Nearly 300 Falun Gong practitioners and supporters gathered for a candlelight vigil in front of the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles, as part of a series of events held around the world to condemn the persecution of the faith group in China.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. First introduced to the Chinese public in 1992, it quickly spread by word of mouth to reach an estimated 70 million to 100 million practitioners by 1999.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), fearing that Falun Gong’s popularity threatened the regime’s power, began a brutal campaign to eradicate the practice, on July 20, 1999. Since then, untold numbers of practitioners have faced arbitrary detention, forced labor, torture, and even death by forced organ harvesting.

At the Los Angeles vigil, attendees gathered near the consulate held banners with messages including “Immediately release detained Falun Gong practitioners.” Among those present at the event, some had firsthand experience of the persecution in China, while others had friends and family members who were currently detained for their faith.

Speaking at the event, Wang Fengqin said that after she started practicing Falun Gong in 1997, her stomach problems, back pain, hemorrhoids, and other ailments disappeared.

“I am very grateful to Falun Dafa ... for teaching me the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance, to be a good person. From then on, my life has been full of hope,” she said.

But the persecution that began in 1999 brought a devastating blow to her family. In an attempt to force her to give up her practice of Falun Gong, authorities cut off water and electricity to her family’s cardboard-processing factory, forcing them to shut it down. More than 20 workers lost their jobs.

China’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion, expression, assembly, and protest. In order to seek justice, Wang went to Beijing to appeal to the authorities, but was detained and illegally sentenced to forced labor. She was also tortured during her imprisonment. Years later, in June 2022, she and more than 40 other Falun Gong practitioners from her hometown were again detained, this time taken to a brainwashing class by the regime. She went on a hunger strike before she was released and returned home.

“I am saying this today to expose the evil nature of the CCP and to tell more people: The CCP does not represent China. It is an evil regime maintained by lies and violence ... that endangers China and even the world,” Wang said.

A Falun Gong practitioner who gave only her surname, Wu, called for the rescue of practitioners from her hometown of Hengyang in Hunan Province, including Zhou Zixian and 10 other Falun Gong practitioners who were illegally detained.

Zhou Zixian, 69, is a retired employee of the Hengyang Petroleum Co. who began to practice Falun Gong in 1997. Two years later, when the CCP launched the persecution, he went to Beijing three times to appeal to the authorities, hoping to tell officials about his own experiences with the practice that had improved his health and happiness. He was forced to undergo 1 1/2 years of reeducation through forced labor and endure six years in prison.

At the end of March 2024, Zhou was again abducted by police and his home ransacked. During the following years, he was subjected to various tortures including electric shocks, beatings, force-feeding, and two consecutive months of solitary confinement.

To prevent him from practicing Falun Gong’s meditative exercises at night, the prison guards often handcuffed him to the cell door and did not allow him to sleep. During the day, they also made him perform humiliating acts such as crawling across a hot concrete floor on his bare hands, causing large blisters on his palms.

Human rights investigators have documented more than 100 types of torture used by the CCP on detained Falun Gong practitioners. In addition, a 2019 independent tribunal in London found that the regime had been systematically killing prisoners of conscience for their organs, with Falun Gong practitioners being the primary source.

Freedom of Belief

In the first half of this year alone, at least 76 Falun Gong practitioners were persecuted to death and 430 Falun Gong practitioners illegally sentenced, according to data collected by Minghui.org, a U.S.-based website that documents the persecution. In the past 26 years, at least 5,231 Falun Gong practitioners have been persecuted to death, though the true number is hard to determine under the CCP’s censorship likely to be many times higher.

Wu Yingnian, spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Association of Los Angeles and a professor at the University of California–Los Angeles, said that he has recently seen more and more countries stand up against the persecution, and he commended the U.S. House of Representatives for passing the Falun Gong Protection Act.

“We call on the international community to continue to pay attention to the persecution [of Falun Gong] by the Chinese Communist Party and help stop [it],” Wu said. He also called on people from all walks of life to write letters to their congressmen, asking members of both parties to support bills that condemn the CCP for its atrocities.

According to statistics from the Global Service Center for Quitting the CCP, nearly 450 million Chinese people have declared their withdrawal from all CCP organizations. In the international community, the number of signatures on a petition to end the CCP has exceeded 4.9 million.

After hearing the stories of Falun Gong practitioners at the vigil that evening, democracy activists and Taiwanese community leaders in attendance also spoke out against the persecution.

“This is a crime of genocide, and we must condemn this crime,” said Liu Yinquan, chairman of the China Social Democratic Party.

“I feel that with the support of democratic governments around the world, the support of people who love peace and freedom around the world, and more awakened Chinese people standing up, I believe that Falun Gong practitioners will definitely have the opportunity to practice freely in China.”

Ken Wu, vice president of the Los Angeles branch of the Taiwanese Public Affairs Council, said Falun Gong has flourished in Taiwan today because the Taiwanese people have a democratic system that upholds freedom of belief. He called on more people to stand up, as otherwise, “we are likely to become the next target of oppression.”

“The next target may be Christians, and the next target may be Taiwan, or even the United States,” he said.

In May this year, the House unanimously passed the Falun Gong Protection Act, which includes provisions to sanction individuals involved in harvesting organs from Falun Gong practitioners.

Li Youfu, president of the Southwest Falun Dafa Association, pointed out that over time, the crimes of the CCP are coming fully to light.

“All people with a conscience will join hands to stop this evil behavior,” he said. “We once again call on all Chinese people to join the people of the world in disintegrating the CCP and ending its tyranny, to stop its persecution of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance.”

Shawn Ma contributed to this report.