Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 03:32, 22 December 2010

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met. (October 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Persecution of Falun Gong" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The persecution of Falun Gong refers to the campaign initiated by the Chinese Communist Party against practitioners of Falun Gong since July 1999, aimed at eliminating the practice in mainland China. Falun Gong is a qigong-based movement founded by Li Hongzhi in 1992, which was banned by the government of China on 22 July 1999. The movement has been called an "evil cult" by the official Chinese press.

According to Amnesty International, the campaign to supress Falun Gong includes a multifaceted propaganda media campaign, a program of enforced ideological conversion and re-education, as well as a variety of extralegal coercive measures, such as arbitrary arrests, forced labour, and physical torture. An extra-constitutional body, the 6-10 Office was created to lead the suppression of groups which the government considered 'cults'. The authorities mobilised state media apparatus, police force, army, education system, families, and workplaces against Falun Gong.

Tianjin and Zhongnanhai protests

In April 1999, He Zuoxiu, a longtime enemy of qigong practices, published an editorial in Tianjin Normal University's Youth Reader magazine. Elaborating on what he had said months earlier on Beijing Television, he again launched into attacks on qigong groups that purport to give people supernatural powers and heal disease, making particular criticism of Falun Gong. Falun Gong practitioners claimed the cases that He cited as evidence of the dangers of Falun Gong erroneous or otherwise "highly offensive."

He's article marked the beginning of a "dramatic public struggle" between Falun Gong practitioners and the Chinese government over the legitimacy of Falun Gong. Because Falun Gong practitioners had no access to mass media, they resorted to other symbolic forms to appeal to officials and the public: peaceful protests.

After the article was published practitioners gathered to protest in meditation posture outside the editorial office of the publication in Tianjin, and sent petitions and appeals to the Tianjin party headquarters and municipal government for the retraction of He's piece. According to Falun Gong sources, the magazine editors initially agreed to publish a "correction," but then changed their attitude and refused to do so. Within days those gathered had swelled to the thousands. Three hundred riot police were sent to disperse the crowd, some of the practitioners were beaten, and forty-five arrested. Hundreds then marched to the munipical government to demand their liberation. They were told that the police action had been carried out on orders from the Ministry of Public Security, and that those arrested could only be released with the approval of Beijing authorities.

On 25 April, around ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners lined the streets near Zhongnanhai, the residence compound of China's leaders, in peaceful and silent protest. It was Falun Gong practitioners' attempt to seek redress from the leadership of the country by going to them and, "albeit very quietly and politely, making it clear that they would not be treated so shabbily." Many Falun Gong practitioners were party members, who openly lobbied for the group. While Falun Gong's pre-1999 political involvement is difficult to verify, no other disenfranchised group has ever staged a mass protest near the Zhongnanhai compound in PRC history. The incident raised questions about the Party's control over the country.

The ban and crackdown

Three days after Zhongnanhai, Xinhua published an interview with an official who warned against similar protests: "Those who jeopardize social stability under the pretext of practising any type of 'qigong' will be dealt with according to the law." In early May, reports were circulating that Jiang Zemin had established a high-level task force to deal with the threat, with Hu Jintao and Luo Gan in charge. Authorities began to round up Falun Gong leaders. According to the BBC, Falun Gong mobilised "tens of thousands of followers in some 30 cities" in mid June after the arrests. On 22 July 1999, the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) issued a statement banning Falun Gong:

China today banned the Research Society of Falun Dafa and the Falun Gong organization under its control after deeming them to be illegal. In its decision on this matter issued today, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said that according to investigations, the Research Society of Falun Dafa had not been registered according to law and had been engaged in illegal activities, advocating superstition and spreading fallacies, hoodwinking people, inciting and creating disturbances, and jeopardizing social stability. The decision said that therefore, in accordance with the Regulations on the Registration and Management of Mass Organizations, the Research Society of Falun Dafa and the Falun Gong organization under its control are held to be illegal and are therefore banned.

In another commentary, Xinhua said that Falun Gong was opposed to the Party, that "It preaches idealism, theism and feudal superstition, and that its leaders were "a small number of behind-the-scenes plotters and organizers who harbor political intentions". Xinhua asserted that the actions taken against Falun Gong were essential to maintaining the "vanguard role and purity" of the Communist Party, and that "In fact, the so-called `truth, kindness and forbearance' principle preached by Li has nothing in common with the socialist ethical and cultural progress we are striving to achieve."

Li Hongzhi issued a "Brief Statement of Mine" on the same day, which dealt with a number of issues. On the ban, he said:

Falun Gong is simply a popular qigong activity. It does not have any particular organization, let alone any political objectives. We have never been involved in any anti-government activities... We are not against the government now, nor will we be in the future... We are calling for all governments, international organizations, and people of goodwill worldwide to extend their support and assistance to us in order to resolve the present crisis that is taking place in China.

Speculation on rationale

A World Journal report suggested that certain high-level Party officials wanted to crack down on the practice for years, but lacked sufficient pretext until the protest at Zhongnanhai, which they claim was partly orchestrated by Luo Gan, a long-time opponent of Falun Gong. There were also reportedly rifts in the Politburo at the time of the incident. Some reports indicate that Premier Zhu Rongji met with Falun Gong representatives and gave them satisfactory answers, but was criticized by General Secretary and President Jiang Zemin for being "too soft." Jiang is held by Falun Gong to be personally responsible for the final decision: Peerman cited reasons such as suspected personal jealousy of Li Hongzhi; Saich postulates at party leaders' anger at Falun Gong's widespread appeal, and ideological struggle.

Human Rights Watch notes that the crackdown on Falun Gong reflects historical efforts by the Chinese Communist Party to eradicate religion, which the government believed was inherently subversive. Some journalists believe that Beijing's reaction exposes its authoritarian nature and its intolerance for competing loyalty. The Globe and Mail wrote : "...any group that does not come under the control of the Party is a threat"; secondly, the 1989 protests may have heightened the leaders' sense of losing their grip on power, making them live in "mortal fear" of popular demonstrations. Craig Smith of the Wall Street Journal suggests that the government which has by definition no view of spirituality, lacks moral credibility with which to fight an expressly spiritual foe; the party feels increasingly threatened by any belief system that challenges its ideology and has an ability to organize itself. The state’s suppression of Falun Gong is related to a generalized intolerance of any group that flaunts itself in the communist party’s face, according to Michael Lestz. "The sin of Master Li’s sect is not that it harks back to earlier religio-political movements but that it represents a large organization independent of the state that violates the unwritten "rules of engagement" that govern the relations between the state and such organizations." Though practitioners were "simply asking to be left alone," by appearing en masse in front of Zhonghanhai, they "rattled the cage" of a command structure used to ruling by repression.

Reports suggest that certain high-level Communist Party officials had wanted to crackdown on the practice for some years, but lacked pretext or support until Zhongnanhai, which Ching suggested was pivotal in elevating "fear, animosity and suppression" of the movement. Reportedly many high-ranking members of the politburo were opposed to a nationwide persecution of the movement, and Falun Gong considers Jiang Zemin personally responsible for the final decision and the ensuing political campaign." Jiang Zemin had allegedly received a letter from the former director of the 301 Military Hospital, "a doctor with considerable standing among the political elite," endorsing Falun Gong and advising high-level cadres to start practising it. Jiang also found out that Li's book, Zhuan Falun, had been published by People's Liberation Navy, and that possibly seven hundred thousand Communist Party members were practitioners. "Jiang accepts the threat of Falun Gong as an ideological one: spiritual beliefs against militant atheism and historical materialism. He to purge the government and the military of such beliefs".

The Washington Post reported that sources indicated not all of the standing committee of the Politburo shared Jiang's view that Falun Gong should be eradicated. The size and reach of Jiang's anti-Falun Gong campaign surpassed that of many previous mass-movements. Through a Mao-style purge of Falun Gong, Jiang forced senior cadres "to pledge allegiance to his line", thus boosting his authority to enable him to dictate events at the pivotal 16th Communist Party congress, according to a Communist Party veteran. "As with 1960s-style campaigns, the standard ritual of ideological sessions held in party units, factories, and colleges the past few years is that participants make public declarations of support for the Beijing line—and for the top leader." Lam reports a mid-level official saying that "The leadership is obsessed with the Falun Gong and have put its eradication as a top priority this year."

Legal and bureaucratic mechanisms

On 10 June 1999 the Party established the '6-10 Office', an extra-constitutional body to lead the suppression of groups which the government considered 'cults'. Representatives were selected in every province, city, county, university, government department and state-owned business in China. On 20 July 1999, the crackdown officially began. Public security officers throughout China quietly detained numerous Falun Gong leaders just after midnight, although Porter states this took place "within days". Across the country, police began arresting Falun Gong leaders from hundreds of homes, and hauling them to prison. Falun Gong's four Beijing "arch-leaders" were arrested, and quickly tried. Public Security Bureau ordered churches, temples, mosques, newspapers, media, courts and police to suppress Falun Gong. Three days of massive demonstrations by practitioners in some thirty cities followed. In Beijing and other cities, protesters were detained in sports stadium.

The government’s strongest discursive attack on the Falun Gong up to this point occurred on 20 June, when the People’s Daily published a long article urging people to give up Falun Gong practice. On this same day the official media published several editorial directed toward Communist Party members who practiced Falun Gong, strongly reminding them that as Party members they were atheists and must not allow themselves to "become superstitious by continuing to practice Falun Gong." If they did not give up Falun Gong beliefs, they would be forced out of the Party. Once Chinese authorities decided to completely ban the Falun Gong, they launched a multifaceted rhetorical campaign in the government controlled media to marshal public opinion against the movement. In their effort to undermine the legitimacy of the large and popular Falun Gong movement, the Chinese government used an extensive repertoire of discursive and presentational strategies to try to discredit the Falun Gong organization, practices, belief system, and purported social consequences.

On 22 July, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security together dissolved the Falun Dafa Research Society and banned "the propagation of Falun Gong in any form" and to prohibit anyone from disrupting social order or confronting the government. Other qigong groups, such as Zhong Gong, were similarly forced to disband. HRW notes that Chinese officials did not hesitate to apply the same harsh tactics to Falun Gong that it had employed previously against other sects it sought to control – to illustrate its power over all religious expression, " who inspired extraordinary loyalty from worshippers or who resisted government edicts went to prison or simply were 'disappeared'". HRW and Amnesty stated that the official directives and legal documents issued for the purge fall short of international standards.

On 26 July, several state bureaux and the Ministry of Public Security jointly issued a circular calling for confiscation and destruction of all publications related to Falun Gong; it was condemned in the media, with books shredded and videotapes bulldozed for TV cameras. Three days later, an arrest warrant was issued for Li Hongzhi for "spreading superstition, deception, and organising gatherings to disturb public order", which was filed with but declined by Interpol. Protests continued, and thousands of practitioners entered Beijing for a demonstration in Tiananmen Square on 25 October. Politburo member Li Lanqing reported that up to the end of October, there had been 35,792 instances when followers were stopped by police and either taken away or told to leave Beijing; a large number are believed to have been stopped from reaching the capital.

The government enacted a statute (article 300 of the Criminal Law), passed by the National People’s Congress on 30 October 1999, with retrospective application to suppress thousands of "heterodox religions" across China, thus legitimising the persecution of Falun Gong and any other spiritual groups deemed "dangerous to the state." Arrested leaders had been formally charged on 19 October with various offences ranging from organizing a cult to "stealing, illegally possessing and leaking state secrets" and "running an illegal business." The State Council Information Office announced that at least 150 people had been detained or were being sought on similar charges by 22 November; forty-four people had been indicted by 28 November. Upon the sentencing of two key Falun Gong leaders to heavy prison terms (16 to 18 years') in late December, the protests which had abated resumed immediately.

HRW observed that state's efforts to stop demonstrations were met by "orchestrated defiance" and daily protests throughout 2000. Daily protesters usually numbered in the hundreds, perhaps 1,000 protesters or more would gather on holidays and important dates; practitioners from around the country would "court detention" on Tiananmen Square by unfurling banners or meditating. In anticipation of their arrests by police, Falun Gong ensured international media were on hand to witness how their peaceful protest was met by violent responses from authorities; they would draw attention to arrests and suspicious deaths in custody, issue media alerts, and post information on the internet. According to Leung, 5,000 were detained across China by February 2000. By 25 April 2000, within one year after the massive demonstration at Zhongnanhai, a total of more than 30,000 practitioners had been arrested there. Seven hundred Falun Gong followers were arrested during a demonstration in the Square on 1 January 2001. Officials grew impatient with the constant flow of protesters into Beijing, and decided to implement a cascading responsibility system to push the responsibility for meeting central orders down onto those enforcing them: central authorities would hold local officials personally responsible for stemming the flow of protesters. The provincial government would fine mayors for each Falun Gong practitioner from their district who made it to Beijing; the mayors would in turn fine the heads of the Political and Legal commissions, who would in turn fine village chiefs, who fined police officers who administered the punishment. According to Johnson, police in turn extorted money illegally from Falun Gong practitioners, and the order was only relayed orally at meetings, “because they didn't want it made public.” A chief feature in the testimony of Falun Gong torture victims was that they were “constantly being asked for money to compensate for the fines.”

HRW reported that some work units would summarily fire people identified as practitioners, meaning they would lose housing, schooling, pensions, and be reported to the police. Whereas places remote from Beijing once turned a blind eye to solitary exercise and meditation, restrictions were tightened in 2001 after the Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident. Local officials would detain active practitioners and those unwilling to recant, and were expected to "make certain" that families and employers keep them isolated.

Media campaign

Since the organization's ban by the government of China on 22 July 1999, the state-controlled media declared Falun Gong to be an "evil cult" that spreads superstition.

By 30 July, ten days into the campaign, Xinhua reported confiscations of over one million Falun Gong books and other materials, hundreds of thousands burned and destroyed.

At the early stages of the crackdown, the evening news would broadcast images of huge piles of Falun Gong materials being crushed or incinerated. Perry writes that the basic pattern of the offensive was similar to "the anti-rightist campaign of the 1950s the anti-spiritual pollution campaigns of the 1980s." The media would focus on those who had kicked the Falun Gong habit; relatives of Falun Gong victims would talk about the tragedies that had befallen their loved ones; former practitioners would confess being "hoodwinked by Li Hongzhi and... expressing regret at their gullibility"; physical education instructors suggested healthy alternatives to Falun Gong practice, like ten-pin bowling.

According to CNN's Willy Lam, state media stated that Falun Gong was part of an "anti-China international movement". As it did during the Cultural Revolution, the Communist Party organised rallies in the streets and stop-work meetings in remote western provinces by government agencies such as the weather bureau to denounce the practice. Xinhua published editorials on PLA officers declaring Falun Gong "an effort by hostile Western forces to subvert China," and vowing to do their utmost to defend the central leadership and "maintain national security and social stability."

Circulars were issued to women's and youth organisations encouraging support for the ban. Both the Youth League and the All-China Women's Federation called for greater use of science education to combat "feudalistic superstition." Xinhua reported speeches of Youth League officials. One speaker said "This reminds us of the importance and urgency of strengthening our political and ideological work among the younger generation, educating them with Marxist materialism and atheism, and making greater efforts to popularize scientific knowledge". The Women's Federation stated the need to "arm our sisters with scientific knowledge and help improve their capability to recognize and resist feudal superstition" A group of PLA veterans who had joined in the 1930s and 1940s issued a statement that "Only Marxism can save China and only the Chinese Communist Party can lead us to accomplish the great cause of reinvigorating the Chinese nation."

Li was also a target for Chinese media during this time. The Chinese authorities charged that he had created Falun Gong on the basis of two other Qigong systems developed earlier, namely, Chanmi Gong and Jiugong Bagua Gong, and that some of Falun Gong's exercises were copied from "movements from Thai dance that he picked up during a visit to relatives in Thailand." Chinese authorities asserted that acquaintances Li Jingchao and Liu Yuqing helped to develop the system, and other earlier followers helped write texts and touch up photographs; it was not tested exhaustively beforehand, but was completed only one month before its official launch, they alleged. James Tong notes that these allegations were brought forth in the publication "Li Hongzhi qiren qishi", some already in print before 22 July 1999, that conformed to the guidelines of the suppression of Falun Gong as specified by the Politburo and Jiang Zemin. Many were hastily compiled reprints or re-writes of Renmin Ribao articles and Xinhua dispatches on exposes of Falun Gong and Li Hongzhi, and party and government documents banning the Falun Gong. Qiren qishi was itself produced by the research arm of the Public Security Bureau.

Internet and press restrictions

Analyst James Mulvenon of the Rand Corporation stated that the Chinese Ministry of Public Security uses cyber-warfare to attack Falun Gong websites in the United States, Australia, Canada and England, and blocks access to internet resources about the topic.

The Foreign Correspondents' Club of China have complained about their members being "followed, detained, interrogated and threatened" for reporting on government actions in banning Falun Gong. Many foreign journalists attending a news conference organised by practitioners which took place in Beijing on 28 October 1999, were accused by the Chinese authorities of "illegal reporting." Others have been punished for communicating with the foreign press or for organising the press conferences. Journalists from Reuters, the New York Times, the Associated Press and a number of other organisations were interrogated by police, forced to sign confessions, and had their work and residence papers temporarily confiscated. Correspondents also complained that television satellite transmissions were interfered with while being routed through China Central Television. Amnesty states that "a number of people have received prison sentences or long terms of administrative detention for speaking out about the repression or giving information over the Internet.."

The 2002 Reporters Without Borders' report on China states that photographers and cameramen working with foreign media were prevented from working in and around Tiananmen Square where hundreds of Falungong followers have demonstrated in recent years. It estimates that at least 50 representatives of the international press have been arrested since July 1999, and some of them were beaten by police; several Falun Gong followers have been imprisoned for talking with foreign journalists." Ian Johnson, The Wall Street Journal correspondent in Beijing, wrote a series of articles which won him the 2001 Pulitzer Prize. Johnson left Beijing after writing his articles, stating that "the Chinese police would have made my life in Beijing impossible" after he received the Pulitzer.

Use of the cult label

The government re-used many of the arguments which had been advanced by critics of the movement prior to the ban, including allegations that Falun Gong was "propagating feudal superstition", that Li had changed his birthdate, and that the practice exploited spiritual cultivation to engage in seditious politics. In exposés such as "Falun Gong is a Cult", "Exposing the Lies of the 'Falun Gong' Cult", and "Cult of Evil", they alleged that Falun Gong engaged in mind control and manipulation via "lies and fallacies," causing "needless deaths of large numbers of practitioners." State media seized upon Li's writing in which he expressed that illnesses are caused by karma, and that Li has stated on several occasions that the sign of a true practitioner is to refuse medicine or medical care. The authorities claimed over 1,000 deaths because practitioners followed Li's teachings and refused to seek medical treatment, that several hundred practitioners had cut their stomachs open "looking for the Dharma Wheel" or committed suicide, and that over 30 innocent people had been killed by "mentally deranged practitioners of Falun Gong." Li was portrayed as a charlatan, while snapshots of accounting records were shown on television, "purporting to prove that made huge amounts of money off his books and videos."

Ching (2001) states that "evil cult" was defined by an atheist government "on political premises, not by any religious authority", and was used by the authorities to make previous arrests and imprisonments constitutional. Most social scientists and scholars of religion reject "brainwashing" theories and do not use the term "cult" to describe Falun Gong. Chan claims that Falun Gong is neither a cult nor a sect, but a New Religious Movement with cult-like characteristics. Other scholars avoid the term "cult" altogether because "of the confusion between the historic meaning of the term and current pejorative use" These scholars prefer terms like "spiritual movement" or "new religious movement" to avoid the negative connotations of "cult" or to avoid mis-categorizing Falun Gong as a "cult" if it doesn't fit mainstream definitions. Nevertheless, many scholars, including notably Palmer (2007) and Ownby (2008), use the words "moralistic" and "apocalyptic" to describe its philosophy.

Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident

On the eve of Chinese New Year on 23 January 2001, seven people attempted to set themselves ablaze at Tiananmen Square. The official Chinese press agency, Xinhua News Agency, and other state media asserted that the self-immolators were practitioners while the Falun Dafa Information Center disputed this, on the grounds that the movement's teachings explicitly forbid suicide and killing, and further alleged that the event itself never happened, and was a cruel but clever piece of stunt-work. The incident received international news coverage, and video footage of the burnings were broadcast later inside China by China Central Television (CCTV). Images of a 12 year old girl, Liu Siying, burning and interviews with the other participants in which they stated their belief that self-immolation would lead them to paradise were shown. Falun Gong-related commentators claimed that the main participants' account of the incident and other aspects of the participants' behaviour were inconsistent with the teachings of Falun Dafa, and some third-party commentators have also pointed out discrepancies in the government's version of events, and alleged that the incident was staged in order to turn public opinion against the practice and build public support for its persecution. Time reported that prior to the self-immolation incident, many Chinese had felt that Falun Gong posed no real threat, and that the state's crackdown had gone too far. After the event the media campaign against Falun Gong gained significant traction.

Reports of violence and abuse

Forced labor

Robert Bejesky, writing in the Columbia Journal of Asian Law, wrote that China uses forced labor to re-educate those seen as "disrupting social order," "endangering national security," or "subverting the socialist system". Such forced labor is outside the criminal justice system, and is intended to rehabilitate "agitators". Up to 99% of long term Falun Gong detainees are processed administratively through this system. Outside access is not given to the camps. Prisoners are forced to do heavy work in mines, brick factories, and agriculture. A figure from 2004 set the number of Falun Gong deaths in these institutions at 700, according to Bejesky.

Torture

A 2001 article by John Pomfret and Philip P. Pan in the Washington Post said that that no practitioner was to be spared coercive measures in an attempt to make them renounce their faith. According to their source in the security apparatus, the most active are sent directly to labor camps, “where they are first 'broken' by beatings and other torture.” They write that some local governments had tried brainwashing classes before, but only in January 2001 did the “secret 610 office, an interagency task force leading the charge against Falun Gong, order all neighborhood committees, state institutions and companies to start.”

The Falun Gong website Clearwisdom report numerous cases of extreme psychological and physical torture, accompanied by testimonies and details of identities of the victims, resulting in impaired mental, sensory, physiological and speech faculties, mental trauma, paralysis, or death. Over 100 forms of torture are purported to be used, including electric shocks, stress positions, branding, force-feeding, and sexual abuse, with many variations on each type.

Since 2000, the Special Rapporteur to the United Nations highlighted 314 cases of torture, representing more than 1,160 individuals, to the Government of China. Falun Gong comprise 66% of all such reported torture cases, 8% occurring within Ankangs. The Special Rapporteur refers to the torture allegations as "harrowing" and asks the Chinese government to "take immediate steps to protect the lives and integrity of its detainees in accordance with the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners" Corinna-Barbara Francis of Amnesty says Falun Gong's (death toll) figures seem a little high because they are not the result of formal executions.

An article on the Association for Asian Research website describes torture of men and women at the Dalian Labor Camp in China. Gao Zhisheng, a Beijing-based human rights lawyer, in his third open letter to the Beijing leadership criticised criminal behaviour of 6-10 Office staff and the police for cases of abduction, assault and torture.

Organ harvesting

In March 2006 the Falun Gong-affiliated Epoch Times published a number of articles alleging that the China was conducting widespread and systematic organ harvesting of living Falun Gong practitioners. The website alleged that practitioners detained in labour camps, hospital basements, or prisons, were being blood and urine tested, their information stored on computer databases, and then matched with organ recipients. Within one month, third party investigators including representatives of the US Department of State, said that there was insufficient evidence to support the allegation. Former Canadian Secretary of State David Kilgour and human rights lawyer David Matas were commissioned by Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong to investigate the allegations. In July 2006, they published "Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China", which concluded that large numbers of Falun Gong practitioners were victims of systematic organ harvesting throughout China, whilst still alive.

In August 2006, a Congressional Research Service report said that some of the key allegations of the Kilgour-Matas report appeared to be inconsistent with the findings of other investigations. In November 2008 the United Nations Committee Against Torture called for the Chinese state to immediately conduct or commission an independent investigation of the claims of organ harvesting, and take measures to ensure that those responsible for any such abuses are prosecuted and punished.

Psychiatric abuse

Falun Gong and human rights observers began reporting widespread psychiatric abuse of mentally-healthy practitioners since 1999, a claim that is supported by journalist Danny Schechter. Falun Gong says that thousands have been forcefully detained in mental hospitals and subject to psychiatric abuses such as injection of sedatives or anti-psychotic drugs, torture by electrocution, force-feeding, beatings and starvation. It also alleges that practitioners are involuntarily admitted because they are unwilling to sever their ties with Falun Gong. Others are admitted because detention sentences have expired or the detainees have not been successfully “transformed” in the brainwashing classes. In 2001 amnesty International published details of cases in which practitioners, alone or in groups, were detained for long periods of time and forced to take drugs.

In 2002, the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) scheduled an investigation with the involvement of the Chinese Society of Psychiatrists' (CSP) to examine alleged abuses of Falun Gong practitioners who were sent to Chinese psychiatric hospitals and clinics as punishment. In April, several days before it was to start, the investigation was postponed indefinitely, at the Chinese government's insistence, although in May the CSP admitted to instances of misdiagnosis in which spiritual beliefs and delusions of Falun Gong practitioners were not distinguished, primarily due to the lack of professional training.

Robin J. Munro, former Director of the Hong Kong Office of Human Rights Watch, drew worldwide attention to the abuses of forensic psychiatry in China in general, and of Falun Gong practitioners in particular. Munro says that large-scale psychiatric abuses are the most distinctive aspect of the government’s protracted campaign to "crush the Falun Gong." Harvard professor Alan Stone disagreed, saying that the allegations were constructed from "layman's reading and tendentious extrapolations of Chinese psychiatric publications". Stone said that the pattern of hospitalisation varied from province to province, and did not suggest any uniform government policy was in force. After having been given access to and examining several hundred cases of specific Falun Gong practitioners in named psychiatric hospitals, the medical personnel, He also noted the role played by local security forces and the local authorities, rather than psychiatrists. Some were taken at or on their way to protests in Beijing and brought in groups to psychiatric hospitals, others were brought by family members who felt threatened by the authorities.

Following his visit to China in February 2005 as part of a World Psychiatric Association delegation, Stone noted that divergent standards of training, economic pressure, and the absence of central government control and command regulation all suggest fundamental differences with the Soviet model of abuse. Although Falun Gong practitioners were misdiagnosed and mistreated in psychiatric hospitals across China, Stone said the Ministry of Health or Security in Beijing were not responsible. Furthermore, he found no evidence that "an influential group of forensic psychiatrists carried out this psychiatric suppression of the Falun Gong"

However, Sunny Y. Lu and Viviana B. Galli credit Jiang Zemin with reversing the declining trend of using mental hospitals as places of government-directed torture in China, as part of a comprehensive and brutal campaign to eradicate Falun Gong. They draw comparison with political abuse of psychiatry by the Soviet Union aimed at dissidents and nonconformists, but point out that Falun Gong practitioners were "neither political nor nonconformists." Lu and Galli assert that the authorities began forcing sane Falun Gong practitioners into psychiatric facilities not long after the crackdown began. In cases where hospitals expressed reluctance to admit mentally healthy persons, the government would apply pressure through police. Without formal legal procedures for commitment, local police officers and members of the 6-10 Office arbitrarily commit Falun Gong practitioners to psychiatric institutions, with lengths of detention ranging from days to years. Lu and Galli state that “the perversion of mental health facilities for the purpose of the torture of Falun Gong practitioners is widespread”; the targets are from all tiers of society, including physicians, nurses, judges, military personnel, police officers and school teachers.

Social pressure

Academic restrictions

According to Falun Gong lobby group World Organization for the Investigation Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG), examinations contained questions with anti-Falun Gong content, and incorrect answers had serious repercussions. WOIPFG claimed that students who practiced Falun Gong were barred from schools and universities and from sitting exams, and that "guilt by association" was assumed: family members of known practitioners were also denied entry. There were anti-Falun Gong petitions.

International response

Falun Gong's ordeal has attracted a large amount of international attention from governments and non-government organizations. Human rights organizations, such as Amnesty and Human Rights Watch, have raised acute concerns over reports of torture and ill-treatment of practitioners in China and have also urged the UN and international governments to intervene to bring an end to the persecution.

The United States Congress has passed six resolutions - House Concurrent Resolution 304, House Resolution 530,House Concurrent Resolution 188, House Concurrent Resolution 218, - calling for an immediate end to the campaign against Falun Gong practitioners both in China and abroad. The first, Concurrent Resolution 217, was passed in November 1999. The latest, Resolution 605, was passed on 17 March 2010, and called for "an immediate end to the campaign to persecute, intimidate, imprison, and torture Falun Gong practitioners."

Response from Falun Gong

Falun Gong practitioners and supporters report torture and ill-treatment of practitioners in mainland China. After 1999 practitioners also began holding frequent protests, rallies, and appeals outside The People's Republic. Some Falun Gong support groups and activists outside of China published "Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party", and initiated a worldwide "Three Renunciations" Campaign. The video "False Fire: Self-Immolation or Deception?", was broadcast on Chinese television by hackers. Liu Chengjun, named as the instigator of the television hacking, was sentenced to 19 years in prison. The Falun Gong website stated that he died after 21 months in Jilin Prison, on 26 December 2003.

Further reading

• Spiegel, Mickey (2002). Dangerous Meditation: China's Campaign Against Falungong. Human Rights Watch. ISBN 1-56432-269-6. Retrieved 28 December 2009.
• Østergaard, Clemens Stubbe (2003). Jude Howell (ed.). Governance in China. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 214–223 (Governance and the Political Challenge of Falun Gong). ISBN 0742519880.
• Palmer, David A. (2007). 9. Falun Gong challenges the CCP. Columbia University Press. pp. 241–295. ISBN 0231140665. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
• Sisci, Francesco (27 January 2001). "Part 1: From sport to suicide". Asia Times.; Part 2: A rude awakening; Part 3: The deeper crisis facing China
• Kavan, Heather (July 2008). "Falun Gong in the media: What can we believe?" (PDF). E. Tilley (Ed.) Power and Place: Refereed Proceedings of the Australian & New Zealand Communication Association Conference, Wellington.: 13. {{cite journal}}: More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help); More than one of |work= and |journal= specified (help)
• Munro, Robin (2002). "On the Psychiatric Abuse of Falun Gong and Other Dissenters in China: A Reply to Stone, Hickling, Kleinman, and Lee" (PDF). The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. 30:2, : 266–274.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
• Sing, Lee, & Kleinman, Arthur (2002). "Psychiatry in its political and Professional Contexts: A Response to Robin Munro" (PDF). The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. 30:120–5: p122. {{cite journal}}: |page= has extra text (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Lu, Sunny Y. & Galli, Viviana B. (2002). "Psychiatric Abuse of Falun Gong Practitioners in China" (PDF). The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. 30:126–30, .{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Schechter, Danny (November 2001). Falun Gong's challenge to China: spiritual practice or 'evil cult'?. Akashic Books. ISBN 1888451270.

References

Constructs such as ibid., loc. cit. and idem are discouraged by Misplaced Pages's style guide for footnotes, as they are easily broken. Please improve this article by replacing them with named references (quick guide), or an abbreviated title. (April 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

1. Lum, Thomas (25 May 2006 (updated)). "Congressional Research Service-The Library of Congress: Report for Congress: China and Falun Gong" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. Retrieved 16 October 2009. In the 109th Congress, H.Res. 608, introduced on 14 December 2005, would condemn the "escalating levels of religious persecution" in China, including the "brutal campaign to eradicate Falun Gong." H.Res. 794, introduced on 3 May 2006, would call upon the PRC to end its most egregious human rights abuses, including the persecution of Falun Gong. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. "A Chronicle of Major Historic Events during the Introduction of Falun Dafa to the Public". Clearwisdom.net. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
3. ^ People's Daily Online, China Bans Falun Gong, 30 July 1999
4. ^ "China Bans Falun Gong: Law Sure to Beat Cults: Article". People's Daily Online. 29 December 1999. Retrieved 16 October 2009.
5. Thomas Lum (25 May 2006). "CRS Report for Congress: China and Falun Gong" (PDF). Congressional Research Service.
6. ^ "China: The crackdown on Falun Gong and other so-called "heretical organizations"". Amnesty International. 23 March 2000. Retrieved 17 March 2010. Cite error: The named reference "Amnesty1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
7. United Nations (4 February 2004) Press Release HR/CN/1073, retrieved 12 September 2006
8. ^ Mickey Spiegel, "Dangerous Meditation: China's Campaign Against Falungong", Human Rights Watch, 2002, accessed Sept 28, 2007 Cite error: The named reference "dangerous" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
9. ^ Congressional-Executive commission on China, Annual Report 2008. Cite error: The named reference "CER" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
10. ^ Johnson, Ian, Wild Grass: three portraits of change in modern china, Vintage (8 March 2005) Cite error: The named reference "wildgrass" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
11. He Zuoxiu (1999). "I do not agree with Youth Practicing Qigong (我不赞成青少年炼气功)" (in Chinese).
12. Ownby (2008), p. 169
13. ^ Palmer (2007), p. 267
14. Chen, Guo-Ming (2002). Chinese conflict management and resolution. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9781567506433. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
15. ^ Danny Schechter, Falun Gong's Challenge to China: Spiritual Practice or Evil Cult?, Akashic books: New York, 2001, p. 66
16. ^ Ownby (2008), p. 171
17. Ethan Gutmann, An Occurrence on Fuyou Street, National Review 13 July 2009
18. Schechter (2000), p.69
19. Benjamin Penny, The Past, Present, and Future of Falun Gong, 2001, accessed 16 March 2008, Quote: "The best way to describe Falun Gong is as a cultivation system. Cultivation systems have been a feature of Chinese life for at least 2 500 years //"
20. ^ Michael Lestz, Why Smash the Falun Gong?, Religion in the News, Fall 1999, Vol. 2, No. 3, Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut Cite error: The named reference "lestz" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
21. "Chinese gov't warns cult not to repeat protest". Asian Political News. 3 May 1999.
22. Mickey Spiegel (2002), pg 17
23. "China bans sect". BBC News. 22 July 1999.
24. Xinhua, China Bans Falun Gong, People's Daily, 22 July 1999
25. Xinhua Commentary on Political Nature of Falun Gong, People's Daily, 2 August 1999
26. Gayle M.B. Hanson, China Shaken by Mass Meditation - meditation movement Falun Gong, Insight on the News, 23 August 1999, accessed 31 December 2007
27. Li Hongzhi, A Brief Statement of Mine, 22 July 1999, accessed 31 December 2007
28. Julia Ching, "The Falun Gong: Religious and Political Implications," American Asian Review, Vol. XIX, no. 4, Winter 2001, p 2
29. ^ Dean Peerman, China syndrome: the persecution of Falun Gong, Christian Century, 10 August 2004
30. ^ Tony Saich, Governance and Politics in China, Palgrave Macmillan; 2nd Ed edition (27 Feb 2004)
31. Mickey Spiegel (2002), pg 14
32. ^ Francesco Sisci,FALUNGONG Part 1: From sport to suicide Asia Times, 27 January 2001
33. The Globe and Mail, Beijing v. falun gong, Metro A14, 26 January 2001
34. Smith, Craig S. (30 April 2000). "Rooting Out Falun Gong; China Makes War on Mysticism". New York Times.
35. ^ Julia Ching, "The Falun Gong: Religious and Political Implications," American Asian Review, Vol. XIX, no. 4, Winter 2001, p. 12
36. ^ Willy Wo-Lap Lam, China’s sect suppression carries a high price, CNN.com, 9 February 2001
37. ^ Reid, Graham (29 Apr-5 May 2006) "Nothing left to lose", New Zealand Listener. Retrieved 6 July 2006.
38. CNN.com, Endgame for the Falun Gong?, 21 August 2001
39. ^ Mickey Spiegel (2002), pg 21
40. Noah Porter (Masters thesis for the University of South Florida), Falun Gong in the United States: An Ethnographic Study, 2003, p 98
41. Chen, Guo-Ming (2002). Chinese conflict management and resolution. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9781567506433. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
42. Mickey Spiegel (2002), pg 15
43. (23 March 2000) The crackdown on Falun Gong and other so-called heretical organizations, Amnesty International
44. Mickey Spiegel (2002), pg 20
45. ^ Leung, Beatrice (2002) 'China and Falun Gong: Party and society relations in the modern era', Journal of Contemporary China, 11:33, 761 – 784
46. Mickey Spiegel (2002), pg 22
47. ^ Congressional Research Service report, http://www.usembassy.it/pdf/other/RL33437.pdf, page CRS-7, paragraph 3
48. Mickey Spiegel (2002), pg 27
49. Mickey Spiegel (2002), pg 28
50. Mickey Spiegel (2002), pp 28-29
51. Johnson, Ian (25 April 2000). "Defiant Falun Dafa Members Converge on Tiananmen". The Wall Street Journal. Pulitzer.org. p. A21.
52. Selden, Elizabeth J. (2003). Chinese Society: Change, Conflict and Resistance. Routledge. ISBN 041530170X. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
53. ^ Matthew Gornet, The Breaking Point, TIME, 25 June 2001
54. Mickey Spiegel (2002), pg 43
55. Mickey Spiegel (2002), pg 36
56. People's Daily Online, China Bans Falun Gong, 30 July 1999
57. Elizabeth J. Perry, Critical Asian Studies 33:2 (2001), p. 173
58. ^ People's Daily Online, China Bans Falun Gong: Major Mass Organizations Support Falun Gong Ban, 25 July 1999. Retrieved 12 October 2007.
59. People's Daily Online, China Bans Falun Gong: PLA, Armed Police Support Government Ban on Falun Gong, 25 July 1999. Retrieved 12 October 2007.
60. ^ Benjamin Penny: Life and Times of Li Hongzhi, CJO. The China Quarterly (2003), 175:643-661 Cambridge University Press; doi:10.1017/S0305741003000389
61. "Li Hongzhi qiren qishi," p. 64 and cited in Benjamin Penny's study.
62. Publish to Perish: Regime Choices and Propaganda Impact in the Anti-Falungong Publications Campaign, July 1999 – April 2000, printed in Journal of Contemporary China (2005), 14(44), August, 507–523.
63. Eric Lichtblau, CIA Warns of Chinese Plans for Cyber-Attacks on U.S., LA Times, 25 April 2002
64. ^ Morais, Richard C."China's Fight With Falun Gong", Forbes, 9 February 2006. Retrieved 7 July 2006.
65. Associated Press, China Dissidents Thwarted on Net. Retrieved 19 September 2007.
66. China annual report 2002, Reporters Without Borders
67. Embassy of the People's Republic of China (1 November 1999) "Falun Gong Is a Cult". Retrieved 10 June 2006.
68. Kavan (2008), pg10 (citing Li, 1998b; 1998c; 1999; 2001a; 2003b)
69. Exposing the Lies of "Falun Gong" Cult, Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United States, 2005(?)
70. Chan, Cheris Shun-ching (2004). The Falun Gong in China: A Sociological Perspective. The China Quarterly, 179 , pp 665-683
71. Bainbridge, William Sims 1997 The sociology of religious movements, Routledge, 1997, page 24, ISBN 0-415-91202-4
72. Richardson, James T. 1993 "Definitions of Cult: From Sociological-Technical to Popular-Negative", , Review of Religious Research, Vol. 34, No. 4 pp. 348-356
73. Frank, Adam. (2004) Falun Gong and the threat of history. in Gods, guns, and globalization: religious radicalism and international political economy edited by Mary Ann Tétreault, Robert Allen Denemark, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2004, ISBN 1-58826-253-7, pp 241-243
74. Palmer, David A. (2007). Qigong fever: body, science, and utopia in China. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231140665.
75. ^ "Press Statement". Clearwisdom. 23 January 2001. Retrieved 9 February 2007.
76. Li, Hongzhi. "The Issue of Killing". Zhuan Falun. Falun Dafa.
77. Anne-Marie Brady, Marketing dictatorship: propaganda and thought work in contemporary China, Rowman & Littlefield, 2008
78. Pan, Philip P. (5 February 2001). "One-Way Trip to the End in Beijing". International Herald Tribune. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
79. Press release Statement by United Nations Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, 53rd session, 14 August 2001
80. Judith Sunderland. From the Household to the Factory: China's campaign against Falungong. Human Rights Watch, 2002. ISBN 1564322696
81. "Beyond The Red Wall" - The Persecution of Falun Gong, CBC Documentary
82. Incitement to hatred, Considerations specific to Falun Gong. Bloody Harvest: Kilgour Matas Report on Allegation of Organ Harvesting from Falun Gong Practitioners in China, 14 August 2001
83. World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (August 2003). "Second Investigation Report on the 'Tiananmen Square Self-Immolation Incident". upholdjustice.org. Retrieved 6 February 2007.
84. Mr. Zhang Zhong, 35, Dies in the Harbin City Police Hospital in Heilongjiang Province (Photos)
85. ^ Robert Bejesky (Spring 2004). "Falun Gong & Re-Education Through Labor: Traditional Rehabilitation for the "Misdirected" to Protect Societal Stability within China's Evolving Criminal Justice System". Columbia Journal of Asian Law. 17 (2): 147–189.
86. ^ John Pomfret and Philip P. Pan, “Torture Is Breaking Falun Gong, China Systematically Eradicating Group”, Washington Post Foreign Service, Sunday, August 5, 2001; Page A01
87. "Norway: Practitioners hold an Anti-Torture Exhibition and Receive Positive Media Coverage (Photos)". Falun Dafa Clearwisdom.net. 4 August 2004. Retrieved 12 February 2007.
88. Manfred Nowak (2006). "Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment: MISSION TO CHINA". United Nations. p. 13. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessed= ignored (help)
89. "Torture, though on decline, remains widespread in China, UN expert reports". United Nations. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
90. Asma Jahangir, "Civil and Political Rights, Including the Question of Disappearances and Summary Executions", Report of the Special Rapporteur, United Nations, 2003, accessed 15 October 2007
91. "China genocide suit on U.S. Supreme Court steps Victims of Atrocities Urge Court to Uphold "Inalienable Rights"". Association for Asian Research. 29 March 2005. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
92. "Gao Zhisheng's third open letter to Chinese leaders". Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China. Retrieved 8 March 2007.
93. "Worse Than Any Nightmare—Journalist Quits China to Expose Concentration Camp Horrors and Bird Flu Coverup". 10 March 2006. Retrieved 31 October 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |publishre= ignored (help)
94. "Organ Harvesting in China's Labor Camps". Epoch Times. Retrieved 13 June 2008.
95. "Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China" (PDF). 6 July 2006. Retrieved 31 October 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
96. "China 'harvests live organs'". News24.com. Retrieved 7 July 2006.
97. United Nations Committee Against Torture, CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES UNDER ARTICLE 19 OF THE CONVENTION: Concluding observations of the Committee against Torture, Forty-first session, Geneva, 3–21 November 2008
98. "Falun Gong Practitioners Tortured in Mental Hospitals Throughout China" (Document). Falun Dafa Information Center. {{cite document}}: Unknown parameter |accessdate= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |format= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help)
99. ^ ibid Lu & Galli Cite error: The named reference "sunnygalli" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
100. Ken Hausman, Chinese Psychiatrists Agree on Psychiatry Abuse Charges', Psychiatric News, WPA, 6 August 2004
101. ibid Munro (2002), p. 270
102. ^ Stone, Alan A. (1 November 2004). "The Plight of the Falun Gong". Psychiatric Times. 21 (13).
103. Stone, Alan A. (1 May 2005). "The China Psychiatry Crisis: Following Up on the Plight of the Falun Gong". Psychiatric Times. With a population of 1.3 billion citizens, China has only 4,000 qualified psychiatrists and a total of 14,000 doctors working in its psychiatric hospitals
104. Stone, Alan A. (1 May 2005). "The China Psychiatry Crisis: Following Up on the Plight of the Falun Gong". Psychiatric Times.
105. WOIPFG, Chinese Ministry of Education Participating in the Persecution of Falun Gong: Investigative Report, 2004. Retrieved 12 October 2007.
106. Hugo Restall What if Falun Dafa Is a ‘Cult’?, The Asian Wall Street Journal, 14 February 2001
107. China's Campaign Against Falungong, Human Rights Watch
108. http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/download/infopack/res_218.html House Concurrent Resolution 217
109. Einhorn, Bruce. "Congress Challenges China on Falun Gong & Yuan, Business Week, 17 March 2010
110. "Clearwsidom.net Website". Clearwisdom.net. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
111. "Falun Dafa Information Center Website". Faluninfo.net. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
112. Yuezhi Zhao, "Falun Gong, Identity, and the Struggle over Meaning Inside and Outside China", in Contesting Media Power, 2004
113. Details on How Liu Chengjun, Who Tapped Into the Changchun Cable Television, Was Tortured to Death in Jilin Prison, ClearWisdom.net, 20 January 2004
114. Falun Gong hacker 'died in jail', BBC News, 30 December 2003

External links

• zhuichaguoji.org "World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong" English home page
• eBook Poisonous Deceit at Deep Six Publishing
• pulitzer.org - The 2001 Pulitzer Prize Winners: International Reporting: Wall Street Journal: Ian Johnson
• clearharmony.net "An Overview of Legal Cases Filed by Falun Gong Practitioners Around the World"

• Misplaced Pages neutral point of view disputes from October 2009
• Articles with ibid from April 2010
• Use dmy dates from September 2010
• Falun Gong
• Political repression in the People's Republic of China
• Religious persecution
• Political abuses of psychiatry
• Campaigns of the Communist Party of China