1. Sequence of Events

Falun Gong practitioners went to Zhongnanhai because the Public Security Bureau (PSB) in the city of Tianjin had recently and unlawfully detained 45 Falun Gong practitioners. Since Falun Gong helps people to improve their physical and mental health, the number of its practitioners had increased rapidly in Mainland China, approaching tens of millions in number. According to a government census done in early 1999, the number of Falun Gong practitioners in China was anywhere between 70 million and 100 million. This caused the Chinese government to consider it a potential political threat, despite its having no political aspirations. Some government officials took advantage of this situation by creating problems in order to gain political credit. Thus, news agencies controlled by the government have been constantly publishing untrue stories and articles that attack Falun Gong.

The Zhongnanhai incident was triggered by the Tianjin event, where He Zuoxiu, from the Chinese Science Academy, published an article titled “I do not agree with adolescents practicing qigong” in Science and Technology for Youth (published by Tianjin Education College). In the article, he fabricated stories about Falun Gong leading to mental illness, and implied that Falun Gong could become an organization similar to the Boxers’, who led a rebellion in the 19th century that destroyed the nation. Many Falun Gong practitioners were disturbed by this spreading of untruths. With no alternative, some practitioners used the government approved approach of appealing to related organizations to correct the false accusations. On April 18, they went to Tianjin Education College and other related offices to report the facts about Falun Gong. This article will explain later why there was no other way to report such accusations.

It was an utter shock when the Tianjin PSB showed up to harass practitioners. They refused to communicate with practitioners appropriately. Instead, they sent people to beat some of the practitioners. On April 23, they started to disperse people and detain them, which eventually blocked the only channel Falun Gong practitioners had for reporting the truth to the government. Practitioners turned to Beijing on April 25 to plead to a higher authority. They asked for the release of the innocent people, for an open and legal environment in which to exercise, and for the easing of the pressure that the government had put on Falun Gong practitioners for a long time.

Initially, practitioners gathered around Zhongnanhai. Later, several policemen told them that one place was not safe, and that another place was off limits. Following these rules, the practitioners divided into two groups that circled Zhongnanhai. Later, He Zuoxiu arrived, trying to disturb the practitioners; but no one responded to him.

According to a witness, on the evening of April 24, some practitioners working in the public security department had already submitted their name cards to Zhongnanhai, asking for a chance to report the situation. There was no response. At 9 p.m., practitioners started to gather on Fuyou Street near Zhongnanhai, some with luggage, some with meditation mats. Most of them were from cities outside of Beijing.

At 6 a.m. on April 25, a witness went to the north entrance of Fuyou Street, and discovered that policemen were blocking the way to Zhongnanhai. None of the practitioners attempted to force their way through, but they witnessed an astonishing scene. Police first led the practitioners from the east side of the street to the west side, and then directed them to walk south towards Zhongnanhai. Meanwhile, another group came from the opposite direction, also led by police, and both groups met right outside the main entrance of Zhongnanhai. According to the media, there were over 10,000 practitioners gathered outside Zhongnanhai.

Soon there were practitioners approaching from all directions. They filled all the sidewalks outside of Zhongnanhai. But the traffic was not blocked at all; even the route for the handicapped people remained clear. There were 70-year-old and 80-year-old men and women, pregnant women who were near the end of their term, and mothers holding their newborn babies. Many of them hardly ate any food or drank any water to reduce the time needed for using the restroom. No one knew where others came from. They “came from nowhere, disappeared to nowhere.”

On the surface, the Zhongnanhai incident seemed to be triggered by the Tianjin incident and an anti-Falun Gong article from He Zuoxiu. In fact, the original reason for such incidents stemmed from the central authorities’ anxiety about the unprecedented popularity of Falun Gong. Seven years after Mr. Li’s first public lecture in 1992, there were about 70 to 100 million practitioners in Mainland China. This is to say that understanding the incident is very complex, as it had both long term and short term causes, and was related to political struggles inside the Communist Party.

A. Long-Term and Short-Term Causes

The long-term cause of the Zhongnanhai incident was the ongoing suppression of Falun Gong. With the rapid spreading of Falun Gong, the central authority was afraid of losing its control over the people. The government had therefore been attempting to undermine Falun Gong through the media, by banning books, by conducting underground investigations, and by disrupting practice sites in recent years. The government had already been attempting to destroy the practitioners’ environment for practicing Falun Gong. There was no other way to express the facts about the incidents and the practice than to appeal to central authorities. The April 25 gathering at Zhongnanhai aimed at doing just this.

The central authorities began their criticism of Falun Gong on June 17, 1996. On that day, the Guangming Daily (the official voice of the State Council, articles that reflect only the opinions of government officials) published an article criticizing Falun Gong as an “anti-science” and “superstitious” practice, and labeled its practitioners as “stupid” people.

On July 24, 1996, the Chinese News Publishing Office issued a notice about “immediately confiscating five books, including China Falun Gong”^[2] nationwide. Following that, dozens of newspapers and magazines started to join the campaign against Falun Gong. Some official scholars such as He Zuoxiu were also active in the campaign. They used their being considered “scientists” to slander Falun Gong. The Central Office of National Publication and Central Propaganda Ministry also ordered all publishing companies not to publish books related to Falun Gong.

Some official departments started investigating Falun Gong at the beginning of 1997. The Public Security Ministry deployed a nationwide investigation of Falun Gong, using the rationale that Falun Gong fit into the category of so-called illegal religious activities. Since Falun Gong practice contains no such activities, this investigation found nothing to prosecute. Related official departments then formed a team to monitor Falun Gong. Meanwhile, they ordered all Physical Education departments to investigate Falun Gong activities. Although all responses from PE departments were positive, and although their reports indicated that Falun Gong is an activity that improves health, cures illnesses, and has no illegal religious elements, the Public Security Ministry nonetheless insisted that a close monitoring of Falun Gong activities was necessary.

On July 21, 1998, some official departments again issued a “Notice for conducting investigation against Falun Gong”, insisting that Mr. Li was spreading an evil cult and that Falun Gong key members were conducting criminal activities. The notice also ordered all local public security and political protection departments to investigate the internal activities of these people and to look for evidence of any crimes within Falun Gong. It is apparent that the public security departments had labeled Falun Gong as engaging in criminal activities, without any evidence. This was, in other words, an incident of conviction before investigation.

After this document was issued, many local PSB’s announced that Falun Gong activities were considered illegal assemblies. They dispersed group practices, confiscated the private property of practitioners, and detained, arrested, beat, and verbally abused Falun Gong practitioners. In some areas, practitioners were fined, and Falun Gong related books were banned. Practitioners tried many times to appeal through normal channels, but were not successful.

In Mainland China there is only one official voice, so many articles had been published that criticized, cursed, and slandered Falun Gong in the years prior to the official ban. No articles defending Falun Gong were able to be published. Under these conditions where no other options were available, Falun Gong practitioners went to Zhongnanhai, asking the government to give them an unrestricted environment in which to practice. In short, the Zhongnanhai appeal was caused by the long-term slandering that Falun Gong had suffered at the hands of the government. In addition, practitioners had no other venue for reporting the facts in Mainland China--there is no other way to practice freedom of speech.

The other, short-term reason for appealing to Zhongnanhai, as mentioned above, was to ask for the release of the practitioners arrested in the Tianjin incident. The attempt to report that incident to authorities in Tianjin backfired and the Tianjin PSB detained 45 practitioners. In Mainland China, an appeal is not only a legally protected right, but also the only channel that practitioners can use to report the facts. The practitioners’ gathering in Beijing was a legal appeal, the only anomaly was that the number of people that attended was so large.

B. Political Causes

The government’s suppression, which led to the Zhongnanhai incident, was likely related to political struggles among high-level officials. Different groups within the central government held a variety of views on Falun Gong. Among them, a few tried to capitalize on destroying Falun Gong in order to advance their political careers. According to a report from the Central News Agency (5/4 from Taipei), the government’s political scheme behind the April 25 incident could be described as a “release before capturing” and a “ruse of suffering [by the government] before charging [against Falun Gong]”. The purpose was to make Zhongnanhai appear to feel pressure, and then to outlaw Falun Gong, allowing the government to demonstrate its might in demolishing this so-called threat.

As early as 1996, the rapid development of Falun Gong was noticed by some departments in the central government. Luo Gan, Secretary General of the State Council at the time, ordered the Public Security Ministry to conduct a secret investigation. Personnel in the public security system participated undercover in various Falun Gong activities, but no evidence of criminal conduct was seen.

Even with the lack of evidence, there were still two opinions inside the government about how to deal with Falun Gong. One side thought that Falun Gong was a public security issue and not a political problem. Therefore, it should not be banned. The other side worried about the increasing popularity and influence of Falun Gong, which could potentially be a force opposing the Communist Party regime. They insisted on banning it. Luo Gan, Secretary of the Central Committee of Political and Legal Affairs in early 1998, actively advocated the banning of Falun Gong. Prime Minister Zhu Rongji rejected the idea, and President Jiang Zemin did not express an opinion.

Luo Gan is a relative of He Zuoxiu of the Chinese Science Academy. Zuoxiu had used the media to openly slander Falun Gong, and tried to create conflict between Falun Gong and the central government. His purpose was to create incidents that would lead all groups in the Communist Party to agree that outlawing Falun Gong was correct and necessary. After the April 25 incident, Luo Gan reported that Falun Gong had tens of millions of followers, possessed a religious and superstitious nature, and that Mr. Li, who currently lives in New York, was suspected of having a complex network of international connections. He reported that Falun Gong was, therefore, a potential threat to social stability. These opinions were even widely distributed to Hong Kong and the international media, intending to exaggerate the potential “threat” of Falun Gong. How could those practitioners, without having an organization, appear to be “well organized and directed”? Could this be why public security officers pretended to be practitioners? Three days before the Zhongnanhai appeal, the public security departments had already received information of the appeal and had started to monitor the situation closely. They did not report this information at the time before the incident, but preferred to take the blame afterwards. Wasn’t this a “ruse of suffering before charging”?

Other evidence showed that the April 25 incident was a trap set up by the public security personnel, and innocent Falun Gong practitioners stepped into the trap before they knew it. The next part will analyze this topic.

3. Some Clarifications

A. Surrounding Zhongnanhai was the Chinese Security Department’s Trick

It is claimed that Falun Gong practitioners “surrounded” Zhongnanhai because they formed a circle around the area. In fact, this arrangement was set up by the Security Department. In the first part, we shared an eyewitness description of the events. He stated that the Falun Gong practitioners were led by police to take two routes that converged at the front entrance of Zhongnanhai and formed a circle. Even as that witness was telling us the facts, he did not notice that the police had tricked the people. He simply stated what he had seen. Many people, including Falun Gong practitioners, were not aware of the situation after reading his description. It wasn’t until June 24 that some practitioners pointed out this plot in an article they published on the Internet.

Three days before the April 25 incident, the Security Department had received information and was closely monitoring the situation. They chose not to report the information and to rather take the criticism afterwards. It was also reported that when He Zuoxiu was asked to comment on the incident, he said, “For the time being, I will not comment because I do not want to mess up the whole arrangement.”^[3]

B. Falun Gong Practitioners Went to Beijing Only to Make an Appeal

Practitioners went to Beijing and Tianjin because there was no other way to report the truth. The approach they took is called “appealing,” which is a right protected by Chinese law. According to Item 41 in the “People’s Republic of China Constitution ,” citizens have the right to submit criticism of and suggestions for any national institutions and staff. Citizens have the right to appeal to, file suit, or speak up to national institutions regarding any conduct of institutions or staff that violates the law or fails to fulfill responsibilities. It is stated in the 10th Code of the Chinese “Appealing Codes” that issues in the appealing process should be submitted to related executive departments, or to one level higher, as these departments have the legal right to make decisions.

The gatherings of Falun Gong practitioners in Tianjin and Zhongnanhai should not be considered demonstrations. After the Tianjin PSB arrested practitioners on April 23, some practitioners gathered at the Office of Appeals of the Tianjin City government just to appeal and present the facts. The appeal was not well received, however. Instead, about 40 more people were arrested. As a result, Falun Gong practitioners had to appeal to the level above the Tianjin City government, which is the central government in Beijing. Practitioners didn’t wander around the streets, so it can’t be called a parade. They didn’t have banners or signs, so it can’t be called a demonstration. In China, appealing does not require application to the PSB. Each practitioner just represents himself, reporting the unjust treatment he or his friends and relatives have experienced. The appeals in Tianjin and Beijing did not violate any regulations.

Mr. Li has always taught Falun Gong practitioners that they must not violate the law . Anyone genuine practitioner would abide by this teaching, one of the principles of Falun Gong, and would not violate the law. Therefore, throughout the incidents, practitioners have always maintained peaceful and kind conduct. They were orderly and cooperated with the arrangements and directions of the police. They stood where the personnel from the Office of Appeals and the traffic police told them to, waiting to be received by officials. The whole process did not involve any signs or slogans, nor did it block the traffic. Practitioners even picked up all the trash on the ground in the area. Such details were reported by international media.

C. The Zhongnanhai Gathering Was Not Planned by Mr. Li or Any Genuine Falun Gong Practitioner

In the ten thousand-word report prepared by the Chinese PSB, Mr. Li was accused of being in Beijing the day before April 25, supposedly orchestrating the whole incident behind the scenes. In fact, Mr. Li passed through Beijing on his way to Australia to attend a Falun Gong conference, but was not in Beijing on that day. To reduce the cost of his airline ticket, he had layovers in Beijing and Hong Kong. He stayed for 48 hours in Beijing during the transfer and left Beijing on April 24 for Hong Kong. The Chinese government claims that this was not an accident and that Mr. Li was planning things while using the excuse of transferring airplanes.

However, there are also people wondering whether the Zhongnanhai incident was planned by a few people from the public security departments. We do not know for certain, neither do we want to speculate about who planned the Zhongnanhai incident. We would simply like to question the false accusation that Mr. Li arranged it.

The Chinese government wondered how, without any organization, so many people arrived at Zhongnanhai at the same time. In fact, it was largely due to practitioners’ personal networking and exercise environment. The spread of Falun Gong is mostly done by individual practitioners who, after personally benefiting from it, tell their friends and families. Many people practice in parks with groups. Without having an organization, and without anyone official to plan it, any activities would still have been known by many people in a short period of time through this type of personal network.

D. How 10,000 Can Gather Without Being “Organized”

One can easily imagine a person in this situation thinking, “I can’t appear on TV, get a news article published, or get anyone to tell my side of the story. I feel very strongly about it, so I’ll just go express my opinion.” If we can imagine one person feeling this way, can we imagine two? Why not three individuals thinking this way?

Where those who are genuinely perplexed by the Zhongnanhai gathering get tripped up is with the number 10,000. It is easy to imagine one, two, or three people deciding to go appeal. But 10,000--that seems necessarily coordinated and planned. But why so? We are really talking about individuals making individual decisions. Yes, there were a lot of individuals at Zhongnanhai, yet there are a lot of individuals who practice Falun Gong, quite a lot. Most did not go. If those who practice Falun Gong had leaders that were coordinating them to make a grand statement, would we expect only 10,000? Consider that there were then between 70-100 million people practicing Falun Gong in China. We have seen in the oppression that followed Zhongnanhai (and that continues now) that practitioners have been willing to subject themselves to detention, arrest, beatings, and physical abuse in order to let the facts be known. They have demonstrated willingness to lose their jobs, opportunity for education, social standing, and economic security in order to uphold their belief in the principles of Falun Gong. With such tenacious dedication to Falun Gong, if they had leaders orchestrating a grand movement--a big, politically-bold one--would we expect to see a mere .01% of this determined “membership” turn out? Wouldn’t an orchestrated movement allow time for countless non-locals to arrive for the event? Having .01% turn out to make a statement for something that so upset those people indicates that the Zhongnanhai incident was certainly not an orchestrated campaign.

Still, people have trouble imagining so many people going to Zhongnanhai on their own. Could they really have made that decision independently? One need only recall that in 1980, spontaneous gatherings in Europe cropped up all over the country and in many other parts of the world to rally for the slain John Lennon. People appeared with banners, drawings, candles, music and memorabilia. Who organized this? What committee dispatched them? Who distributed the photos and records they carried? We know, of course, that these were people spontaneously following their hearts. Such was the case at Zhongnanhai.

Some remark, “Well, the discipline at Zhongnanhai was described as being higher than that of the official police on the scene. This takes training.” Yes, it would take extensive training to get a large crowd to be that disciplined. But what if each individual had been disciplining him or herself every day for years--learning principles and improving him or herself until impulsive emotional responses were gone, learning to consider others first, and training to be a better and better person in every regard? Falun Gong is a serious practice. Every one of those people at Zhongnanhai was simply manifesting what they had learned in Falun Gong, following the principles that had spiritually improved, moved, and elevated them. This is the standard of behavior they try to maintain every day--in their homes, workplaces, schools, and so on. Why should their behavior at Zhongnanhai be any different? If one examines it carefully, it is not so hard to understand. It is much easier for an individual to be disciplined than a crowd. This was a crowd of disciplined individuals. No traffic was disrupted, no slogans chanted, no banners or signs waved, and nobody harassed or intimidated. The Falun Gong practitioners not only picked up their own litter, they picked up the cigarette butts flicked by police officers. This was clearly no political protest.

4. Summary: Who Has Actually “Disrupted Social Stability”?

The Zhongnanhai incident originated from a legal attempt to appeal to a government agency. Why was there such a tragic result? It was surely not expected by those well-intentioned and peaceful Falun Gong practitioners who went to the appealing offices. If we had not read through so much information and tried to find clues, we would not have been able to identify the causes of the incident. The Zhongnanhai incident was not planned by Mr. Li Hongzhi or by any other genuine Falun Dafa practitioner. Since the central authority has been worried about the large numbers of Falun Gong practitioners, and since they have refused to believe that Falun Gong would not cause any political problems, they obviously sought a way to eliminate Falun Gong. It was an opportunity for the central authority to suppress and prosecute Falun Gong. The Zhongnanhai incident created the perfect situation for execution of their plans.

One CCTV program alleged that, after beginning to practice Falun Gong, one man turned his back on his family and relatives, and instead got obsessed with doing the exercises day and night. In so doing, this man, in fact, had already deviated far from a basic principle of Falun Gong practice, which is to be a normal family member and worker, without ever going to extremes in one’s practice. Mr. Li has, in many of his lectures, repeatedly reminded practitioners of the importance of the relationships between self-cultivation and work, and between self-cultivation and family life, asking that all practitioners accord their practice of Falun Gong to the activities of normal, everyday life. For example, Mr. Li states in Zhuan Falun, “Of course, during cultivation in the society of common people, we should respect parents, guide our children, and try to be good and kind towards others under all circumstances, not to mention our relatives. We should treat everyone the same, be nice to both parents and children, and be considerate toward others in everything we do. Such a heart will be unselfish, kind and benevolent.” The above so-called Falun Gong practitioner is not a genuine practitioner, because he actually did not comply with the standards of Falun Gong whatsoever.

Practitioners of Falun Gong are known for being exemplary citizens. In the workplace, they are diligent, committed, and honest workers, are not concerned with personal gains or losses, are strict with themselves, and kind and considerate toward others. Many Falun Gong practitioners have been well known as the best workers in their work units. In the city of Changchun, there was a saying that circulated among employers who were hiring, “We will hire whoever is practicing Falun Gong, because we wish our minds to be at ease.” At home, practitioners are good husbands, good wives, and good children, always working to ensure a peaceful and harmonious family life. These qualities do not disrupt social order, but ensure it.

Mr. Li has clearly stated, “All Falun Gong cultivators have to strictly obey the laws of various countries. Any behaviors that violate the policies and laws of a country are prohibited by the virtues of Falun Gong.” Emphasis on compassion, harmony and serenity ensure a society that runs smoothly, matching well the Chinese Government’s desire to have “Stability above all else.” No matter whether they are on the street, at work, or with their families, all Falun Gong practitioners try their best to help others and be a positive part of society. Rather than praising and embracing Falun Gong’s positive impact on society, the government has instead chased millions and millions of good people to the opposite side of the government and has stirred up strife, causing great social unrest. Parents have been hauled off to jails or sent to labor camps, leaving their kids behind, sometimes even unattended. Families and communities have been physically ripped apart by the Chinese Government’s persecution. Mother’s have been made to slander their daughters, sons to turn in their fathers, and neighbors to police and report on one another. Literally, nobody has been allowed to remain neutral. Countless students have been kicked out of school for practicing Falun Gong. Numerous adults have been dismissed from work and heavily fined for not renouncing their practice. Who then, we ask the Chinese Government, has disrupted social stability? If Falun Gong had, somehow, in some minor way disrupted social stability (and this has yet to be shown at all), then the Chinese Government has clearly, objectively outdone the practice one-hundred fold.