Behind the April 25, 1999, gathering of 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners in Beijing

Falun Gong practuitioners meditate in the rain, March 4, 2001 at the National Mall in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Newsmakers)

For a meditation practice with as many as 100 million adherents, Falun Gong was a relatively well-kept secret outside China in early 1999.

That changed dramatically on April 25, when the attention of international media focused on a peaceful appeal by 10,000 practitioners to the Chinese authorities in Beijing.

The gathering was unplanned, yet orderly. It placed a huge number of people on the streets, yet was quiet and devoid of any element of protest. The participants—far from presenting themselves as against the regime—were there to respectfully petition at the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) central office designated to receive petitions.

Yet almost immediately, the event was spun and mischaracterized as a challenge to authority. Media outside China took their cue from Beijing, painting an ominous, yet inaccurate portrait of the event.

The event was used as an excuse to launch a systematic and violent persecution of Falun Gong practitioners that began on July 20 and continues ten years later, with thousands confirmed killed from torture and abuse.

What led up to this gathering? What happened behind the scenes in Beijing afterwards?

Background: Falun Gong in China

By the late 1990s, Falun Gong became extremely popular; it was not unusual for thousands of people to practice together every morning. Here, practitioners practice the exercises in Chengdu, China. (www.faluninfo.net)

People of any age can practice Falun Gong. Here, children in China practice prior to the persecution. (www.faluninfo.net)

Falun Gong is a traditional Chinese practice of meditation and exercise. Practitioners follow the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance that the teachings center on.

Mr. Li Hongzhi held the first Falun Gong workshop in Changchun on May 13, 1992. He was presented with a number of awards and honors by official bodies during 1992 and 1993, including the title of “Most Acclaimed Qigong Master.”

The book Zhuan Falun, written by Mr. Li Hongzhi was published by a state-run publisher, China Broadcasting and Television Publishing House, in January 1995. The book became one of the best sellers listed in the Beijing Youth Daily in January 1996.

By early 1999, based on a survey by the Chinese regime, there were at least 70 million people of all walks of life practicing Falun Gong all over China. Other credible estimates put the number at 100 million.

Precursors to Formal Persecution

Guangming Daily, the mouthpiece of the State Council, published an article by a columnist denouncing Falun Gong on June 17, 1996. On July 24, 1996, the Chinese News Publication Office issued a nationwide circular banning the distribution of all Falun Gong publications.

In early 1997, the Public Security Bureau began a nationwide investigation to gather evidence in the hopes of defaming Falun Gong. However, all of the police stations around the country finally reported after much investigation: “no evidence found so far.” The investigations thus came to an end.

On July 21, 1998, the First Division of the Public Security Bureau issued a 1998-No. 555 circular “Notification Regarding Starting an Investigation on Falun Gong.” The “Notification” claimed that Mr. Li Hongzhi was spreading rumors and evil teachings and that some core practitioners were engaged in illegal activities in the name of Falun Gong. However, the circular then also mentioned that the Public Security Political Protection Departments in each area should begin a thorough investigation to get inside information on Falun Gong activities and find evidence of crimes committed by core practitioners using Falun Gong.

It appears that the circular followed the common communist procedure of convicting someone of a crime and then looking for evidence later. This “Notification” resulted in the local Public Security departments in a number of areas around the country to illegally raid Falun Gong practice sites, forcibly disperse practitioners, search homes, break and enter into civilian residences, confiscate people’s private property, and so on.

Falun Gong ‘Only benefits and does no harm’

Falun Gong practitioner meditate during a celebration in Sydney commemorating the tenth anniversary of Falun Gong’s introduction to the public. (www.faluninfo.net)

Falun Gong practitioners perform a public demonstration of the exercises outside the National Theater in Taipei, Taiwan. (www.faluninfo.net)

A demonstrator holds a sign at rally on Ottawa’s Parliament Hill calling on the Canadian government to act on reports of secret death camps for Falun Gong practitioners and harvesting of organs from live practitioners in China. (Matthew Hildebrand/The Epoch Times)

Falun Gong practitioners participate in a vigil in front of the Washington Monument in Friday July 20, 2007 (Shaoshao Chen/The Epoch Times)

In the latter half of 1998, a group of retired National People’s Congress cadres led by Qiao Shi, the former chair of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, conducted a detailed investigation and study over a certain period of time on Falun Gong because so many members of the public had sent letters mentioning the Public Security Bureau’s illegal treatment of Falun Gong practitioners. The conclusion of the study was that “Falun Gong only benefits and does no harm to the nation and the people.” This report was delivered to the Politburo headed by Jiang Zemin.

Before this, the National Sports Commission had also conducted a comprehensive investigation and study into Falun Gong in May 1998. In September, in order to coordinate with this study, a team made up of medical experts did a questionnaire survey of a sample of 12,553 Falun Gong practitioners. The results clearly indicated that the rate of effectiveness for improving health and fitness was 97.9 percent. On October 20, 1998, the head of the research team sent to Changchun and Haarbin by the National Sports Commission said: “We feel that both the Falun Gong exercises and their effectiveness are quite good. The impact on the stability of society and the strengthening of the spiritual culture are all quite evident. This deserves to be fully recognized.” During this time, independent studies into the efficacy of Falun Gong in Dalian, Beijing, and elsewhere also produced consistent results.

The Tianjin Incident

On April 11, 1999, He Zuoxiu published an article in the Tianjin College of Education’s Youth Reader magazine entitled “I Do Not Agree With Youth Practicing Qigong.” In this article, He drew upon the same examples to slander Falun Gong as he had presented on a Beijing TV Station program in 1998. Because these examples had already been fully debunked at the time they were broadcast, this article of He’s had already been strictly boycotted by Beijing’s media and propaganda system.

Now that this article was appearing in Tianjin, some practitioners in Tianjin felt that it was necessary to explain the facts and the truth to Tianjin officials. They also hoped to lessen the negative impact of the article through contact with the editors of the magazine. Therefore, on April 18–24, 1999, some practitioners went to the Tianjin College of Education and other related agencies to clarify the truth.

On April 23 and 24, 1999, the Public Security Bureau of Tianjin dispatched riot police to beat up the Falun Gong practitioners who had come to appeal, resulting in injuries to the practitioners. The police arrested 45 people. When Falun Gong practitioners requested the release of the detained practitioners, they were told at Tianjin City Hall that the Public Security Bureau had become involved in this matter, so the arrested Falun Gong practitioners would not be released without authorization from Beijing. The Tianjin police suggested to Falun Gong practitioners, “Go to Beijing. Only going to Beijing can resolve the problem.”

From attacks in the media in previous years to this incident in which police actually used violence against Falun Gong practitioners in Tianjin, the escalation of the persecution shocked Falun Gong practitioners. Word of the “Tianjin Incident” spread rapidly among Falun Gong practitioners all across the country.

Going to Appeal at the State Council Appeals Office on April 25

Falun Gong practitioners gathered outside Zhongnanhai to silently, peacefully appeal for fair treatment. (The Epoch Times)

As news of the police brutality and arrests in Tianjin and the need for Beijing’s authorization to release the incarcerated practitioners spread throughout the country, Falun Gong practitioners, trusting the regime, started heading to the Appeals Office of the State Council of their own accord, one after another, beginning on the evening of April 24. They were hopeful that they would find a just resolution of the “Tianjin Incident.”

As Ms. C who lives in the Haidian District of Beijing recalls: “At 7:00 p.m. on April 24, some practitioners told me how the practitioners in Tianjin had been beaten and arrested. They said that some practitioners wanted to go to the Appeals Office of the State Council to report on the situation, and those individuals who wanted to go could go. So, four or five practitioners and I took the bus and arrived at the North entrance of the State Council at 8:00 p.m. on the same day. We were probably the first group of practitioners who went to appeal for the ‘Tianjin Incident’ and the guard at the entrance asked us what it was about.”

Mr. and Mrs. P from Beijing’s Chaoyang District recall: “By the morning of April 25, the west side of Fuyou Street was full of people; there was no one on the other side of the street (where the State Council is located). Young practitioners stood in a row at the very front, leaving open the sidewalk and the special sidewalk for the blind. Behind the front row of practitioners all the way to the corner of the wall were seated practitioners. Everyone was very quiet. The traffic was not obstructed.”

Authorities Resolved the “Tianjin Incident” and the April 25 Gathering Disperses

At noon on April 25, Li Chang and Wang Zhiwen of the Falun Dafa Research Society and three other Beijing practitioners, acting as representatives of Falun Gong, entered the State Council to have talks with regime officials. They presented three requests from Falun Gong practitioners:

1. Release the Falun Gong practitioners who were arrested in Tianjin

2. Give Falun Gong practitioners a loose and relaxed cultivation environment

3. Allow Falun Gong books to be published.

The officials who participated in the talks included members of the Appeals Office of the State Council, officials from the city of Beijing, and officials from the city of Tianjin. At dusk, Tianjin released all of the detained Falun Gong practitioners in accordance with instructions from the central authorities.

By late evening, the 10,000-some practitioners had quietly dispersed and gone home on their own accord, without leaving so much as a scrap of litter behind.

Jiang Zemin Used Secret Documents to Instigate Persecution

In 2001, certain high level officials in the Communist Party came forward with comments made by Jiang Zemin in two classified documents as he decided to persecute Falun Gong.

In the evening of April 25, Jiang Zemin, in the name of the general secretary of the Communist Party, wrote a letter to the members of the Standing Committee of the Politburo and other relevant leaders. In the letter, Jiang Zemin charged that there were masterminds “behind the scenes” of the April 25 incident who were “planning and issuing commands.” (This letter was marked “Highly Confidential,” distributed as the CCP’s issuance [1999] No. 14 entitled “Notice of the Communist Party Central Office regarding the printing and distribution of ‘Comrade Jiang Zemin’s Letter to the Standing Committee of the Politburo and other Concerned Leading Comrades’”).

On June 7, Jiang Zemin gave a speech at the meeting of the CCP Politburo and stated, “The issue of ‘Falun Gong’ has a very deep political and social background and even a complicated international background. … It is the most serious incident since the political turbulence in 1989.” On June 13, this document was secretly transmitted inside the Communist Party. (This document was categorized as highly confidential and issued by the CCP as [1999] No. 30 entitled “Notice of the Communist Party Central Office regarding the printing and distribution of ‘The Speech of Comrade Jiang Zemin in the Meeting of the Politburo of the Central Government Regarding Handling and Resolving the ‘Falun Gong Issue’ Without Delay’”).

Certain high-ranking officials within the Communist Party have revealed that in the above two classified documents, Jiang clearly raised the issue of “whether there were overseas and Western connections to the April 25 incident and whether there were ‘masterminds’ behind the scenes who were planning and issuing commands.” They have revealed Jiang’s mentality of being overly protective of his personal power and interests, and how, without any concrete evidence, he made the flawed and fateful policy decision to persecute Falun Gong.

Starting in late May 1999, the daily practice activities of Falun Gong practitioners in many areas were subject to forced dispersal by the city administrative agencies and the Public Security Bureau. The public security officers in some areas used high pressure hoses to drive practitioners away and high volume loudspeakers to disturb their meditation. The persons in charge of the Falun Gong assistance centers were called in by their workplaces and by public security officers for discussion and interrogation, they were put under surveillance and followed, their phones were tapped, and they were not allowed to leave the local area.

During a high-level meeting on July 19, Jiang Zemin officially announced confirmation of a total ban on Falun Gong. July 20 saw the beginning of a wave of arrests of Falun Gong practitioners all across the nation. A persecution campaign with grave consequences was underway.