This year marks the 20th anniversary of The Epoch Times’ editorial series, “Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party,” which sparked a movement by Chinese people, both in and outside of China, to sever their ties with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations.

The series exposes the CCP’s bloody history and provides an in-depth analysis of the party’s deceptive, violent, and rogue nature in terms of politics, the economy, culture, and faith.

On Nov. 17, a symposium in San Francisco, co-hosted by The Epoch Times–Northern California, NTD, Sound of Hope, and the Global Service Center for Quitting the CCP—a nonprofit founded after the series’ publication to assist with the “Three Withdrawals” movement, allowing people to document their withdrawal from the CCP—gathered experts who delved into the series’ influence on both Chinese and global citizens.

As of Nov. 20, the number of people counted by the center who have chosen to sever ties with the CCP has exceeded 438 million.

Fang Zheng, president of the Chinese Democratic Education Foundation and a survivor of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, described the “Nine Commentaries” as a “heavenly book.”

He said that the book thoroughly exposed the CCP’s demonic spirit and helped people fundamentally reject the party and its crimes on a spiritual level.

He said the communist regime has manipulated and poisoned the Chinese people for decades, and personal awakening is the first step toward breaking free from its control.

He said that promoting the “Nine Commentaries” is key to awakening people, ending the CCP’s rule, and achieving the rebirth of the Chinese nation.

“It is my greatest wish to let more people know about the ‘Nine Commentaries,’” Fang said.

Forced Organ Harvesting

Wang Zhiyuan, president of the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong and a former military medical director in China, highlighted the CCP’s history of violence and lies, as revealed in the “Nine Commentaries.”

He provided extensive data and case studies to expose the Chinese communist regime’s atrocity of forced organ harvesting, which mainly targets practitioners of Falun Gong—a meditation practice focused on the values of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.

In 1999, a wide-scale persecution was launched by the CCP against Falun Gong practitioners, and many were arrested and tortured for their faith.

Prior to 1999, China had conducted only 135 liver transplants over 20 years, Wang said. However, between 1999 and 2006, this number skyrocketed to 14,085, with some institutions even offering low-cost or free transplants.

The CCP used state power to turn hospitals into execution grounds, transformed doctors into executioners, and made everyone a potential victim, he said, calling this practice a “crime that destroys humanity.”

Exposing the CCP’s Crimes

Zhao Xin, a commander of the student guards during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, urged people to prepare for the CCP’s downfall and not to follow the CCP down the path of destruction.

He said the corrupt nature of the CCP’s rule has been widely recognized, and its oppressive governance will ultimately lead to its end.

Zhao called for the widespread dissemination of the “Nine Commentaries” to expose the CCP’s crimes and awaken more people to oppose its tyranny.

He also thanked Falun Gong practitioners for their long-standing efforts to spread the truth and promote the “Three Withdrawals” movement, which he said is instrumental in dismantling the CCP.

Threat to the West

The United States and the West are currently facing unprecedented threats, which stem from a limited understanding of the CCP and a severe underestimation of its harmful nature, said Lan Shu, chief editor of The Epoch Times–Northern California, in his speech titled “Looking Back 20 Years: How the ‘Nine Commentaries’ Forewarned the West of the CCP’s Threat.”

Lan warned that the CCP is an inhuman system and that Western countries’ attempts to promote reform in China through economic liberalization over the years have been futile.

Many in the West still fail to recognize the CCP’s nature, focusing solely on opposing Xi Jinping while ignoring the party itself, he said.

“Will the West repeat the same mistakes?” he asked.

Lan stressed that the free world must harbor no illusions about the CCP and urged even those who have read the “Nine Commentaries” to read it again and find new insights.

438 Million Reject the CCP

Jiang Lan, head of the Northern California “Three Withdrawals” initiative, noted that the actual number of Chinese people who have withdrawn from the CCP may have exceeded 438 million, as stated on the website.

CCP officials once reported that there were 70 million Falun Gong practitioners in China, and each of these practitioners could have persuaded at least several people to withdraw from the party. In addition, many other people, not just Falun Gong practitioners, are working to expose the CCP’s true nature, Jiang said.

She gave an example of a resident of Hunan, a southern province in China, who said they used shipping containers to transport the “Nine Commentaries” to rural areas for distribution and formed a group that pledged to withdraw from the CCP.

Their impact was not limited to Hunan but extended northward to regions like Anhui Province, Jiang said. A significant number of people have withdrawn from the party, but these figures have not yet been fully compiled, she said.

Xue Mingzhu contributed to this report.