(Minghui.org) According to information collected by Minghui.org, a total of 2,714 Falun Gong practitioners were arrested or harassed for their faith in the first half of 2024.
The 2,714 newly reported cases broke down to 1,470 arrests and 1,244 harassment cases. The month of April recorded the most combined cases of 699, followed by 618 in May and 543 in March. The surge of cases in April and May was consistent with the trends from past years, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intensified the persecution around anniversaries related to Falun Gong, in order to prevent the practitioners from raising awareness about the persecution.
To be more specific, “April 25” is the anniversary of a historic appeal by 10,000 practitioners outside of the central government compound in Beijing, demanding the release of a few arrested practitioners and a free environment to practice their faith. “May 13” is the “World Falun Dafa Day” and also the anniversary when Falun Gong was introduced to the public.
In addition, the 543 combined cases in March, when the CCP’s two annual political meetings took place, were much higher than the tally in January (269), February (187), and June (369).
I. Demography of the Persecution
1) Persecution Cases All Across the Country
China has 22 provinces, 4 centrally controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and 5 autonomous regions (Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Guangxi, Xinjiang, and Ningxia). Except for Tibet, Xinjiang, Qinghai, and Zhejiang, all other 27 jurisdictions reported arrest and harassment cases.
In particular, Hebei, a province encircling Beijing, reported the most combined cases of 472, almost 5 times the 100 average cases nationwide. The persecution in Shandong, Liaoning and Jilin was also severe, with 354, 336, and 297 cases reported, respectively. Four more regions registered three-digit cases. Another fourteen regions had double-digit cases and the remaining five regions had single-digit cases.
Two group arrests were reported in Jilin Province, with at least 46 practitioners arrested in Changchun City between April and May 2024 and another 35 practitioners arrested in Shulan City on June 5. The arrests in Changchun were orchestrated by the Jilin Province Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC) and its subordinate Changchun City PLAC and 610 Office. Both the PLAC and 610 Office are extrajudicial agencies tasked with overseeing the persecution of Falun Gong.
North to Jilin, 18 practitioners were arrested on May 9, 2024, in Ning’an City, Heilongjiang Province. All of the arrested practitioners had been monitored for some time before the police sweep.
In Hebei Province, a group arrest of 12 practitioners took place on April 9, 2024, in the Jingxiu District, Baoding City. Although seven practitioners were later released, five of them remain in custody. The police first held them at a local resort and constantly interrogated and intimidated them. Then they brought in psychology experts to work on the practitioners and deprived them of sleep, in an attempt to make them provide information about other practitioners and renounce Falun Gong.
In southwest China, eight Kunming City, Yunnan Province, residents, aged between 67 and 87, were arrested by more than 30 police officers on June 6, 2024, while studying Falun Gong teachings at a private residence. The police searched all eight practitioners and photographed them.
Since the persecution of Falun Gong started 25 years ago, the northern provinces, including Hebei, Shandong, Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang, have consistently carried out the most severe persecution of the practitioners. Several inland provinces, including Hubei and Sichuan, also followed the persecution policy given by the central government closely.
The province of Hubei, in particular, is notorious for hosting brainwashing sessions to detain Falun Gong practitioners. A 47-year-old elementary school teacher in Wuhan, Ms. Xiong Lihua, was made to attend two back-to-back brainwashing sessions between January and February 2024. Even after she was released, the staff members of the brainwashing sessions still came to her school to “teach” her how to “break free from Falun Gong.”
In Anlu City, about 70 miles from Wuhan, Dr. Zhou Binsheng, a rural doctor, was arrested on June 5, 2024, and transferred to the Changsong Village Brainwashing Centre on June 14, after spending nine days at a lockup.
Some of the targeted practitioners have been repeatedly persecuted in the past 25 years. A 55-year-old power company employee in Liaoning had previously spent 17.5 years behind bars before he was arrested again on April 19, 2024. A 64-year-old woman in Jiangsu Province was previously jailed for 11 years, prior to her latest arrest on May 20, 2024.
2) 457 Practitioners 60 or Older Targeted
Among the 2,714 targeted practitioners, 457 of them were 60 or older, including 135 in their 60s, 219 in their 70s, 96 in their 80s, and 7 in their 90s, with the oldest being 99-year-old Ms. Liu Xinlan of Guangdong Province.
Ms. Zhang Xiuqun, a 70-year-old retired employee of the Shengli Oilfield in Shandong Province, was buying groceries on April 24, 2024, when two plainclothes officers suddenly appeared in front of her. They forced her down and held her to the ground. While stepping on her, the police snatched her purse and ordered her to turn in her cell phone. Four plainclothes officers then joined the pair and took Ms. Zhang to the police station.
In Jilin Province, Mr. Tian Yuchun, a Changchun resident in his 70s, was arrested on April 18, 2024. The police said that they targeted him because their supervisors ordered them to fill a quota and arrest a certain number of Falun Gong practitioners by May 1 (China’s Labor Day). Despite his high blood pressure, stroke symptoms, and retina detachment, the authorities still detained him and denied him visits with his lawyer or family, because he was a “political inmate.” He was diagnosed with an intestinal obstruction, after he vomited and lost consciousness on June 20, 2024.
Ms. Zhang Yuxia, also a Changchun City resident in her 70s, was arrested on April 20, 2024. The police beat her so hard during the arrest that she lost hearing in one of her ears.
When Mr. Wang Junheng, a 75-year-old resident of Yantai City, Shandong Province, was released on bail on May 20, 2024, after 37 days of detention, his family did not recognise him. He had been force-fed and beaten repeatedly after he went on a hunger strike to protest the wrongful arrest. His family took him to a hospital and the doctors found that one of his ribs was broken. He’s still in a lot of pain weeks later.
In northwestern China, Ms. Liao An’an, an 88-year-old Baiyin City, Gansu Province resident, has been repeatedly harassed in the past few months. For three consecutive days between March 12-14, 2024, the police came to knock on her door. The harassment left her living in fear and she doesn’t dare to go out.
3) Practitioners From All Walks of Life Targeted
The practitioners came from all walks of life, including college teachers, engineers, doctors, post office workers, bank employees, prosecutors, and judges.
Ms. Xie Xiaoting, a college student at the Zhongshan City campus of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, saw a Falun Gong-defaming poster on campus on the morning of January 9, 2024. She tore down the poster and was recorded by the surveillance camera. Hours later, the police arrested her. While interrogating her at the police station, they threatened to expel her from school and ordered her to write three statements to renounce Falun Gong. She refused to comply. She was released around midnight.
After Ms. Zhang Xiaohua, a 76-year-old retired librarian from Hubei University, was arrested in early February 2024, one of her former students, who now works for a Fortune 500 company outside of China, became extremely worried and called for her immediate release. He said that he met Ms. Zhang while he was in high school. He was stressed out while preparing for college entrance exams. Ms. Zhang often advised him to take it easy and do his best. He credits Ms. Zhang for making his success possible and teaching him to always remain upbeat.
Ms. Zhang Jinhua, a 58-year-old retired auditor in Shulan City, Jilin Province, had only begun practicing Falun Gong in 2023 after years of medical treatments failed to cure her numerous illnesses. She gradually recovered and was no longer severely underweight. She became energetic and walked briskly. She also had a rosy complexion. More than once her acquaintances marveled at her transformation after running into her on the street. She always told them her secret was practicing Falun Gong. Because of her courageous action, she was arrested on June 2, 2024, and has been detained since.
II. Persecution Tactics
1) Propaganda Ahead of the 25th Anniversary of Persecution
The CCP has never stopped its persecution of Falun Gong since it launched a nationwide campaign against the peaceful spiritual practice on July 20, 1999. At the end of December 2023, as the 25th anniversary of the persecution approached, the Ministry of Public Security held a virtual meeting and ordered a new round of crackdowns on “cults.”
While the order did not explicitly mention Falun Gong, it was understood that the real target was Falun Gong practitioners. No law in China criminalises Falun Gong or labels it as a cult, but the communist regime has been using the cult label to justify its persecution of the practice and mislead the general public.
The tactics of the propaganda campaign included offering rewards to those who report Falun Gong practitioners, requiring people to take part in signature drives defaming Falun Gong or write pledges to not engage in cult activities, posting anti-Falun Gong messages on WeChat (a popular instant messaging and social media platform), and to display anti-Falun Gong propaganda on bulletin boards.
On February 28, 2024, the Xiangtan City PLAC and the Xiangtan City Police Department in Hubei Province jointly posted a message in multiple channels on WeChat. The message called for the general public to report practitioners of “evil cults,” including Falun Gong. Tipsters were promised a 500-4,000 yuan reward for each practitioner reported.
The Xiangtan City PLAC and the Xiangtan City Police Department also instructed all street committees within the city to re-post the same message in their own WeChat channels once every month. The three major telecommunication companies, including China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom, received notices to text their users the same message on a regular basis.
In mid-April 2024, the China Pingmei Shenma Holding Group Co. Ltd in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, ordered all its employees to sign a pledge promising to not take part in “feudal,” “superstitious,” or anti-Marxist activities. The workers must also state their full names and IDs on the pledge. Those who refused to sign were threatened with job termination.
On April 17, 2024, the authorities in Jilin City, Jilin Province ordered all residential areas to post a notice in every apartment building. The notice called for residents to report practitioners of evil cults and promised as much as 5,000 yuan in reward money. Street committees across the city were also instructed to launch an online signature drive on the same day, requesting residents to sign Falun Gong-defaming statements.
The High-tech Zone in Jilin City also issued a notice on reporting illegal and criminal cult activities. Upon receiving the notice, the grid managers relayed it to residential areas, which in turn blasted it to residents through their WeChat channels.
Having made tote bags to demonise Falun Gong last year, the PLAC in Fenxi County, Shanxi Province, had a new initiative in 2024 to make disposable paper cups with information against Falun Gong and distribute them at various gatherings, such as weddings or funerals.
2) Harassment Around Sensitive Days
As stated earlier in the article, Falun Gong practitioners around China were harassed in March 2024 during the “Two Sessions,” annual meetings of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the National People’s Congress (NPC). This year the CPPCC began on March 4, 2024, and the NPC one day later. They both concluded on March 11.
Ms. Sun Guilan, of Chicheng County, Hebei Province, was repeatedly harassed during the “Two Sessions.” During the harassment on March 5, 2024, one police officer inspected a table calendar that had information about Falun Gong, and Ms. Sun asked him to put it back on the desk unless he wanted it as a gift. He put it down. Another officer ordered Ms. Sun to tear off a wall decoration that had information about Falun Gong. She refused to comply.
The police ordered Ms. Sun to go with them or sign a statement to renounce Falun Gong. She again refused to comply and said she broke no law in practicing Falun Gong. She urged the uninvited visitors to stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. Her son condemned them for harassing his elderly mother. They soon left.
Two officers harassed Ms. Sun again on the morning of March 8, 2024. They threatened to give her 10 days of detention if she refused to sign a statement to renounce Falun Gong. She still refused to sign.
Prior to the anniversary of the historic April 25 appeal, the police and residential committee staff members in Beijing harassed many local practitioners, sometimes entering their homes to threaten them and take their photos. One practitioner noticed that two officers stayed outside her home to monitor her around the clock.
3) Intensified Surveillance
Directly related to the ramped-up harassment was the massive surveillance network installed across China.
In Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province, the police didn’t only follow the practitioners in cars or on foot, but also installed surveillance cameras near their homes or attached location tracking devices on their electric bikes.
Ostensibly to crack down on train ticket scalpers, China’s Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Public Security started a real-name ticketing system in 2011, requiring all train passengers to use their real names and produce identification documents when purchasing tickets and boarding the train.
This real-name ticketing system has become a mass surveillance tool to monitor and target Falun Gong practitioners and other groups of law-abiding citizens deemed enemies of the state. Many Falun Gong practitioners have been flagged and subsequently arrested while purchasing train tickets or boarding the train.
Mr. Wang Yonghang, of Dalian City, Liaoning Province, took the high-speed rail in Shanghai in mid-January 2024. As soon as he sat down on the train, the train police came to check his luggage, even after he had already passed the security. When he arrived at the station in Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, his ID gave an alarm when he swiped it at the train station exit. Several officers standing on the side came over to check his luggage again.
Ms. You Yuxuan, a resident of Qingdao City, Shandong Province, reported that shortly after she bought a train ticket on February 27, 2024, to go to Beijing on March 2 for a dental procedure, the police found her and ordered her to return the ticket. They said they obtained information on her ticket purchase through their big data surveillance. Because of the upcoming “Two Sessions,” no Falun Gong practitioners were allowed to travel to Beijing. She refused to cancel her trip and was arrested on March 1.
In recent years, in addition to collecting the common biometrics such as facial features, fingerprints, height, and weight from the practitioners, the police also recorded their voice, gait and irises, in order to feed information into the more advanced surveillance system. Some practitioners reported having their irises scanned while going through train station security.
For some practitioners, even using their IDs or transportation cards to take buses and subways would result in revealing their daily activities to the Chinese police, who can track where they got on and off the buses, who they were meeting with, or whether they did anything to raise awareness about the persecution.
4) Cash Confiscation During Home Raids and Home Eviction
Among the arrests reported in the first half of 2024, it was worth noting that several practitioners had hundreds of thousands of yuan confiscated from them during the police raids of their homes.
In Xingning City, Guangdong Province, Mr. Li Zhuozhong and his wife Ms. Liao Yuanqun were arrested by more than ten officers on the morning of April 19, 2024. The officers spent over three hours searching their place. They confiscated more than ten printers, over 20 boxes of print paper, boxes of Falun Gong books and informational materials, as well as 200,000 yuan in cash.
Ms. Yin Qiuzhen, of Mishan City, Heilongjiang Province, was recorded by surveillance camera spraying messages about Falun Gong on utility poles on May 2, 2024. She was arrested four days later and her 540,000 yuan bank deposit certificate was taken away.
Mr. He Hongjun and his wife Ms. Fu Wenhui, of Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province, went to Mr. Lan Qingzhong’s print shop in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia (about 100 miles away) on May 11, 2024. As soon as they arrived, plainclothes officers from the Qianjin Police Department of Chaoyang City rushed in. They confiscated Mr. Lan’s printers, computers, and 320,000 yuan cash, as well as the 120,000 yuan cash from the couple. Hours later, the police escorted Mr. He back to his home in Chaoyang City and seized another 91,000 yuan in cash, his home keys, car keys, and other items.
Ms. Liu Cuixian, a Kunming City, Yunnan Province, resident, was arrested at home on June 6, 2024, while studying Falun Gong books with seven other practitioners. The police confiscated 100,000 yuan in cash from her and froze her bank account with several million yuan in it.
In another case that demonstrates how the communist regime disrupts the practitioners’ everyday life, Ms. Chen Wei, a resident of Shanghai, was evicted from her rental apartment on February 7, 2024. The police put seals on the door and warned her landlord to check all of his future tenants’ backgrounds to make sure they were not “cult members.”
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