OVER THE LAST four years, China watchers have proposed a variety of socio-political reasons for why the Chinese regime moved to crush Falun Gong a benign exercise and meditation practice with ancient Chinese roots. The answer, however, has proved to be simpler and far more disturbing than most initially guessed.
When the nationwide persecution campaign against Falun Gong began in China in July 1999, many believed the campaign to be another mass movement orchestrated and backed by the Communist Party leadership as a whole. Since that time, however, facts have emerged to cast light on the maneuvers of then-Communist Party head Jiang Zemin.