2024 Year in Review: Five Key Developments in the Chinese Regime’s Persecution of Falun Gong
In 2024, news about China was dominated by reports of economic challenges and soaring unemployment. Revelations of China’s transnational repression against dissidents and the arrest of Chinese agents in North America and Europe made international headlines. Meanwhile, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong practitioners marked its 25th year, with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) escalating its efforts both within and beyond China’s borders.
Inside China, security forces continued to arbitrarily arrest, detain, torture, disappear, and kill Falun Gong practitioners on a massive, nationwide scale. Globally, the regime and its proxies intensified their campaign of intimidation and disinformation, deploying unprecedented tactics to target Falun Gong practitioners and their supporters worldwide.
Reflecting on the past year, Falun Dafa Information Center (FDIC) researchers identified five major developments in 2024, shedding light on how the persecution has evolved and various actors responded.
- Over 100 Falun Gong practitioners died due to persecution in China, at least 17 killed in custody
- Over 540 Falun Gong practitioners sentenced to prison, more than 5,600 detained and harassed, with an uptick ahead of the anniversary of the PRC’s founding
- First-known organ harvesting survivor goes public, faces reprisals
- Unprecedented global campaign targets Falun Gong, Shen Yun
- Groundbreaking legislation, prosecutions, public statements exemplify international support for protecting Falun Gong community
1. Over 100 Falun Gong practitioners died due to persecution in China, at least 17 killed in custody
Photos of some Falun Gong practitioners who died in 2024 as a result of the persecution. Source: Minghui.org
During 2024, Falun Gong practitioners across China continued to face deadly violence in Chinese police custody or to succumb after release to injuries incurred in detention.
In 2024, at least 164 Falun Gong practitioners were reported to have died as a result of the persecution, according to information gathered by a network of citizen journalists in China and shared with overseas website Minghui. Of these cases, 103 occurred in 2024, while the remaining deaths happened in previous years but were only reported in 2024. Due to the Chinese regime’s strict censorship, more deaths from 2024 are expected to be reported in the coming weeks and months.
Among the 164 victims, nearly two-thirds were women (105 deaths) and 59 were men, ranging in age from 40 to 91. The deaths occurred across 25 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, with Liaoning Province reporting the highest number at 25. At least 149 of the victims had endured illegal imprisonment, detention, brainwashing sessions, or confinement in psychiatric hospitals, and all faced harassment and persecution by Chinese authorities. Seventeen practitioners died in custody at detention centers or prisons, with relatives reporting signs of torture. Others died soon after release from custody or after years of suffering from injuries sustained in detention, due to torture or other mistreatment.
Liu Dianyuan, an elderly Falun Gong practitioner from Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province, was sentenced to 11 years in prison at the age of 78. After enduring eight years of punishment, he died on Chinese New Year’s Day in 2024 at Shenyang No. 1 Prison at the age of 86. Reports indicate that Liu had been severely disabled and unable to care for himself for a year before his death. Despite his critical condition, the prison denied him medical parole, ultimately resulting in his death in custody.
As of December 31, 2024, Minghui.org reported that 5,167 Falun Gong practitioners had died due to the persecution since July 1999. These deaths represent the most extreme aspect of a broader campaign of persecution carried out by Chinese security forces against individuals who practice Falun Gong. However, the actual death toll is likely much higher, as comprehensive data is challenging to collect, particularly for cases involving organ harvesting.
2. Over 540 Falun Gong practitioners sentenced to prison, more than 5,600 detained and harassed, with an uptick ahead of the anniversary of the PRC’s founding
Throughout 2024, Chinese citizens who practice Falun Gong faced large-scale detentions, prosecution, and long prison terms simply for exercising their rights to freedom of belief and expression. Falun Gong practitioners remain one of the largest contingents of prisoners of conscience in China, with new arrests and sham trials occurring daily.
At least 541 Falun Gong practitioners were sentenced to prison terms of up to 13 years in 2024 following trials that demonstrably ignored due process. In addition, another 223 cases came to light in 2024, but the convictions had been handed down in prior years. Those sentenced ranged from 29 –years old to 94.
Many of these practitioners are elderly individuals who face prolonged persecution and lengthy prison terms that can de facto amount to a death sentence. For example, seven residents of Laizhou City, Shandong Province, were sentenced to prison on May 20, 2024, for studying Falun Gong books and operating a Falun Gong materials production site. Among them, 73-year-old Mr. Lin Hongjie received the harshest punishment: an eight-year prison term and a 40,000 yuan fine.
In 2024, at least 5,692 cases of arrests and harassment of Falun Gong practitioners were recorded. The persecution spanned 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities. These incidents included 2,828 abductions, 2,864 cases of harassment, 1,553 home raids, 74 detentions in brainwashing centers, 40 cases of forced displacement, and 64 instances of blood being drawn, including DNA collection and bone marrow extraction. Beyond targeting the practitioners themselves, the persecution often extends to their family members.
One example is Ms. Xu Guoqin, a Falun Gong practitioner in her 70s from Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province. She was forced to live away from home in late September 2024 to avoid being sentenced for distributing Falun Gong materials. In her absence, the police arrested her daughter to coerce Ms. Xu into turning herself in. Outraged by the police’s actions, Ms. Xu’s husband suffered a stroke and died. Despite her husband’s death, Ms. Xu, who had been taken to a local detention center, was denied the opportunity to attend his funeral.
Crackdown ahead of PRC National Day: On October 1, 2024, the CCP marked the 75th anniversary of Mao Zedong declaring the creation of PRC in 1949. This politically significant date has historically been accompanied by escalated measures to suppress dissent. This year was no exception, with intensified persecution characterized by arbitrary detentions, harassment, and heightened surveillance targeting individuals and groups considered dissenting voices. Among the primary targets were practitioners of Falun Gong.
According to data from Minghui.org, September 2024 witnessed 552 reported cases of arrests and harassment across 28 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities. Beijing recorded the highest number of arrests (31 cases), while Hebei Province reported the most harassment cases (60). The victims ranged in age from 60 to 87 years, with at least 71 individuals aged 70 or older.
Reports from Shanghai revealed an alarming increase in surveillance activities toward the end of September 2024. Practitioners reported being subjected to continuous monitoring, with surveillance teams working in shifts to ensure round-the-clock monitoring. Ms. Li Hong, a practitioner in Shanghai, observed she was being followed when she went out on September 27, and noticed individuals stationed near the elevator in her apartment building. Those monitoring practitioners followed them on bicycles or in cars. In at least one instance, police explicitly informed a practitioner, Ms. Chen Ping, that she would be under surveillance from September 30 to October 7. These incidents reflect a long-standing pattern of heightened surveillance of Falun Gong practitioners around politically sensitive dates.
3. First-known organ harvesting survivor goes public, faces reprisals
In 2024, Cheng Peiming, a former Falun Gong prisoner of conscience who escaped to the United States, publicly recounted his harrowing ordeal of having parts of his liver and lung removed, an account found credible by medical experts. His testimony contributes to the growing body of evidence that Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience have been and continue to be used to fuel China’s lucrative transplant industry.
On Aug. 9, 2024, at a press conference in Washington, D.C., Mr. Cheng, accompanied by a former U.S. government official and several human rights advocates, detailed the events of Nov. 16, 2004, when he was held at Daqing Prison in Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, for practicing Falun Gong. He described how six prison guards forcibly restrained him in a Chinese hospital and administered anesthesia against his will.
When Mr. Cheng regained consciousness three days later, he saw that he was shackled to the hospital bed by his right foot, with an intravenous drip in one arm and tubes inserted into his chest, nose, and feet. He experienced persistent coughing, severe pain, and numbness around the left side of his rib cage.
After escaping to the United States in 2020, Mr. Cheng underwent a series of medical examinations that resulted in a frightening revelation: A portion of his liver and about half of the left lower lobe of his lung had been surgically removed without his consent.
At the conference, three transplant experts issued their expert opinions on the thoracic CT scans of Mr. Cheng, confirming the forced removal of these organs. Robert A. Destro, former Assistant Secretary of State who played a critical role in rescuing Mr. Cheng, emphasized the severity of forced organ harvesting in China, describing it as a significant human rights violation. Mr. Cheng’s testimony highlights the atrocities committed under the CCP’s organ harvesting practices, shedding further light on this deeply troubling issue.
Mr. Cheng’s testimony garnered widespread media attention and international recognition. In August alone, at least 36 news outlets published reports detailing how Mr. Cheng had been subjected to forced organ harvesting by the CCP. On Aug. 10, The Diplomat reported that Mr. Cheng’s testimony provided rare and disturbing insight into the horrors endured by prisoners of conscience in China, particularly Falun Gong practitioners.
The Chinese regime responded aggressively, seeking to discredit Mr. Cheng’s account and silence him. On Oct. 24, 2024, the Tianjin Municipal Public Security Bureau’s website published an article authored by the CCP-controlled China Anti-Cult Association. The article falsely accused Mr. Cheng of fabricating his experiences and sought to undermine his testimony. This propaganda piece was subsequently republished by state-controlled media, including China Youth Daily.
In addition to the smear campaign, Mr. Cheng has faced several attempts on his life and threats to his safety. The most alarming incident occurred on Nov. 2, 2024, when unidentified individuals reportedly broke into his home between approximately 4:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. His garage door had been forced open, and two interior doors were found unlocked and ajar. Mr. Cheng also discovered deep tire tracks leading into his backyard. Suspiciously, his security cameras and alarm system were offline from 1:12 a.m. to 6:18 a.m.
David Matas, an international human rights lawyer who has spent years investigating organ harvesting in China, commented on the significance of Mr. Cheng’s case:
Mr. Cheng can say he has been organ harvested as there are parts of his liver and lung that are missing, and it’s incontestable. It provides a visual element, a speaking victim that we’ve never seen before with that type of abuse.
4. Unprecedented global campaign targets Falun Gong, Shen Yun
In 2024, the CCP’s long-standing campaign of transnational repression against Falun Gong practitioners escalated significantly in an apparent coordinated effort to discredit the Falun Gong community abroad and sabotage Shen Yun Performing Arts, a renowned American classical Chinese dance company.
The Falun Dafa Information Center has documented dozens of incidents since January 2024, including anonymous death threats, dubious mainstream media articles and social media posts, groundless lawsuits alleging abuse or environmental violations, attempts to bribe or otherwise bait U.S. government agencies, and fraudulent emails impersonating practitioners.
Leaked Internal sources suggest that directives for this intensified campaign originate at the CCP’s highest levels. In 2022, CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping reportedly called for escalated efforts against Falun Gong overseas. Xi’s directives emphasized two core strategies: lawfare—the strategic filing of baseless lawsuits to burden and discredit targets—and disinformation, particularly leveraging untraceable social media accounts and mainstream media outlets to smear Falun Gong’s reputation.
At the implementation level, Xi assigned leadership of the campaign to the party’s Political and Legal Affairs Commission (PLAC), which oversees the security apparatus. Indeed, other internal sources have relayed that the effort is a joint venture between China’s Ministry of State Security and Ministry of Public Security—the state entities operating under the PLAC—and is allegedly spearheaded by Chinese Minister of State Security Chen Yixin.
Since June 2024, the FDIC has obtained internal information from the Chinese security apparatus, outlining a range of tactics deployed to execute these strategies. A notable excerpt from the June 2024 meeting notes of China’s Ministry of Public Security underscores the regime’s objectives and methods:
Mobilize concealed agents to create and escalate the internal conflicts of Falun Gong, to expand nonstop the fighting strength, depth, and reach of [social media influencers targeting Falun Gong and Shen Yun] … they must attract the continuous attention of the entire United States society, and force the U.S. government to strike on all fronts, eliminating the force of Falun Gong.” [emphasis added]
Real-world incidents and threats: In August, a YouTuber known for making violent threats against Shen Yun publicly boasted about connecting a group of disgruntled former Shen Yun performers and Falun Gong practitioners with New York Times reporters. Leaked notes from Ministry of Public Security meetings explicitly named this YouTuber as someone the CCP apparatus should support in targeting Falun Gong.
Since then, The Times has published a series of one-sided and misleading articles based on interviews with these former performers. These reports omitted crucial context, such as the individuals’ ties to Chinese state-run entities, conflicts of interest, warnings of potential manipulation, or positive comments about Shen Yun relayed by interviewees. Instead, the articles disproportionately amplified negative accounts, resulting in distorted claims about Shen Yun and Falun Gong (a detailed analysis of the inaccuracies and other problematic aspects of this coverage is available here).
The publication of these articles has happened in parallel to a notable increase in violent threats targeting Shen Yun venues, performers, and the company’s training center. There have also been multiple cases of individuals falsely impersonating Shen Yun personnel or Falun Gong practitioners on social media, emailing fake bomb threats, or sending messages to elected officials who have expressed support for Shen Yun in the past. Alongside the internal CCP sources outlining such tactics, the overlapping timing reinforces the assertion that this is part of a larger coordinated disinformation and intimidation campaign.
Lastly, the Chinese regime and its proxies appear to be employing lawfare tactics of trying to spur U.S. government regulatory investigations or judicial decisions against Shen Yun and its training center in New York. In 2024, U.S. agencies stymied some these efforts or found them to be unfounded. Two men were convicted and jailed for trying to bribe a purported IRS official to open an inquiry against Shen Yun. A New York judge dismissed several baseless environmental lawsuits filed by individuals or non-profits with links to China (see details under #5 below). The Department of Environmental Conservation conducted inspections of Shen Yun’s training center—triggered by frivolous complaints lodged with their office—but found no problems. This pattern continued toward year’s end with the New York Department of Labor opening an inquiry after the above-mentioned Beijing-backed YouTuber called on his followers to lodge complaints.
Although the primary target of this campaign is Shen Yun and the larger Falun Gong religious group, the ramifications are broader, striking at the very heart of American liberty and sovereignty. Should this campaign succeed, it would constitute a blueprint for Beijing to turn the U.S. media, government, and public discourse against any American target of its choosing.
5. Groundbreaking legislation, prosecutions, public statements exemplify international support for protecting Falun Gong community
Despite intense Chinese diplomatic pressure, democratic governments, elected representatives, and other prominent individuals rallied in 2024 to condemn the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, punish its perpetrators, and uphold the basic rights of Falun Gong practitioners.
Surrounding the 25th anniversary of the persecution in July, numerous officials expressed solidarity with Falun Gong practitioners and called for an end to the CCP’s repression. In the United States, bipartisan members of Congress, the State Department, and the U.S. Embassy in China issued public statements commending Falun Gong practitioners’ resilience and condemning the CCP’s actions. Tweets by the U.S. ambassador to China in English and Chinese garnered hundreds of likes and millions of views. Members of Congress, including Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA), issued formal condemnations of the persecution on July 20. Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY) participated in a rally at the National Mall on July 11, calling for an end to the CCP’s 25-year campaign against Falun Gong.
Falun Gong practitioners also received grassroots support around the world. Tens of thousands participated in peaceful events, including vigils, parades, and demonstrations, to raise awareness of human rights abuses such as forced labor, torture, and organ harvesting targeting Falun Gong practitioners. Moreover, theater managers in multiple countries pushed back against Chinese diplomatic pressure to sabotage Shen Yun performances. Juris Žagars, director of Dailes Theatre in Riga, Latvia, publicly rejected a formal request from the Chinese Embassy to cancel Shen Yun performances, calling the attempt “unacceptable.” Similar stances were taken by theater managers in Poland and France, who resisted pressure from Chinese diplomats.
Most notable, however, were several pieces of legislation introduced or adopted by democratic parliaments and actions taken by law enforcement to protect the rights of Falun Gong practitioners from the CCP’s transnational repression and lawfare tactics:
• European Parliament resolution: On January 18, the European Parliament passed a resolution condemning the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong, with particular emphasis on the case of Mr. Ding Yuande. The resolution demanded the unconditional release of all detained practitioners and called for an end to the CCP’s campaign against the group.
• U.S. Falun Gong Protection Act: In June, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Falun Gong Protection Act, which would impose sanctions on individuals involved in forced organ harvesting, especially targeting those persecuting Falun Gong believers. Although the bill was hamstrung in the Senate, it nevertheless represented the first binding legislation introduced to protect Falun Gong practitioners.
• Australian Senate bill: On August 21, the Australian Senate passed a bill aimed at combating illegal organ trafficking and forced organ harvesting from living individuals
• Conviction of the PRC agents targeting Falun Gong: In 2024, at least three men prosecuted in the United States were found guilty of acting as Chinese agents and engaging in surveillance, information collection, and proactive sabotage attempts targeting Shen Yun and Falun Gong. They were sentenced to between 16 months and four years in prison.
• U.S. judge dismisses frivolous environmental lawsuits: In September, a New York district court judge dismissed a lawsuit filed against Shen Yun’s training facility by a local environmental group with ties to China. The judge rejected the plaintiffs’ suit, saying the complaint was “riddled with deficiencies” and that they could not file future complaints for the same claims. The ruling served as an important bulwark against the CCP’s lawfare tactics targeting Falun Gong and other dissidents in the United States.
Conclusion
July 2024 marked 25 years since the CCP embarked on its violent crusade to eliminate Falun Gong. With tens of millions of people still practicing in China despite the risk of deadly torture and initiatives like Shen Yun garnering praise around the world, the regime’s campaign has clearly failed. Rather than acknowledging the injustice of this persecution, however, CCP leaders have decided to redouble their efforts, increasing the resources devoted to defaming Falun Gong and wiping out the practice, not only in China but also globally. Moreover, the tactics being used have become more subtle, covert, and manipulative, rendering their detection and rejection more challenging for Western governments and ordinary news consumers.
Looking ahead, it is critical that observers and analysts of China’s human rights landscape and foreign influence efforts dig deeper, look below the surface, and better understand the reality facing Falun Gong practitioners in China and abroad. The Falun Dafa Information Center remains committed to monitoring these developments and shedding light on the CCP’s suppression of Falun Gong wherever it occurs. We invite you to join us.
