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Timeline
> The Journey of Falun Dafa
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| July 19, 1999
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Jiang officially announces total ban on Falun Gong. |
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July 20-22,
1999
Crackdown Begins
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On July 20, 1999, forceful suppression began, with more than
a hundred arrests of so-called "key members" of Falun
Gong being made across China in the middle of the night. A nationwide
ban of Falun Gong was officially announced on July 22, making
every sort of Falun Gong activity illegal.
According to New York Times, "the authorities have detained
tens of thousands of people and are spewing a deafening barrage
of anti-Falun Gong publicity each day." Just one week later
the Chinese Government issued an arrest warrant through Interpol
for Mr Li Hongzhi, then already a permanent resident of the United
States. Interpol rejected Beijing's request, because the approach
had political motives.
Human rights groups accused Chinese authorities of blatantly
violating the legal rights of Falun Gong practitioners. "This
crackdown lies in the face of the Chinese government's commitments
to increase social freedom and marks the beginning of yet another
cycle of stifled dissent and repression," Amnesty International
said in a statement.
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July 1999 -
Present
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Nationwide Persecution
The Chinese government launched a far-reaching campaign of misinformation
about Falun Gong. State-run media flooded the printing presses
and airwaves with fabrications about Mr Li Hongzhi and Falun Gong
in attempts to sway and mislead their readers and audiences. Conversely,
millions of legally published Falun Gong books, audio tapes, and
video tapes were confiscated, burned, and destroyed across the
country.
Tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners were detained,
thousands were tortured, and hundreds were sent to labour camps
and imprisoned. "It's as though we are reliving a bad dream,"
said a Chinese businessman who expressed amazement at the old-fashioned
nature of the anti-Falun Gong campaign to a New York Times reporter.
Falun Gong websites based outside China's territory have been
blocked and constantly attacked, or even destroyed.
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October 1999
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Crackdown escalates and peaceful appeal
The Chinese National Legislature rushed to pas an "anti-cult"
law to retroactively criminalise Falun Gong. "China's communist
leaders often insist that theirs is, in fact, a system of laws,"
Washington Post reported. "In the past week, events have
proven the leaders absolutely rights. When they found themselves
without the laws they needed to vigorously persecute a peaceful
meditation society [Falun Gong], the party simply ordered up some
new laws. Now these will be applied - retroactively, of course
- in show trials that could lead to execution for the group's
leaders. This is what the regime calls 'smashing them rigorously
in accordance with the law.'"
Falun Gong practitioners worldwide made every effort to appeal
for a peaceful dialogue with the Chinese government.
Thousands of practitioners from all over the country go to Tiananmen
Square to petition the central government everyday, knowing full
well that they will be detained and punished - even tortured -
for exercising their constitutional right of appeal.
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| November 1999 |
Government Action in the United States
On November 18, 1999, the United States House of Representatives
unanimously passed a resolution criticizing the Chinese government's
suppression of Falun Gong.
On November 19, the United States Senate also passed a related
resolution. The House resolution initiated by Republican Chris
Smith of New Jersey said: "The Government of the People's
Republic of China should stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners
and other religious believers."
President Clinton, in a human rights speech on December 6, 1999,
criticized China's crackdown on Falun Gong: "[China's]…
progress is still being held back by the government's response
to those who test the limits of freedom. A troubling example,
of course, is the detention by Chinese authorities, of adherents
of the Falun Gong movement. Its targets are not political dissidents…
But the principle, still, surely, must be the same: freedom of
conscience, and freedom of association."
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| April 18-24,
1999 |
Practitioners go to Tianjin College and Government
offices to exercise their legal right of appeal against injustice
and to explain the errors in the article. |
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| May 13, 2000 |
First World Falun Dafa Day
May 13, 2000 was the first World Falun Dafa Day, marking the eighth
anniversary of the introduction of Falun Dafa to the public. In
over 64 cities around the world, practitioners held colourful celebrations
and demonstrated the exercises in parks. |
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| August 2000 |
Chinese Government Plan to "Eradicate Falun
Gong in 3 Months"
FDI - Crisis News Bulletin, Aug. 30, 2000 -- Reliable sources in
China have disclosed plans issued by Chinese Communist head, Jiang
Zemin, to mount a new attempt to wipe out Falun Gong within three
months. The new plan is called "Destroying the reputation of
Falun Gong completely, exhausting Falun Gong practitioners financially,
and eradicating Falun Gong within three months."
Reports received by the Falun Dafa Information Center indicate that
on August 21, 2000, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security held
a nationwide telephone conference to relay new orders from Jiang.
Its key point: "further intensify the crackdown on Falun Gong."
The plan recommends that some practitioners considered "backbone
figures" be "heavily punished". The authorities also
reportedly discussed executing certain practitioners who have remained
faithful to their beliefs. The purpose of such a move is apparently
to threaten a large number by killing a few. |
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| November 2000 |
Mother and 8-month old Son Tortured to Death
Ms. Wang Lixuan, age 27, was a Falun Dafa practitioner from Shangdong
Province, China. Her son, Meng Hao, was less than 8 months old.
Since July 20, 1999, Lixuan continued to appeal in Beijing for an
end to the persecution of Falun Dafa. On November 7, 2000, Lixuan
and her son were persecuted to death.
When her family received the death notice and arrived in Beijing,
they found Lixuan and her son. Both Lixuan and her son had visible
signs of brutal torture on their bodies, which was verified by the
coroner's examination. In 2001, their story was made public to the
world. Sadly, it is one of many. Her suffering and courage has touched
many, many hearts.
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| January 2001 |
Staged Immolation on Tiananmen Square
On January 23, 2001, it was reported that five people set themselves
on fire in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China. It was alleged that
these people wanted to protest the ban on Falun Gong by burning
themselves to death. A week later, the Chinese government television
station, CCTV, broadcast a program showing a videotape of the incident.
The videotape was said to have been taken by the surveillance cameras
in Tiananmen Square.
A copy of the CCTV tape has been deconstructed a number of discrepancies
were found that indicate the false nature of the report. |
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| February 2001 |
"Strengthen Local Control Over Falun Gong Practitioners"
"…The most significant changes came after a Central
Work Conference (a meeting of high Party officials from all over
China called by the Party Central Committee) in mid-February 2001,
when President Jiang told provincial and municipal Party officials
to strengthen local control over Falungong practitioners. The
plan called for the immediate formation of local "anti-cult
task forces" and similar units in universities, state enterprises,
and social organizations to augment the "610 office"
(named for the date of its founding), which reportedly had been
directing the crackdown since June 10, 1999, and the "propaganda
work office, which was in charge of the media campaign."
It ordered local officials to detain active practitioners and
to make certain that families and employers guaranteed the isolation
of those unwilling to formally recant. There were reports that
the central government had ordered local officials to use systematic
violence and stepped up psychological coercion, the latter conducted
by former adherents, against hard-core practitioners." Human
Rights Watch report "Dangerous Meditation - China's Campaign
Against Falun Gong"
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| February 2001 |
China's Suppression Carries a High Price
February 9, 2001, By Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN.com Senior China Analyst
"Sources close to security departments in Beijing said Jiang
was poised to take more drastic steps to reach his goal of eradicating
the […] before the forthcoming 80th anniversary of the founding
of the Communist Party. For example, the state security apparatus
has identified about 40,000 Falun Gong practitioners among staff
in Communist Party and government units, state enterprises and colleges.
These "cultists" have been told if they do not sign papers
denouncing the […], they will be fired - and their pensions
confiscated.
Surveillance and harassment of […] members, who apparently
do nothing more than practice their brand of slow breathing exercise
at home, have been stepped up. There are reports that understaffed
police authorities have recruited unemployed workers in the battle
against the Falun Gong."
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| February 2001 |
Amnesty International Special Report on Torture
"Whereas officials responsible for deaths in custody during
normal police operations may be investigated and prosecuted, in
all cases where the victims were Falun Gong practitioners, the
government has denied any wrongdoing, even in the face of multiple
eye witness testimonies."
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| March 2001 |
Elimination of Falun Gong is one of the year's
top priorities
"In March 2001, in speeches before the National People's Congress,
Premier Zhu Rongji and the second highest ranking figure in the
CCP, former premier Li Peng, had made clear that elimination of
Falungong was one of the year's top priorities." Human Rights
Watch report "Dangerous Meditation - China's Campaign Against
Falun Gong" |
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| June 2001 |
Further Escalation of the Persecution
"On June 11, promulgation of a new interpretation of the
Criminal Law by the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's
Procuratorate further escalated the crackdown. Interpretation
II, as it was known, applied specifically to "cult organizations"
and, according to Chinese authorities, was a response to Falungong's
"new schemes" and "new means."
It clarified the punishments for a range of crimes, including
incitement to injure oneself, self-immolation, leaking state secrets,
subversion, separatist activities, small-scale "assemblies"
by members of a banned sect, and small-scale publishing and distribution."
Human Rights Watch report "Dangerous Meditation - China's
Campaign Against Falun Gong"
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| June 2001 |
United Nations Against-Torture Day
To date, 233 (incomplete statistics) Falun Gong practitioners have
been tortured and maltreated to death. Thousands have been imprisoned
and are being tortured. The commonly used methods of torture include
rape, blows to the soles of the feet, the face, the ears, suffocation
with water, burns, electric shock, crude force-feeding with concentrated
saline solution, forced psychotropic injections, internment in mental
hospitals, standing on ice in bare feet for hours, sleep deprivation,
beatings, being suspended from shackles and handcuffs with feet
barely touching the floor, tied to boards for days without use of
bathroom facilities and being tied up and standing in contorted
positions. |
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| June 2001 |
Global SOS Rescue Campaign
"The beginning of a new worldwide appeal called---"SOS!
Save Falun Gong Practitioners from Being Killed in China."
This effort will help Falun Gong practitioners who have been tortured,
people whose families have been broken, children who have been
orphaned, people whose livelihood has been taken away and who
have been left in poverty, people who have been disabled.
This will be a worldwide effort, beginning with individual people,
citizens from all over the world, organisations both large and
small. We hope you will join our appeal." Falun Gong practitioners,
Gothenburg, Sweden, June 15 2001.
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| July 2001 |
Mass Killings of Falun Gong Practitioners
Fifteen Female Falun Dafa Practitioners Were Tortured to
Death at the Wanjia Labour Camp in Harbin City
Fifteen female Falun Dafa practitioners have died and many others
are receiving emergency treatment due to brutal torture in the
Wanjia Labor Camp. This is a result of the great atrocities which
took place last month at the labour camp in Harbin City, Heilongjiang
Province.
This incident has greatly aroused people's attention and concern.
Because of its great impact, officials from the central and local
governments went to Wanjia to inspect the situation. Government
sources took pains to stop the spread of any news following the
event. After June 20, staff members and guards from Wanjia were
banned from returning home and were forced to turn in their cell
phones and beepers. Telephones were sealed off to prevent any
possible information from leaking out and no one was allowed to
visit. Moreover, the labour camp did not even notify the family
members of the deaths of their loved ones. Some local police stations
informed the family members upon receiving the news from the labour
camp, but later they were blamed by the labour camp for leaking
this information.
Ten Male Practitioners Beaten to Death in Northeast China
(FDI) - Sources say that over ten male practitioners of Falun
Gong were beaten to death at Changlinzi Labor Camp in northeast
China. These deaths mark the second report of mass killings of
Falun Gong practitioners in a labour camp in Heilongjian Province.
Just nine days ago, on July 3, it was reported that 15 female
Falun Gong practitioners were beaten and tortured to death in
the Wanjia Labour Camp. Sources say that due to the extremely
tight control of information about these latest deaths, no further
details have been uncovered.
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| November 2001 |
Westerners appeal on Tiananmen Square, Beijing
November 20, 35 practitioners from 12 western countries, including
Sweden, Germany, USA, Switzerland, Canada, France, UK, and Australia,
held a peaceful appeal on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. They were
immediately detained and held at the Tiananmen Square Police Station,
interrogated, filmed, denied consular access, and many assaulted
before being returned to their respective countries.
The appeal consisted of people sitting in meditation and displaying
a banner with only the words "Truth, Compassion, Tolerance"
in both Chinese and English. Peaceful appeals on Tiananmen Square
by citizens of western countries continued over the next several
months.
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| December 2001 |
Private Practice Proves Dangerous
"…As of December 2001, there was reason to believe that
Falungong was having a hard time keeping its movement alive. China,
using an array of legal and extra-legal tools had completely shut
down public practice and demonstrations by Falungong adherents.
Practice at work units was further curtailed. Some units had always
summarily fired known practitioners, with job loss often meaning
lost housing, lost schooling, lost pensions, and a report to the
police. Other work units, especially those far removed from Beijing,
had for a time overlooked solitary exercise and meditation until
controls were tightened nationwide after the January 2001 deaths.
Although followers presumably could continue with solitary practice
at home, even private practice proved dangerous when it was brought
to the attention of the police or to Party officials." Human
Rights Watch report "Dangerous Meditation - China's Campaign
Against Falun Gong"
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| March 2002 |
"Shoot To Kill" Ordered for Falun Gong
Practitioners in Changchun.
7 March 2002, International Association for Human Rights Press Release:
"…5 March 2002, a cable television station in Changchun/Jilin
province aired a program that evening detailing the persecution
of the Buddhist orientated meditation system of Falun Gong…
the broadcast lasted approximately 40 minutes and was viewed by
almost one million viewers.
…According to Minghui.net, the Chinese ruling dictator personally
gave the order to 'Give the death sentence - no stay of execution'…
Police forces in this North-East Chinese metropolis of Changchun
had been given orders to 'Shoot to Kill' anyone who is caught
red-handed either distributing Falun Gong flyers or materials
or putting up Falun Dafa banners."
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| May 13, 2002 |
World Falun Dafa Day - 10th Anniversary of Falun
Dafa Celebrated in China
Despite Jiang Zemin's persecution campaign against the practice,
celebrations of the historic day were visible throughout Northern
China. Banners, signs and writings of "Restore the name of
Falun Dafa" and "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance"
appeared in trees, on the walls of public walkway and next to city
roads. Such grassroots methods have become widespread throughout
China, as Chinese people continue their appeal to restore the name
of Falun Dafa and bring an end to the misguided ban on the spiritual
practice. |
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| June 2002 |
Number of Practitioners Tortured to Death as of
June 2002
429 practitioners tortured to death (incomplete statistics) |
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| July 2002 |
U.S. House Resolution No. 188 passed unanimously
by a 420-0 vote on July 24, 2002
"[The persecution of Falun Gong] violates the Constitution
of the People's Republic of China [...] Jiang Zemin's regime has
created notorious government '610' offices throughout the People's
Republic of China with the special task of overseeing the persecution
of Falun Gong members through organized brainwashing, torture, and
murder [...] Official measures have been taken to conceal all atrocities,
such as the immediate cremation of victims, the blocking of autopsies,
and the false labeling of deaths as from suicide or natural causes" |
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| September 2002 |
Global Family Rescue Campaign
A worldwide effort to rescue family members, who are Falun Gong
practitioners being illegally held in Chinese prisons, detention
centres and forced labour camps. |
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| September 2002 |
Hong Kong's "Anti-Subversion" Law: Article
23 Targets Falun Gong
Jiang Zemin plans to end basic human rights for the people of Hong
Kong Five years after its return to Chinese sovereignty, Hong Kong
faces the gravest threat yet to its civil liberties in the form
of Article 23.
Regardless of the benefits touted by Hong Kong's leadership,
adopting an anti-subversion law based on Article 23 of the Basic
law will do nothing more than extend the ability of Jiang Zemin's
regime to violate human rights as well as persecute Falun Gong
and other peaceful groups in Hong Kong. It will put the will of
Jiang Zemin above the law, above the Hong Kong government and
above the will of the people.
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| October 2002 |
China Party Chairman Jiang Zemin Sued in U.S. for
Genocide
CHICAGO, October 22, 2002 (Falun Dafa Information Center) -- Jiang
Zemin, Secretary General of China's Communist Party, has been sued
under United States Human Rights Statutes (Alien Tort Claim Act
& Torture Victims Protection Act) for the persecution of Falun
Gong practitioners. A legal complaint alleging torture and genocide
has been filed in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District
of Illinois and was served Tuesday to security officers guarding
Jiang at the Chicago Ritz Carlton Hotel. |
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| November 2002 |
Escalation of the Killing
Since November 2002, FDI has received 43 individual reports of practitioners
of Falun Gong being beaten, tortured, and killed by authorities
in China. 22 of the deaths reported actually occurred after November
1, while the remaining cases occurred prior to November. Because
information regarding the death of Falun Gong practitioners is severely
blocked, it is sometimes months or even years before details can
be discovered.
Chinese government sources say that for every report of wrongful
death, as many as three others go unreported. |
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