Fake Shen Yun Bomb Threats Traced to Huawei Institute in China, Threats Target Upcoming Falun Dafa Parades

Dear Reader,

For over a year, there has been a rise in violent threats targeting Falun Gong practitioners and Shen Yun Performing Arts—a U.S.-based classical Chinese dance company founded by Falun Gong practitioners. Dozens of threats of bombings, shootings, and sexual assault have been sent from anonymous emails, which have ultimately proven to be false alarms, but nevertheless serve to intimidate and raise security costs. Figuring out who is behind them has proved a challenge, but last week, Taiwanese police appeared to make a breakthrough.

Since Shen Yun began its tour in Taiwan last month, at least 13 death threats have come to light, some even targeting local officials. Despite the culprits using foreign virtual private networks (VPNs) to conceal their identities, Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) traced the source to Huawei Research Institute in Xi’an, China, linking the threats to the Chinese tech giant, which has close ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). This marks the first time local authorities have confirmed a direct link between these threats and the CCP.

Even as the regime’s transnational repression campaign against Falun Gong intensifies, practitioners in China continue to face life-threatening persecution.

Also in this issue:

• A 79-Year-Old Falun Gong practitioner dies amid ongoing police harassment in Sichuan Province.

• A new research report exposes misleading coverage of Shen Yun by Dutch media.

• Violent threats target upcoming Falun Dafa parades.

• An Australian college student advocates for his father’s freedom from Chinese persecution.

Finally, we’re sharing an interview video where I discuss the recent report from Taiwan tracing death threats against Shen Yun to a Chinese tech entity.

FEATURE STORY

Screenshot of the homepage of Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) website, taken on April 9, 2025. (Faluninfo)

What’s new? 

Since Shen Yun Performing Arts started touring Taiwan tour in March, at least 13 bomb and death threats have been reported, some targeting not only the classical Chinese dance company but also local officials. Taiwan’s CIB traced these threats to the Huawei Research Institute in Xi’an, China, according to a report from the Liberty Times, one of Taiwan’s leading news outlets. According to the paper:

“Although the perpetrators used foreign VPNs to disguise their locations, with IP addresses traced to various countries, the CIB’s cybercrime unit, along with other units, compiled data and traced the source back to Xi’an, China. The most critical clue pointed to the Huawei Research Institute in the region, and investigators concluded that suspects associated with Huawei might be involved in the threats.”

At the request of the Falun Dafa Information Center, a source in Taiwan contacted the police bureau, which confirmed the veracity of the news report.

Why does it matter? 

This is the first concrete evidence linking such threats to a CCP-affiliated entity.

Since March 2024, Shen Yun Performing Arts, its headquarters, and other Falun Gong practitioners have been subjected to over 80 anonymous threats of violence, including graphic depictions of bombings, shootings, and sexual assaults. Perpetrators have employed VPNs to mask their locations and often impersonated either fabricated identities or real individuals, including those of Chinese dissidents and Taiwanese officials, to evade detection. By using these evasive tactics, they hindered investigations and accountability. The recent tracing of threats to the Huawei Research Institute in Xi’an provides concrete evidence of a coordinated effort to disrupt Shen Yun’s global tour and highlights the need for continued vigilance and accountability.

What else do you need to know?

The threats targeting Falun Gong and Shen Yun, typically sent via email or website contact forms, have not resulted in actual violence but serve to intimidate performers and audiences, deter attendance, and increase security costs.

PERSECUTION IN CHINA

Ms. Chen Zhilian, a 79-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Leshan City, Sichuan Province, died on March 2, 2025, following years of persecution by Chinese authorities. After beginning her practice in 1998, she faced multiple detentions for her beliefs, including a six-year prison term starting in 2003, during which she endured severe mistreatment. In 2018, she was arrested again for carrying Falun Gong materials and sentenced to three and a half years in prison. While incarcerated, she suffered a fractured skull and intracranial hemorrhaging due to abuse by prison guards.

After her release in late 2021, Ms. Chen’s health deteriorated, and she remained under constant surveillance. Officers from the Linjiang Police Station frequently visited her home, questioning her about her continued practice of Falun Gong, even though she was bedridden. Her case reflects a broader pattern of persecution; in March 2025 alone, 13 Falun Gong practitioners reportedly died after enduring prolonged harassment and imprisonment.

TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION

A recent report by EU-China Focus, an NGO monitoring EU-China relations, highlights concerns over Dutch media coverage of Shen Yun Performing Arts. The report exposes six Dutch media outlets that published misleading articles on January 16, coinciding with Shen Yun’s performance in The Hague.

The report identifies three primary concerns regarding the misleading nature of the articles. First, the media outlets presented allegations against Shen Yun as established facts, despite ongoing investigations and the absence of legal conclusions. Second, the articles emphasized accusations while neglecting or superficially summarizing responses from Shen Yun and Falun Gong practitioners, leading to a distorted narrative. Lastly, the Dutch media echoed The New York Times‘ position without scrutiny, relying on statements from a few discontented individuals and omitting perspectives from other performers and audience members.

The report suggests that, regardless of direct CCP involvement, the “near-simultaneous publication of these reports effectively served the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) agenda of discrediting Shen Yun and Falun Gong abroad.” It concludes that “such reporting violates journalistic ethics and professional standards, misleads the public, and undermines the credibility of Dutch media.”

TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION

From March 27 to 30, three threatening email or online messages were sent to the Falun Dafa Information Center and a website selling Shen Yun-related merchandise. The three identical messages sent in Chinese warned that “April 25th will be a disastrous day for Falun Dafa members” and that “grenades and petrol bombs will be thrown at the parade and guns will be fired.” April 25th is a date commemorated by Falun Dafa practitioners around the world to remember a peaceful appeal that took place in Beijing in 1999 as believers responded to escalating harassment and asked the Chinese regime for freedom to practice. Practitioners in many cities around the world, including New York City, hold parades on the occasion. As with other threats targeting Falun Gong and Shen Yun, this one is likely a false alarm, but security precautions were taken nonetheless.

Separately, on March 28, for over an hour Shen Yun’s official website suffered a Distributed Denial of Service  (DDoS) attack, according to a blog entry by Leeshai Lemish, an emcee for Shen Yun Performing Arts who tracks interference attempts facing the group. According to the post, “For over an hour, between 12:13-1:25pm EST, some 10,000 distinct IPs from all over the world were manipulated to attack www.ShenYunPerformingArts.org using the DDoS technique. This is classified as a large-scale form of cybercrime and significantly slowed down the site’s operations. By 1:25pm, the website’s firewall blocked all attacking IPs and the site returned to normal.”.

Eric Jia (R) in an event to raise awareness of the persecution of Falun Gong in China. (Yan Nan/The Epoch Times)

Eric Jia, an Australian university student, has been actively advocating for his father, Ye Jia, who has faced severe persecution in China due to his commitment to Falun Dafa. Eric and his mother, Chunli Liu, fled to Australia in 2012 when he was just 11 years old, leaving behind Ye, who was imprisoned for his beliefs. Ye’s steadfast dedication to Falun Dafa—a spiritual practice centered on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance—resulted in multiple arrests, forced homelessness, and an eight-year prison sentence marked by solitary confinement and torture. Although he was released in 2016, Ye was re-arrested in 2017 and subjected to continued mistreatment. Since then, Eric has been courageously raising awareness about his family’s ordeal, sharing their story through media outlets and appealing to lawmakers and international bodies for support.

Originally published in 2022, this article recounts Mr. Jia’s release on December 21 of that year. Despite his release, his family remains separated—Chinese authorities have confiscated Ye Jia’s passport. We at the Falun Dafa Information Center remain committed to supporting Eric and others like him in their efforts to expose the ongoing human rights abuses faced by Falun Dafa practitioners in China.

Levi Browde, Executive Director of the Falun Dafa Information Center, spoke with NTD about the latest case in a series of bomb threats targeting Shen Yun Performing Arts.

Mr. Browde explained that bomb threats against Shen Yun have persisted for over a year, with perpetrators using VPNs and other anonymizing methods to conceal their identities. In one notable case, Taiwanese authorities traced a threat to a building in Shaanxi Province linked to Chinese tech giant Huawei. He characterized these tactics as part of a broader CCP-led campaign, employing state-run and state-affiliated entities to sabotage Shen Yun and other groups criticizing the regime.