20 countries) of telephone harassment against them had taken place. This telephone harassment allegedly consisted of pre-recorded anti-Falun Gong messages in both English and Chinese, some purportedly originating in China.

In May 2005, Mr. Chen Yongli, a political officer at the PRC Consulate General in Sydney, Australia, defected and requested political asylum on the grounds that he would be persecuted if sent back to China. On June 4, 2005, Chen made a public appearance at a rally in Sydney to commemorate the 16 th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square military action. In his speech, Chen declared that Beijing had directed the PRC consulate to identify and harass members of the Australian Chinese community who belonged to groups that the PRC deems subversive, such as democracy activists and Falun Gong practitioners. As a consular official, Chen reportedly resisted orders to provide extensive details about FLG adherents in Australia. Chen alleged that the PRC government had deployed a network of 1,000 agents and spies in Australia to discredit Falun Gong and to spy on its members, and that the number of such agents in the United States was likely higher. In July 2005, the Australian Immigration Department granted permanent protection visas to Chen, his wife and daughter.

Implications for PRC Politics

The Chinese government reportedly referred to Falun Gong as "the most serious threat to stability in 50 years of [Chinese] communist history." The practice's popularity in China's northeast and other economically depressed areas was especially worrisome to the Party because of the fear that "religious fever" combined with economic unrest could spark widespread political protests. Some observers noted that the crackdown on Falun Gong deepened anti-government sentiment among not only adherents but also non-adherents, including many reform-minded intellectuals. However, there has been little indication that Falun Gong has become a rallying cry for other disaffected social groups or China's small number of political activists. Many Chinese, either because of government propaganda or their indifference toward Falun Gong, have become critical toward the movement or apathetic about the crackdown. Some have charged that Li Hongzhi has exploited vulnerable people and caused their suffering by exaggerating the healing powers of Falun Gong or by encouraging followers in prison to attain full enlightenment by exercising "forbearance" or refusing to recant. The January 2001 self-immolations of six purported Falun Gong members on Tiananmen Square was exploited by the official media, further alienating many PRC citizens.

U.S. Government Actions

Since 1999, some Members of the United States Congress have made many public pronouncements and introduced several resolutions in support of Falun Gong. In the 109 th Congress, H.Res. 608 , agreed to in the House on June 12, 2006, condemns the "escalating levels of religious persecution" in China, including the "brutal campaign to eradicate Falun Gong." H.Res. 794 , passed by the House on June 12, 2006, calls upon the PRC to end its most egregious human rights abuses, including the persecution of Falun Gong. H.Con.Res. 365 , introduced on March 28, 2006, would urge the PRC government to allow civil rights attorney Gao Zhisheng to continue practicing law. PRC authorities reportedly revoked Gao's license after he provided legal assistance for peasant demonstrators, Christian house church worshipers, Falun Gong practitioners, and others. For six consecutive years (1999-2004), the U.S. Department of State has designated China a "country of particular concern" for "particularly severe violations of religious freedom," including its persecution of Falun Gong. An ongoing ban on the export of crime control and detection instruments and equipment to China satisfies the requirements of P.L. 105-292 , the Freedom from Religious Persecution Act of 1998, which authorizes the President to impose sanctions upon countries that violate religious freedom. In April 2006, prior to PRC President Hu Jintao's visit to the United States, 81 Members of Congress reportedly co-signed a letter written by Representative Dana Rohrabacher to President Bush in support of an investigation into the allegations of organ harvesting of Falun Gong adherents in China.