Since 1999, the [[communism|communist]] government of the [[People's Republic of China]] has taken a harsh stance towards followers of Li, imprisoning many. Allegations of [[torture]] have been made by former prisoners.<ref>United Nations Information Service. [https://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2004/hrcn1073.doc.htm ''CHAIRPERSON OF WOMEN’S ANTI-DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE ADDRESSES HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION'']; Press Release HR/CN/1073; (2nd April, 2004)</ref>
In 2006, reports have been made that compulsory organ harvesting has been performed on Falun Gong Practitioners. In 2012, Wang Lijun, the Head of the Chongqing Public Security Agency, deflected defected to the US consulate in Chongqing, and handed the relative files to the US.
==Persecution==
In 1989, after the [[Tiananmen Square massacre]], the Chinese Communist Party established a registry of social organizations, in order to head off political upheaval. Falun Gong was registered with the Chinese government in 1992. It soon attracted “tens of millions of adherents,” the political-science professor Maria Hsia Chang writes in ''Falun Gong: The End of Days.''' Falun Gong started holding enormous gatherings; by the mid- 1990s, there were more than two thousand Falun Gong practice stations in [[Beijing]] alone. Troubled by the possibility that a large part of the population was becoming more loyal to Falun Gong than to the Communist Party, the government began cracking down on groups and banning sales of Falun Gong publications.
By 1999, the CCP estimated that the group had seventy million adherents; that year, more than ten thousand of them staged a silent protest in Tiananmen Square. An arrest warrant was issued for Li Hongzhi, the groups founder, who had by then immigrated to [[Queens, New York]]. The Chinese National Congress subsequently passed, and began [[violent]]ly enforcing, an "anti-cult law".<ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20101127131821/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/16/world/china-expels-53-foreign-falun-gong-followers.html</ref> In order to stir anti-Falun Gong sentiment domestically and internationally, the CCP staged a fake self-immolation hoax in [[Tiananmen Square]] on January 23, 2001, the eve of Chinese New Year celebrations.<ref>http://en.minghui.org/cc/88/</ref>
===610 Office===
The [[610 Office]] is the main organization created to eliminate Falun Gong. It is nominally subordinate to the Political and Legal Affairs Committee(PLAC). The Political and Legal Affairs Committee purview was expanded after the 610 Office was incorporated into it.
With a structure extending from top to bottom throughout the Party, government, and [[military]], it has the power to command all police and judicial organs. This organization is akin to the [[Chinese Communist Party]]’s Central Cultural Revolution Group, and is dedicated to carrying out the systematic eradication of the practice of Falun Gong. It is an ''ad hoc'' agency at the highest levels endowed with extraordinary and extralegal power.
{{quotebox|“No anesthetic was given. The knife dug straight into the chest. Their hands didn’t even shake. If it were me, my hands would definitely shake…”}}
In 2002, this witness worked in the Liaoning Province Public Security system and participated in the arrest and torture of Falun Gong practitioners, including this female practitioner. She was covered in wounds from the ordeal. On April 9, 2002, the Liaoning Public Security department sent two military doctors to the scene – one from the Shenyang Military Command General Hospital and another who had graduated from the Second Military Medical University. This female practitioner was fully conscious when her [[heart]], [[kidney]], and other organs were removed without [[anesthesia]]. The witness, armed with gun, guarded the scene throughout the whole process. He also stated that Wang Lijun, head of Jinzhou City Public Security, gave an order that they “must destroy Falun Gong practitioners completely.”
==Related organizations==
Falun Gong practitioners founded the [[The Epoch Times|Epoch Times]] newspaper and the [http://www.ntd.com New Tang Dynasty (NTD)] digital television channel, which collectively make up part of the New York City-based '''Epoch Media Group'''. Because of how the ''Epoch Times'' has a more [[conservative]] stance, the newspaper, have come under attack from the mainstream media, who in turn attack Falun Gong in order to tarnish credibility of the Epoch Times <ref>https://faluninfo.net/nbc-journalists-distort-and-malign-falun-gong-to-strengthen-attack-on-rival-media/</ref>.
In 2006, Falun Gong practitioners also founded the [[Shen Yun]] traditional Chinese dance show which is banned in China.<ref>https://www.shenyunperformingarts.org/spirituality/challenges-we-face</ref>. Like the Epoch Times, Shen Yun has also come under attack from the mainstream media due to anti-[[evolution]] and anti-[[atheism]] content in its programming, as well as its supposed connection to conservative media (Shen Yun and the Epoch Media Group are, in fact, separate organizations)<ref>https://www.insider.com/shen-yun-show-falun-gong-2019-3</ref>.
==See also==
*[[Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation]]
*[[Shen Yun]]
==References==
*Epoch Times Commentaries on the Communist Party - Part 5, [http://en.epochtimes.com/news/4-12-18/24972.html On the Collusion of Jiang Zemin and the Chinese Communist Party to Persecute Falun Gong], ''The Epoch Times'', Dec 18, 2004.
*[http://www.upholdjustice.org/node/260 Jiang Zemin Ordered the Harvesting of Organs from Falun Gong Practitioners for Transplantation], WOIPFG, Sept. 30, 2014.
*[http://www.falundafa.org Falundafa.org]
*[http://www.faluninfo.net Falun Dafa Information Center]
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:China]][[Category:Chinese History]]