Bomb Threats to Shen Yun, Hearing on Organ Harvesting

Dear Reader,

New incidents in the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) campaign to silence Shen Yun Performing Arts have reached an alarming level as emails in recent weeks threatened to detonate explosives at theaters and at Shen Yun’s training facilities while the tires of company buses were slashed. 

In other news:

• The U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China holds a hearing on forced organ harvesting in China 

• Shanghai police pressure a landlord to evict a tenant who practices Falun Gong

• A court sentences a Falun Gong practitioner to seven years, in aftermath of 2023 mass arrest in Jilin Province

And lastly, I sit down with “China in Focus” to discuss our recent report on the New York Times’ distorted coverage of Falun Gong and the persecution of believers in China.

FEATURED ITEM

What’s new?

In recent weeks, Shen Yun Performing Arts, a globally renown performing arts company known for its portrayal of traditional Chinese culture, has been the target of multiple false bomb threats and acts of vandalism. Law enforcement confirmed that all bomb threats received were fake and no real danger has been found in any theaters. All shows proceeded as scheduled and without incident. Most Shen Yun performers are also practitioners of Falun Gong, with many having fled China to escape persecution.

The incidents began on March 14 with a bomb threat targeting both Shen Yun’s training facilities in upstate New York and was followed by threats at venues scheduled to hold performances in the United States, Canada, and Taiwan. In a series of emails sent on March 26, one individual threatened a mass shooting as well, stating, “We will sneak into the Dragon Springs Temple in the Shawangunk Ridge, upstate New York, in the near future, shooting at whomever we see with guns and throwing grenades at crowds!” Parallel to these threats, someone slashed the tires of two of Shen Yun’s tour buses in Costa Mesa, California on March 16.

Why does it matter?

Since the company’s inception, Chinese officials have used diplomatic pressure and economic coercion on theaters and local governments around the world in attempts to stop Shen Yun from performing. Meanwhile, CCP proxies and unknown perpetrators have committed dangerous act such as tampering with Shen Yun tour buses. The latest threats of fatal violence take this campaign to intimidate and attack Shen Yun to a new level of seriousness by threatening the lives of theatergoers, staff, and performers. 

These threats can also interfere with the groups’ performances. At a theater in California, theater staff had to evacuate during preparation for shows that weekend after it received bomb threats on March 22. Luckily authorities found no explosives at the theater and shows managed to go on as scheduled.  

What else do you need to know?

In January 2024, the Falun Dafa Information Center published a policy brief outlining the CCP’s extensive campaign to silence and malign Shen Yun, analyzing 135 incidents in 38 countries. Internal party documents reveal that instructions to sabotage Shen Yun come from the very top of the CCP. Central authorities have issued directives that deem suppressing Shen Yun to be “an important part of the … struggle against Falun Gong.” Indeed, in a majority of cases, Chinese diplomats are the main actors in attempts to stop Shen Yun performances. 

U.S. GOVERNMENT

On March 20, the bipartisan U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China conducted a hearing to address the grievous issue of forced organ harvesting in China, notably from prisoners of conscience, including Falun Gong practitioners and Uyghurs. Witnesses highlighted the role of a vast DNA database in matching victims to organ recipients and implicated Western corporations and institutions in facilitating these abuses.

The hearing underscored the urgent need for legislative action and international cooperation to end forced organ harvesting. Members of Congress condemned these violations and called for the Senate’s adoption of the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Action, which passed the House of Representatives last year.

PERSECUTION IN CHINA

On February 7, 2024, in Shanghai’s Pudong New Area, Ms. Chen Wei returned to her apartment to find her door sealed by police and a note that said, “Please contact Officer Wu of the Cailu Police Station ASAP.” Officer Wu, after failing to find Ms. Chen, pressured her landlord to evict her because of her faith in Falun Gong. Wu also demanded that the landlord screen future tenants and not allow people who practice Falun Gong to rent units.

Unfortunately, Ms. Chen’s incident in not unique. Millions of Falun Gong practitioners potentially face similar situations, risking job loss, homelessness, pension loss, and other repressive tactics for upholding their beliefs and continue a practice that has improved their physical health and mental well-being. 

PERSECUTION IN CHINA

The Rights Protection Network (Weiquanwang), a website that aggregates reports of abuse from human rights defenders across China, reported on March 28 that one of the 15 people targeted in a mass arrest of Falun Gong practitioners in January 2023 was sentenced to seven years in prison. Zheng Yunming, a resident of Dehui City, Jilin Province, was sentenced on January 4, 2024 and is the fifth practitioner to be sentenced since the arrests. 

In a blog published by Amnesty International, which advocated for his release, Bu Dongwei shares his harrowing experience in a Chinese Re-education through Labor (RTL) camp, detailing the severe persecution faced due to his belief in Falun Gong. Initially detained in 2006 for possessing Falun Gong books, Bu describes the inhumane conditions within the camp: overcrowding, torture, forced labor, and systematic brainwashing efforts aimed at denouncing Falun Gong.

In a recent interview with NTDTV’s “China in Focus,” Falun Dafa Information Center Executive Director Levi Browde discussed a new report analyzing the New York Times’ coverage of the persecution of Falun Gong over the past 25 years, which found that the paper has largely distorted the Falun Gong community and downplayed the persecution believers face in China. 

“I hope it engenders some sort of soul-searching and some change at the New York Times, and other papers that might be suffering from the same kind of problem,” said Browde. “Looking at their operations, looking at what they’re doing, look[ing] at the spirit of what they’re trying to achieve as the fourth estate.”