Assault in Finland, Violent Threats Target Falun Gong Children

Dear Reader,

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) escalated campaign of transnational repression against Falun Gong practitioners continued over the past month.

In January, two Chinese men attacked a practitioner in Finland who was handing out materials next to a Falun Gong banner in a Helsinki park. Two local media outlets reported on the incident and the Helsinki police department confirmed it had received reports about the attack. The case is the latest in a series of assaults documented by the Falun Dafa Information Center.

Also in this issue:

• Shandong Falun Gong practitioner dies two weeks after release on medical parole.

• Radio Free Asia and other news outlets report on false bomb threat targeting Shen Yun performance at the Kennedy Center.

• More violent threats are sent to the Falun Gong community, including ones targeting children.

• Woman who filed lawsuit against Shen Yun is sued for defamation in Taiwan over false claims made in interview with CCP-linked YouTuber.

To wrap it up, we are sharing a video by an Italian practitioner talking about his experience practicing Falun Gong. He describes how the spiritual discipline transformed his life, helping him overcome unhealthy habits. He also expresses concern that unchecked media misrepresentation could turn public opinion against the peaceful practice.

FEATURE STORY

Two Chinese young men who attacked Mr. Niu in Sibelius Park, Helsinki.(Epochtimes.com)

In January 2025, a Falun Gong practitioner, Mr. Niu Guangfa, was assaulted in Helsinki’s Sibelius Park by two Chinese men. They filmed and attacked him while he was distributing informational materials. The incident, confirmed by local media and police, is part of a broader pattern of global repression against Falun Gong practitioners, with at least six similar cases reported since September 2024. The attackers attempted to seize Mr. Niu’s phone and pushed him over thirty feet before pinning him against a stone. They claimed that they had reported him to the Chinese Embassy. Fellow practitioners assisted Mr. Niu in providing police with video and audio evidence of the assault.

This was not an isolated assault, according to Minghui.org, an overseas website that compiles cases of Falun Gong persecution in China and abroad. On September 21, 2024, two local female Falun Gong practitioners experienced a similar episode in the same park.

PERSECUTION IN CHINA

Lin Jianping, Falun Gong practitioner in Shandong Province (Minghui.org)

Ms. Lin Jianping, a 63-year-old resident of Qixia City in Shandong Province, had suffered decades of persecution for practicing Falun Gong and exposing human rights abuses.

She was detained in 2022 and released due to poor health. In mid-October 2024, she was taken back into custody to serve a three-year prison term meted out in March 2023 for talking about the persecution and trying to counter CCP propaganda. While held at Shandong Province Women’s Prison, she suffered severe abuse that left her in critical condition. Fearing responsibility for her deteriorating health, prison authorities released her on medical parole on January 30, 2025. Despite receiving emergency treatment at a local hospital, she tragically died in the early hours of February 13, 2025, according to Weiquanwang, a network of volunteer Chinese citizens defending human rights.  

TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION

On February 22, Radio Free Asia published a news piece and video on a false bomb threat sent to the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and a press conference held by Shen Yun Performing Arts. On February 20, 2025, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., received an email threatening that a bomb had been placed inside the theater and would be detonated if the Shen Yun performance proceeded. The venue immediately alerted authorities and evacuated personnel, but police later confirmed the threat was a hoax, allowing the performance to continue as scheduled.

A dozen media outlets reported about the incident that day, including ABC and Fox. Radio Free Asia also included quotes from the press conference held on February 21 by Shen Yun, citing one musician recalling “As I was waiting outside in the cold, I was thinking, wow, someone actually dared to issue a bomb threat to a performing arts venue that is considered the national cultural center of the United States!” The article also cites comments from a Texas Congressman calling the bomb threats “shameless.”

TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION

In addition to the widely publicized false bomb threat sent to the Kennedy Center, six other threats were sent to Falun Gong-related websites and email addresses last week. One particularly graphic threat, sent on February 17 to four websites—dragonsprings.org, faluninfo.net, feitian.edu, and shenyunzuopin.com—threatened to kidnap and rape Falun Gong practitioners’ children “under age 10.” Two other threats targeted Dragon Springs, the headquarters of Shen Yun Performing Arts, while three were sent to theaters hosting Shen Yun performances.

Since March 2024, a total of 74 anonymous death threats have been made against Falun Gong, Shen Yun, and their supporters, with an escalating frequency since December. To date, no actual violence has occurred, but the threats nonetheless serve as an intimidation tactic and require enhanced security measures.

In November 2024, Chang Chun-ko, a Taiwan resident and former Shen Yun dancer who runs a dance studio in Taiwan, filed a civil lawsuit against New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts, alleging labor-related offenses. Raising questions about the authenticity of her claims have been her ties to Beijing Dance Academy, a CCP-run institute, and changes in her attitude towards Shen Yun from positive to negative since collaborating with BDA. Furthermore, in early February, two individuals filed civil suits against Chang and her husband over false statements made during a 2024 YouTube interview with former Chinese state media reporter Wang Zhi’an.

One of the plaintiffs, Li Bojian, a former principal dancer with Shen Yun, is suing over false claims made in the interview about his late fiancée who died in a fatal car accident, which he says inflicted immense emotional harm. The other plaintiff, Xianyuan is an associate professor at Fei Tian College and is suing Chang for making inaccurate claims about the circumstances surrounding her young son who died at a local hospital after collapsing, causing her deep emotional distress. In an August 2024 report Weaponizing Social Media, the Falun Dafa information Center cited Xianyuan’s case as an example of blatantly false claims being made in YouTube influencer broadcasts to attack Shen Yun and Falun Gong.

Davide, who began practicing Falun Dafa in 2014, describes how the practice has transformed his life, helping him overcome unhealthy habits and find direction through its principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. He expresses concern that unchecked media misrepresentation could turn public opinion against the peaceful practice, leading to potential censorship and erosion of liberties in America.