Incident Tracker: Monitoring the CCP’s Latest Transnational Repression and Disinformation Campaign against Falun Gong
A man in Brooklyn, New York hits a woman participating in a Falun Gong parade on September 14, 2024
Falun Gong practitioners around the world have long been targets of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) smear campaigns and transnational repression. Nevertheless, starting in August 2023, the Falun Dafa Information Center noticed an uptick in online disinformation and offline threats targeting Falun Gong practitioners and Shen Yun Performing Arts, a classical Chinese dance troupe many of whose performers practice Falun Gong.
In June and July 2024, the Center obtained leaked notes from internal meetings and reports at China’s Ministry of Public Security and a state-run think tank. These stated explicitly that the regime was planning to escalate its strategy to “eliminate” Falun Gong worldwide, particularly targeting the United States. The notes cited forthcoming use of a variety of tactics—such as supporting anti-Falun Gong YouTubers, pushing false narratives to overseas media, and activating spies embedded in the Falun Gong community. Subsequent real-world events have matched these stated plans and included further escalations, such as X account impersonations, online harassment, and threats of deadly violence.
To better understand the evolving and intensifying campaign, the Center’s researchers have put together this page to document and monitor emerging incidents, law enforcement responses, and other pertinent information that have come to light since January 2024.
In an indication of the escalation and potential dangers evident in this campaign, 13 of the incidents documented as of October 9 include threats of violence or physical assaults against Falun Gong practitioners, Shen Yun performers, the staff of the Falun Dafa Information Center, theaters hosting Shen Yun Performances, or other public venues. With the exception of one physical attack on parade participants, actual violence did not come to pass in these cases and claims like bomb threats turned out to be false.
Key Incidents from January 2024 to the present:
January 2024: New report documents 18 years of CCP attempts to sabotage Shen Yun
This report published by the Falun Dafa Information Center analyzed the CCP’s long standing campaign against Shen Yun. The CCP has used a range of tactics, including diplomatic pressure, economic threats, disinformation, and acts of sabotage, to stop Shen Yun performances. The report found that this campaign has spanned 38 countries, with over 130 documented incidents, as the CCP views Shen Yun’s portrayal of authentic Chinese culture and its connection to Falun Gong practitioners as a threat to its power. Despite these efforts, most theaters and governments have resisted the regime’s pressure, though some have succumbed to CCP influence and canceled performances.
January 2024: Beijing-backed YouTuber mentions being in touch with the New York Times
As early as January 2024, a Beijing-backed YouTuber who had already emerged as a vocal—and often irrational—critic of Falun Gong and Shen Yun mentioned on his channel that he was in contact with the Times. This same YouTuber faces illegal weapons charges in the United States and had previously threatened violence against Shen Yun performers. In at least 14 subsequent posts on YouTube and X from January through August 2024, he made references to a Times articles targeting Shen Yun (a piece that was ultimately published in mid-August). His comments included claims that because of forthcoming reporting Falun Gong and Shen Yun would be “screwed.” In two posts on X after the article’s publication, this YouTuber spoke of how he facilitated interviews for the Times and otherwise influenced its reporting.
March 2024: New York Times interviewee’s Taiwan-based dance studio asks students from families who practice Falun Gong to leave
A central interviewee in the New York Times’ article on Shen Yun (published in August 2024) runs a dance studio in Taiwan. In March 2024, the studio asked students from families who practice Falun Gong to leave and gave them refunds. This former Shen Yun dancer had developed ties to the Chinese state-run Beijing Dance Academy after leaving Shen Yun and prior to making this request; the studio is also reported to have investors from mainland China.
March 2024: Shen Yun headquarters and theaters threatened with a series of false bomb threats and mass shooting threats
Fake bomb threats and mass shooting threats targeted Shen Yun’s headquarters in New York and theaters in California, Vancouver (Canada), and Taiwan, while tour buses had their tires slashed in Costa Mesa, California. Though the anonymous threats were all confirmed to be false after precautions were taken, these incidents reflected an escalation in efforts by the CCP or its proxies to disrupt Shen Yun’s performances.
May 7, 2024: French theater hosting Shen Yun receives bomb threats and mass shooting threats
Ahead of a Shen Yun performance in May 2024, a theater in Amneville, France received an email claiming that if the forthcoming Shen Yun shows were not canceled, “we will go to the concert hall to shoot and throw grenades at the crowd!” Local authorities were notified, and the shows proceeded without incident.
July 4, 2024: A Shen Yun-affiliated dance school, Fei Tian College, receives bomb threat
At around 4:00 AM on July 4, Fei Tian College’s website received an inquiry submission claiming, “We put some explosives in the school. We bribed the guards and sneaked into the school smoothly. We will explode tomorrow morning. Hey, we are not kidding. We will make this stupid school into ruins.” These threats were reported to law enforcement, and while campus security remained vigilant, no violence actually occurred.
July 6, 2024: Fei Tian College receives extortion attempt
A submission through the website contact form of Fei Tian College’s claimed that hackers had collected personal information about the college’s students and faculty, including their home addresses. It threatened to send the information to the CCP if the college did not send $25 million USD within 3 days.
July 21, 2024: Shen Yun’s training campus receives bomb threat, ransom demand
An individual sent an email to Shen Yun’s training campus, Dragon Springs, claiming to have planted explosives on the campus and trying to ransom money from Shen Yun. As before, these threats were reported to law enforcement, and no violence occurred.
July 22, 2024: Shen Yun’s website receives message from individual claiming to be responsible for previous bomb threats
An individual submitted a message through the contact form on the Shen Yun website, claiming to be responsible for previous bomb threats. This individual included the email addresses used in past bomb threats and bragged that he or she would not be caught because “you, the U.S. Congress, the State Department, and the FBI are all incompetent men who will always be at my feet!”
July 24 and 25, 2024: Two men plead guilty in bribery scheme targeting Shen Yun
Two Chinese agents in New York pleaded guilty to participating in a CCP-directed transnational repression campaign targeting Falun Gong practitioners. The agents attempted to bribe a supposed official of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in exchange for revoking the tax-exempt status of Shen Yun Performing Arts, a nonprofit started by Falun Gong practitioners. The agents face sentencing in October 2024, with maximum sentences of 25 years in prison.
August 1, 2024: Death threat sent to Falun Dafa Information Center
An individual, using a Chinese name, sent an email to Levi Browde, executive director of the Falun Dafa Information Center, threatening to kill members of the organization’s staff who are listed on its website and their families. The email also included photos of shotgun shells and a loaded shotgun. Moreover, the email sender appears to have tried to impersonate a prominent Chinese dissident—Mr. Jie Lijian—who has in fact been very supportive of Falun Gong and outspoken against the persecution, indicating an attempt by the sender to also sow discord between practitioners and other Chinese activists.
August 7, 2024: New report details CCP plans to escalate disinformation and transnational repression targeting Falun Gong
The Falun Dafa Information Center published a report analyzing newly leaked information revealing that the Chinese regime has made a strategic decision to escalate its persecution of Falun Gong globally, intensifying its use of propaganda, disinformation, and transnational repression targeting Falun Gong, especially in the United States. A key tactic cited in the leaked notes involves mobilizing the MPS and other CCP entities to “fully support” social media influencers in attacking Falun Gong and Shen Yun Performing Arts. Additionally, the regime plans to activate a network of embedded spies, including within Falun Gong itself, to “eliminate” the spiritual group worldwide. The report details these and other tactics—such as search engine manipulation—evident from the leaked information, while considering its implications, what to watch for next, and recommendations for action by the U.S. government and technology firms.
August 10, 2024: The Central Park Zoo receives a bomb threat from someone claiming to be a Falun Gong practitioner
Multiple departments of the Central Park Zoo in New York City received a threat via email and a contact form submission that claimed to be a Falun Gong practitioner and said they had placed bombs throughout the zoo. The email demanded the zoo send $5 Million USD to Dragon Springs, the training campus for Shen Yun Performing Arts. One of the threats also listed the email address of the Falun Dafa Information Center’s executive director as its sender in an apparent attempt to implicate him. The zoo, skeptical of the threat’s credibility, contacted Mr. Browde who confirmed the false impersonation attempt.
August 15 and 16, 2024: New York Times publishes articles attacking Shen Yun and Falun Gong
The New York Times published five articles critical of Shen Yun Performing Arts and Falun Gong. The primary articles portrayed Shen Yun as an abusive environment and downplayed the persecution of Falun Gong in China. These pieces largely relied on a small, unrepresentative sample of former performers—several with ties to a Chinese state-run entity and Beijing-backed YouTuber—and omitted important context and perspectives that contradicted the negative narrative. Human rights experts and those familiar with Falun Gong criticized the articles for aligning with the CCP’s disinformation campaign against Falun Gong. On August 26, the Falun Dafa Information Center published the results of its investigation into inaccuracies, ethical breaches, and other problems with the reporting.
August 18, 2024: Beijing-backed YouTuber boasts on X about introducing interviewees to New York Times reporters
Just days after the New York Times published problematic articles on Shen Yun and Falun Gong, a Beijing-backed YouTuber boasted on X that “I was the one who introduced people [former performers] to the New York Times, especially for the initial interviews.” In leaked meeting notes from China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS) in June 2024, this YouTuber was named as an individual who should receive the regime’s support. The YouTuber also faces possession of illegal weapons charges in the United States and has made threats of violence against Shen Yun performers and Falun Gong.
August 18, 2024 [Note: Three days after the New York Times published its first articles about Shen Yun]
August 19, 2024: Threat of violence is sent to Shen Yun’s website
On August 19, Shen Yun received a threatening message demanding the removal of its statement responding to the New York Times’ reports. The message warned that if the statement was not removed within a month, “Shen Yun Performing Arts and Fei Tian school employees, and family members very likely will have some inexplicable car accidents, their houses will unexplainably catch fire and burn, and also may be attacked by New York gangsters.” The sender urged Shen Yun to consider the safety of its staff and their families.
September 3, 2024: Threat of violence is sent to Shen Yun’s training campus
Shen Yun’s training campus, Dragon Springs, received an anonymous email threatening to assault students and staff at Shen Yun and Fei Tian Academy of the Arts if Shen Yun’s response to the New York Times’ recent problematic reporting on Shen Yun was not taken down from its website. The email mirrored a similar threat that was received two weeks before. The email said that performers, students, and staff are “likely to have a car accident, be attacked by New York gangsters, and a fire in their residences!” The email continued saying, “There may also be a fire in Dragon Springs in upstate, New York! Female students and female staff will be sexually assaulted and gang-raped! I’m not kidding you!”
Early September 2024: Fake calls to protest against the New York Times posted online
After the New York Times published misleading articles on Shen Yun and Falun Gong on August 15, inauthentic accounts on social media claiming to be people who practice Falun Gong spread posts planning a protest at the Times headquarters on September 15. Local Falun Gong coordinators identified the operation as a suspected CCP tactic to provoke an incident that would discredit Falun Gong (this conclusion was based on leaked CCP documents which warned practitioners that regime agents would attempt to provoke such an incident as part of the current campaign). On the day of the prospective protest, several suspicious individuals were observed loitering near the Times building, though no Falun Gong practitioners showed up. These individuals spoke with security outside the building, took photos of the entrances and surrounding areas, and made phone calls.
September 9, 2024: Email impersonating Shen Yun sent to the White House
Shen Yun’s training campus received an automatic reply email from the White House, indicating that a Shen Yun-affiliated email address had been used in a contact form to make it appear as though Shen Yun had sent what was likely a threat of violence or some other content making Shen Yun seem bizarre. Similar tactics have been reported in the past in the United States and Australia of fake and strange emails sent to elected officials claiming to be from Falun Gong practitioners in an attempt to discredit the community.
September 10-11, 2024: Anonymous X account issues death threats against Falun Gong practitioners in replies to Shen Yun post
On September 11, an anonymous X account published multiple replies to a post by a Shen Yun-affiliated account in which the user threatened violence and death to Falun Gong practitioners, Shen Yun’s “management,” and Falun Gong’s founder Mr. Li Hongzhi. The person claimed he/she wanted Falun Gong practitioners’ families to be “disabled,” referred to killing practitioners, and promised to give a “taste of a detonator I made myself.” In one post, the individual claimed to be “crazier” than a Beijing-backed YouTuber, mentioned above, who has threatened violence against Shen Yun and who faces illegal weapons charges in the United States. That YouTuber is also reportedly in contact with journalists from the New York Times who have published misleading and problematic reports about Shen Yun. Analysis of the anonymous X account’s activity indicates the user follows nearly only accounts spreading questionable information about Falun Gong and Shen Yun, including another Beijing-backed YouTuber in Japan and a former Shen Yun performer interviewed by the New York Times, who is known to have ties to a Chinese state-run entity.
September 11, 2024: Judge dismisses meritless lawsuit against Shen Yun’s campus
A New York district court dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Mid-New York Environmental and Sustainability Promotion Committee (NYenvironcon), a group with ties to China, against Dragon Springs, the campus housing the training facilities of Shen Yun Performing Arts. This marked the group’s fourth unsuccessful attempt to claim environmental violations. Judge Kenneth M. Karas rejected the complaint as “vague” and “illogical” and barred future lawsuits on the same issue. The lawsuit is part of a broader transnational campaign by the CCP and its proxies aimed at discrediting Falun Gong and Shen Yun. The CCP has used similar tactics, including filing meritless lawsuits, to target other dissidents abroad and drain their resources.
September 14, 2024: Falun Gong practitioners assaulted during parade in Brooklyn, NY
On September 14, Falun Gong practitioners held a parade in Brooklyn, NY to commemorate the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival and expose the persecution faced by practitioners in China. During the parade, two incidents occurred whereby unknown Chinese men assaulted participants, hitting and spitting on them. Two days later, a man claiming to be one of the assailants sent an email threatening further violence against Falun Gong practitioners.
September 15, 2024: Incoherent email threat claiming to be person who made bomb threats targeting Shen Yun
An anonymous email was sent to several email addresses associated with the Epoch Times, a newspaper whose staff include Falun Gong practitioners. The message’s author claimed to be the person who had sent several email bomb threats to Shen Yun’s training facilities. The sender disparaged Falun Gong and bragged that he would not be caught due to the incompetence of the FBI.
September 15, 2024: Fake anti-Falun Gong protester in Brooklyn, NY
On September 15, 2024, a Chinese man in Brooklyn was seen spreading anti-Falun Gong content. When asked why, the man said that he was being paid $25 an hour to do so. This incident aligns with reports of pro-CCP individuals being paid to counter-protest at Falun Gong parades and rallies to raise awareness of the persecution of Falun Gong in China. For example, the indictment of a person involved in operating an overseas Chinese police station in New York City revealed that during CCP leader Xi Jinping’s 2015 visit to Washington D.C., this individual organized and paid counter-protesters to surround and drown out the voices of Falun Gong practitioners who were peacefully demonstrating.
October 3, 2024: Individual behind previous bomb threats sends antagonizing email to Shen Yun’s training campus
An individual falsely claiming to be Sheng Xue, a Chinese-Canadian journalist and human rights activist, sent an email saying they were responsible for sending previous bomb threats and mass shooting threats to theaters hosting Shen Yun and Shen Yun’s training campus. The individual bragged that they would not be caught, saying “Isn’t it true that the FBI is a bunch of cowards and useless people, and there’s nothing they can do to me?” Similar emails were sent to the campus on October 8, with one of them dubiously claiming to be from the Dalai Lama and written in Tibetan script. This email also included a screenshot of another email thread in which an individual impersonated Uyghur activist Rebiya Kadeer to request that a Chinese language media outlet remove an article about the documentary film “State Organs,” which is about forced organ harvesting.
Early October, 2024: Theaters in Taiwan receive false bomb threats and mass shooting threats
During screenings of the award-winning documentary State Organs in Taiwan, theaters in Taichung, Kaohsiung, Yilan, and Pingtung, along with a Taipei media outlet, received emails claiming bombs had been planted in the theaters and threatening to shoot audiences if the film was shown. The documentary exposes the CCP’s horrific practice of forced organ harvesting, a crime the Chinese regime has long tried to cover up and suppress discussion of abroad. The threats appear to be an intimidation tactic, as no bombs have been found in any of the cases.
October 29, 2024: Email bomb threat sent to Shen Yun’s training campus
Someone using the name of a Shen Yun dancer sent an email to Shen Yun’s training campus, Dragon Springs, as well as several emails affiliated with the U.S. Federal Election Commission threatening to carry out a violent attack at the campus on the day of the U.S. election, November 5. “We secretly purchased remote control bombs, time bombs, booby traps, plastic C4, simple landmines and other explosives, as well as automatic rifles, pistols and other weapons,” the emailer claimed. “On election day, we will detonate explosives, then break into Dragon Springs and shoot all survivors!” The threat was reported to law enforcement and no actual violent attempts occurred. This threat comes amidst a slew of similar email threats sent to the training campus, theaters hosting Shen Yun, and other public venues beginning in March 2024. In each of the cases, no explosives were found, and no actual violence took place.
Late October – Early November 2024: Organ harvesting survivor faces increased threats and intimidation tactics, including home break-in
Cheng Peiming, the first-known survivor of China’s forced organ harvesting, is under serious threat in the United States after exposing CCP atrocities. On October 31, a researcher shared with the Falun Dafa Information Center leaked meeting notes from a Public Security Bureau insider, revealing a three-part strategy by Heilongjiang security agencies to silence Cheng. The plan includes pressuring him to return to China through relatives and friends, offering rewards to retract his testimony, and, if those fail, killing Cheng and staging his death as a suicide. According to the insider, “The Heilongjiang Public Security Bureau is responsible for the implementation of this plot and they are already making preparations.”
On November 2, 2024, unidentified individuals reportedly broke into his home between approximately 4:00 AM and 6:00 AM. The bolt on the garage door had been forced open, and two doors in his home were found unlocked and left ajar. The break-in occurred in the aftermath of several other attempted attacks on Cheng and his vehicle over the past three months. Following a screening in October in Delaware of the documentary film State Organs, at which Mr. Cheng spoke about his experience, someone keyed his car. On two other occasions, nails were also found lodged in his tires. The first time, he only discovered the nails after one tire burst while he was driving, though thankfully no one was hurt.
November 17-18, 2024: CCP supporters obstruct Falun Gong practitioners’ peaceful demonstrations during G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro
As the Chinese delegation to the G-20 summit in Brazil passed through the streets of Rio de Janeiro on November 17, local Falun Gong practitioners held banners and signs calling for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong in China. This peaceful act of protest was met with dozens of Chinese individuals who surrounded the practitioners with giant Chinese and Brazilian flags to cover up the banners. Despite warnings from Brazilian police that these individuals were infringing on the practitioners’ freedom of expression, they continued to surround and harass the Falun Gong practitioners. The next day, Chinese individuals with massive flags also surrounded Falun Gong practitioners collecting signatures at information booths on Copacabana Beach. Again, the individuals’ hostile behavior towards the Falun Gong practitioners required local police to intervene and form a perimeter to protect the Falun Gong group.
November 19, 2024: DOJ announces sentencing of individual involved in IRS bribery scheme targeting Shen Yun
John Chen, one of the two men involved in a bribery scheme attempting to strip the tax-exempt nonprofit status of Shen Yun Performing Arts, received a 20-month prison for acting as an unregistered agent of the CCP. From at least approximately January 2023 to May 2023, Chen and his partner, Mr. Lin Feng, conspired to pay a purported IRS official (who was actually an undercover FBI agent) $50,000 for opening an audit on Shen Yun. In addition to the prison term, the Southern District Court of New York, also sentenced Chen to three years of supervised release and ordered him to forfeit $50,000.
December 6, 2024: Fake email sent to Canadian parliamentarian claims to be from ex-Shen Yun dancer and smears the company
On December 6, a parliamentarian in Canada who has been outspoken in supporting Shen Yun Performing Arts and Falun Gong received a lengthy fake email. The name of the message’s sender (seemingly of Russian origin) mismatched the person claiming to have sent it (a Chinese name) and was suspicious for other reasons. The message claimed to be from a former Shen Yun dancer relaying accounts of overwork and trauma during their time at the company and included links to recent misleading reports from the New York Times. It concluded with a warning to the elected official about continuing to support Shen Yun, lest the senator’s reputation be harmed. The parliamentarian was suspicious of the email’s authenticity and alerted a local Falun Gong practitioner who shared it with the Falun Dafa Information Center. Shen Yun confirmed there was no record of a person by the name of the alleged sender “Zhang Xiaoxu” having ever performed with the company or studied at the affiliated Feitian Academy or College.
December 11, 2024: Mass shooting threats to Shen Yun performances in Atlanta and San Jose ahead of upcoming shows
On the morning of December 11, 2024, an email containing a death threat was sent to the Atlanta Falun Dafa Association, which is the local presenter for Shen Yun performances at the Atlanta Symphony Hall during the upcoming Christmas week. The email sender claimed in Chinese that they would “go to the Atlanta Symphony Hall and shoot at all people there if the Hall hosts Shen Yun performances!” The email was accompanied by an image of a pistol and many bullets. Half an hour later, the same sender sent a nearly identical email to the ticketing service for the San Francisco Bay Area, which sells tickets for Shen Yun performances at the San Jose Performing Arts Center. The FBI and local police were notified of both incidents. Since March 2024, there has been an increase in threats of violence targeting Shen Yun shows and its performers, part of a broader campaign by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its proxies to sabotage the dance company. In all prior cases, anonymous threats were confirmed to be false and no violence occurred.
