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(Minghui.org) A total of 1,040 incidents of Falun Gong practitioners being arrested or harassed for their faith were reported in September and October 2023. Falun Gong is a traditional mind-body cultivation practice that has persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since 1999.
Among the 614 arrest cases, one took place in 2021, 69 in the first half of 2023, 50 in July 2023, 94 in August 2023, 280 in September 2023 and 121 in October 2023. For the 426 harassment cases, 54 occurred in the first half of 2023, 33 in July 2023, 56 in August 2023, 189 in September 2023 and 94 in October 2023. Due to strict information censorship in China, the persecution cases can’t always be reported in a timely manner, nor is all the information readily available.
The newly-reported cases took place in 25 provinces and 4 centrally-controlled municipalities (Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, and Tianjin). Shandong reported the most combined cases (164) of arrest and harassment, followed by 138 in Heilongjiang, 137 in Hebei, and 104 in Jilin. Fourteen regions saw double-digit cases between 11 and 91. Another eleven regions had single-digit cases between 1 and 9.
A total of 176 targeted practitioners, including 109 of the arrested and 67 of the harassed, were 60 years old or older at the time of their arrests or harassment, with 63 in their 60s, 70 in their 70s, 40 in their 80s and 3 in their 90s.
The practitioners are from all walks of life, and include journalists, teachers, doctors, artists, and engineers.
Key Trends
- Some harassment episodes took place around “sensitive dates,” including the Mid-Autumn Festival (September 29), the 19th Asian Games (September 23 – October 8, 2023), the October 1 national holiday, and the “One Belt One Road” forum held in Beijing in mid-October.
- Authorities across the country organized signature drives to slander Falun Gong, with tens of millions of residents in multiple provinces having signed their names on anti-Falun Gong propaganda materials.
- Practitioners in at least seven provinces were arrested or harassed for posting information about Falun Gong on various social media platforms.
Case Highlights
- Two women in their 80s were arrested for talking to people about Falun Gong. One practitioner’s husband, who is blind and relies on her for care, is now in a dire situation with his wife in detention.
- A Hubei resident has been on a hunger strike since her arrest on October 24, 2023 and her life is in danger.
- Another Hubei resident was arrested again after spending 7 years in prison, leaving her mother in her 80s to fend for herself. The elderly father of a Beijing resident is facing a similar situation after his daughter was arrested while visiting him.
- A 51-year-old mother was barred from traveling abroad to seek medical treatment for her paralyzed son.
- Having been incarcerated for nearly 13 years, an artist in Beijing was repeatedly harassed in the first half of 2023 before being arrested again in September 2023.
Harassment Around Sensitive Dates
Between September and October 2023, several holidays and major events took place, including the Mid-Autumn Festival (a traditional time of family reunions) on September 29, the 19th Asian Games between September 23 and October 8 in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang province, the October 1 national holiday, and the “One Belt One Road” forum in Beijing on October 17 and 18. During the so-called “sensitive dates,” the authorities often tighten up monitoring and harassment of Falun Gong practitioners, in order to prevent them from exposing the persecution to the public during these times.
When the son of 66-year-old Ms. Zhao Ya bought a ticket for her to watch a basketball game at the 19th Asian Games in late September 2023, the police from her hometown in Liquan County, Shaanxi Province traveled over 700 miles to her son’s home and arrested her. Since her son went to Hangzhou City for college in 2001 and later landed a job there after graduation, she had never gotten a chance to visit him during the holidays due to the persecution. She and her husband had hoped to spend this Mid-Autumn Festival with her son’s family – only to see their dream dashed.
In Beijing, Mr. Liu Xingdu was harassed by officer Wu Wensheng of the Wulituo Police Station on October 13. Wu threatened him, telling him not to go out to talk to people about Falun Gong. A staffer from the residential committee accompanied Wu and took a photo of Mr. Liu without his consent.
Several practitioners in Daxing District in Beijing who were also harassed reported that the police ordered them not to go to Tiananmen Square or get close to the venue where the “One Belt One Road” forum was held. Several residential committee staffers brought rice, noodles and cooking oil to the practitioners and tried to take pictures of them with these items. They had intended to use the pictures to show how the authorities cared about the practitioners by gifting them those items. All of the practitioners refused to comply with this propaganda stunt.
Starting in September 2023, the 610 Office in several provinces mobilized teachers in local elementary schools, middle schools, and street committees to send messages to groups of parents, retirees or neighborhoods on WeChat (the dominant social media app in China) to sign a new petition on the “China Anti-Cult Network,” which included a great deal of content slandering Falun Gong. Many parents were forced to sign their names so as not to cause problems with their children’s teachers.
According to a Falun Gong practitioner in Hebei Province, as of October 31, 2023, 14.54 million people in Henan Province has signed the petition, followed by 13.62 million in Hebei and 4.21 million in Shandong. The persecution of Falun Gong is very severe in all three of these provinces compared to other regions in the country.
Also in Shandong Province, the Mengyin County 610 Office organized new brainwashing sessions in October 2023 and mobilized local police and village officials to take the practitioners there for “further education.” Mr. Sheng Defu was working in his farm field on October 24 when five officers suddenly arrested him. He was held at the brainwashing center, dubbed “Care Center,” for seven days.
Targeted for Speaking Up
While carrying out a relentless propaganda campaign to demonize Falun Gong and justify the persecution, the Chinese communist regime has also been targeting practitioners who speak up, be it talking to people face to face, distributing informational materials, sharing information on the Internet, or even printing information on paper currency. Practitioners’ actions are often met with retaliation by the authorities, resulting in arrests and prison sentences.
Between July and August 2023 alone, seven practitioners in seven different provinces were arrested for posting information about Falun Gong on social media.
Mr. Cheng Qianyue, a farmer in Cao County, Shandong Province, was arrested on July 3, 2023 after the police discovered that he had posted messages reading “Falun Dafa is good and Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” on Kwai (a TikTok-type social media platform for short videos and trends).
In addition to Mr. Cheng, Ms. Xue Shunrong of Huzhu County, Qinghai Province, Mr. Zhang Jinglong of Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province, and Ms. Qiu Guaixia of Yinchuan City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, were also arrested on July 6, 7 and 11, respectively, for posting information on Kwai. Mr. Zhang and Ms. Qiu were detained for 15 and 7 days, respectively. Ms. Xue is still in custody at the time of writing and facing prosecution.
Mr. Yao Xianmin, 53, a native of Siping City, Jilin Province, has been doing odd jobs in Changchun (the provincial capital) in recent years. He had an account on TikTok, where he used an alias to post Falun Gong information in various forms (videos, poems, etc.) from the perspective of a non-Falun Gong practitioner. It was said he had about 30,000 followers. The Internet police discovered his true identity and arrested him around July 10, 2023. He is currently held at the Zhenlai County Detention Center in Jilin Province. His family and lawyer have been denied visits with him.
Mr. Tang Zhifei, 41, is a software engineer in Hefei City, Anhui Province. Several police agents broke into his home on August 3, 2023 and arrested him. His young son, only in his underwear at the time, was not allowed to put on any clothes. A policewoman then dropped the boy off at his paternal grandparents’ home, which is nearby.
Mr. Tang’s wife was out of town at the time. She rushed back to Hefei upon learning of the news. When she picked up her son from her parents-in-law’s home, the boy was wearing his grandpa’s clothes.
The police raided Mr. Tang’s home and confiscated his computer, cell phone, house deed, and business license (he co-owns a business with a partner). Before leaving, the police also changed the lock on his door. His wife had no alternative but to take their son to her hometown in Fuyang City, Anhui Province. She had invited her parents-in-law, both retired physicians, to go with her in order for them to avoid police harassment, but they declined because their health wasn’t suitable for travel.
Mr. Tang is currently held at the Changfeng County Detention Center. The police said they targeted him after discovering that he had been posting Falun Gong informational videos on an overseas social media platform with more than 6,000 views. They threatened to get him sentenced to at least three years.
Mr. Mo Shanyi, a native of Pengxi County, Sichuan Province, was working in Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, when the local police approached him on July 20, 2023. They ordered him to relinquish his cell phone and then returned it after a quick examination. The police arrested Mr. Mo on August 7, claiming that his WeChat account had information about Falun Gong. He was also accused of posting information about Falun Gong on TikTok. Mr. Mo was transferred back to Pengxi and held at the Pengxi County Detention Center. He was released on September 14.