Commentary
The CCP’s goal is to crush the spirits of the Chinese people, to remove all vestiges of pre-communist-era traditions from Chinese society that have been arbitrarily determined to threaten the CCP’s totalitarian rule, and to psychologically condition Chinese citizens to reject any independent thoughts, ideologies, and philosophies that the CCP does not approve. Toward that end, the Falun Gong and Shen Yun are squarely in the CCP’s sights.
CCP Fears Falun Gong
Founded in 1992 by Li Hongzhi, Falun Gong is “rooted in Buddhist tradition” and “consists of two main components: self-improvement through the study of teachings, and gentle exercises and meditation,” according to Falundafa.org.
“Its teachings encourage learners to let go of unhealthy attachments as they strive to attune their lives to the underlying qualities of the universe: Truth, Compassion, and Forbearance,” reads the website’s description of the practice.
Falun Gong features meditation and gentle exercises, drawing similarities to yoga and tai chi, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center.
“People who practice Falun Dafa often find it to be life-changing,” according to Falundafa.org. “Many experience dramatic health benefits as well as newfound energy, mental clarity, and stress relief.”
No wonder the Chinese flocked to the practice, having endured decades of the CCP’s arbitrary purges, such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution!
The number of Falun Gong practitioners in China exploded into the 1990s, with some estimates reaching 100 million by the decade’s end. The CCP, under the late Jiang Zemin, perceived Falun Gong as a direct threat to its one-party rule since the Party could not directly control the practice. In July 1999, the CCP banned Falun Gong and initiated a propaganda and persecution campaign to eradicate the group, which continues to this very day.
It’s important to note that before the brutal persecution began, Falun Gong received official recognition. For example, in 1993, China’s Ministry of Public Security’s official newspaper, The People’s Public Security News, commended Mr. Li for his efforts “in safeguarding social order and security, and in promoting rectitude in society,” according to Falun Dafa Information Center.
An official from China’s National Sports Commission told U.S. News & World Report that Falun Dafa “can save each person 1,000 yuan in annual medical fees,“ adding, ”If 100 million people are practicing it, that’s 100 billion yuan saved per year in medical fees,” the Center reported.
CCP Focuses on Shen Yun
The Shen Yun Performing Arts Company was founded in 2006 by a group of elite Chinese artists in New York. The company says that many of its artists “escaped persecution in China at the hands of a totalitarian regime that is at war with past traditions, religion, and its own history.”
“Shen Yun’s founders knew that this revival could only be launched in a free society.”
Anyone who has attended a Shen Yun (which translates to “divine beings dancing”) performance will understand the psychologically mesmerizing impact of the choreography, music, the many variants of colorful traditional costumes, visual effects, and graceful movements of the dancers interwoven to convey stories/vignettes evocative of the wonders of pre-CCP Chinese culture. It’s no wonder that Xi and his minions are going all out to try to discredit and destroy Shen Yun!
Shen Yun is a dance company, and yet the Chinese regime is orchestrating a multi-dimensional whole-of-government campaign against a group of dancers and musicians (!) that it perceives to be a dire threat to the CCP. This is not what civilized countries do, especially one that continually crows about its adherence to human rights principles.
This situation is unbelievable!
However, it aligns with the communist approach.
CCP Steps Up Persecution Campaign
In 2022, Chinese leader Xi Jinping implemented a secret whole-of-government strategy that empowered the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission to coordinate all domestic and international legal enforcement to specifically target the Falun Gong and Shen Yun, according to insider sources obtained by The Epoch Times.
This effort involves coordinated psychological and information warfare by Chinese agents, influence peddlers, and others managed by the United Front Work Department and the Ministry of State Security aimed at undermining the credibility of the Falun Gong and Shen Yun.
The goal appears to be to interfere with Shen Yun everywhere, including by pressuring local officials and theater management to cancel the shows.
CCP Agent Sentenced
Last month, a CCP agent who admitted to being an unregistered agent of the Chinese regime was sentenced to 20 months in prison in New York for trying to bribe an IRS official for the purpose of revoking Shen Yun’s nonprofit status.
Targeted Reporting
The CCP’s transnational suppressions appear to have now expanded to using Western media outlets with large followings to smear Shen Yun.
Despite these attacks, Shen Yun says it will “remain steadfast in our mission: to showcase the beauty, majesty, and spirituality of China’s 5,000-year-old civilization.
Concluding Thoughts
Xi has directed a whole-of-government campaign to eradicate Falun Gong and associated organizations worldwide. That campaign is also being fought on American soil. It involves information and psychological warfare, intimidation, co-opting of foreign media, physical harassment, and lawfare.
It is incredible that the resources of the gigantic Chinese regime bureaucracy are focused on suppressing and persecuting peaceful groups like the Falun Gong and Shen Yun Performing Arts Company. To their credit, the vim and vigor (and inherent cynicism and cruelty) by which the CCP’s minions attack them is a direct reflection of how much the communists fear their uplifting messages.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Please rewrite the following sentence for me.
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