Chinese Man Harasses Falun Gong Rally in Philadelphia, Hot Mic Exchange Renews Calls for U.S. Action Against Beijing’s Forced Organ Harvesting

Dear Reader,

At a peaceful rally in Philadelphia’s Chinatown held by Falun Gong practitioners on Aug. 30, a man repeatedly harassed participants, shouting profanities in English and Mandarin, and revving his motorcycle to disrupt speeches. The rally was held to commemorate the many Chinese people who have renounced their affiliation with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) via the Tuidang movement. Organizers viewed the disruption as part of a broader pattern of transnational repression by the CCP, which has targeted Falun Gong practitioners and Tuidang volunteers abroad with bodily harm and online death threats promising large-scale violence.

Also in this issue:

• References to immortality in a conversation between CCP leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin drew attention to China’s organ harvesting abuses.

• A nearly 90-year-old man was jailed in Harbin’s Xinkang Prison in August 2025 for practicing Falun Gong.

• A series of laws came into effect Sept 1 in Texas that criminalize transnational repression and aim to protect Texans against threats from hostile foreign adversaries, including China.

Finally, we’re pleased to share a short video featuring a recent Falun Gong parade in Brooklyn, celebrating 450 million Chinese people renouncing the CCP and its affiliated organizations.

FEATURE STORY

What’s new? 

At a peaceful Tuidang rally in Philadelphia’s Chinatown on Aug. 30, a Chinese man repeatedly harassed participants, speaking in both English and Mandarin. Witnesses say he shouted profanities, made offensive gestures, and revved his motorcycle to drown out speeches, circling the rally over and over. Community members said this was the first incident of its kind at their Philadelphia events.

“We were exercising our right to free expression in a peaceful way,” said one rally participant. “It’s troubling to see someone trying to silence that through hostility.”

Why does it matter? 

Organizers say the harassment was especially concerning because the Tuidang movement is rooted in peaceful expression—helping people recognize the CCP’s repressive nature and watch them make their own decision to sever ties. They view the incident as part of a broader pattern of transnational repression by the CCP.

In recent weeks, Falun Gong practitioners and Tuidang volunteers have faced threats and harassment in Malaysia, Finland, and online. Throughout August the Falun Dafa Information Center documented at least seven death threats directed at practitioners and their supporters. One message threatened large-scale violence:

“Within one month at the shortest, and up to six months at the longest, all Falun Gong exhibition booths worldwide will be set on fire, and Falun Gong practitioners will be shot dead! All Falun Gong supporters worldwide will be attacked, with family members endangered, kidnapped and killed, gang-raped, homes set ablaze, or subjected to explosions!”

What else do you need to know?

The event included citations from the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and Philadelphia City Council, honoring the Tuidang movement for helping millions leave CCP-affiliated groups such as the Communist Youth League and Young Pioneers.

Despite the disruption, participants displayed banners, distributed flyers, and spoke with passersby about both the Tuidang movement and the CCP’s persecution of millions of Falun Gong practitioners. By the close of the event, 49 Chinese individuals had publicly renounced the CCP, contributing to a growing wave of withdrawals that continues to resonate with human rights advocates across the United States.

FORCED ORGAN HARVESTING IN CHINA

On Sept. 3, a hot mic captured CCP leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin casually discussing organ transplants and longevity during a World War II commemoration parade in Beijing. Broadcast live through Chinese state media, the exchange—where Xi noted, “at 70 you are still a child” and Putin suggested that continuous organ transplants might even bring “immortality”—immediately drew global concern. China’s massive transplant industry has long been dogged by allegations of sourcing organs from prisoners of conscience, particularly Falun Gong practitioners, fueling exponential growth in transplant surgeries.

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), who has long led efforts against forced organ harvesting, said the exchange underscored the urgency of addressing Beijing’s alleged abuses. “My own argument has been that from Xi Jinping on down, anybody in the higher echelon especially in the Chinese Communist Party will look to steal somebody else’s internal organs, through coercion, through death, to extend their life,” Smith said. “I can’t think of a more selfish and barbaric act.”

He renewed his call for the U.S. Senate to pass legislations imposing stronger oversight and sanctions on forced organ harvesting practices in China. Two bills, including Falun Gong Protection Act, which passed the House of Representatives in May, are now awaiting Senate action.

Petition to the United States Congress to Pass the Falun Gong Protection Act

PERSECUTION IN CHINA

In August 2024, 87-year-old Zhao Yungu, a retired factory worker and veteran Falun Gong practitioner from Heilongjiang Province, China, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison, according to an August 26 report from Bitter Winter, an online magazine focused on religious persecution. Despite his frailty and advanced age, Zhao was forcibly taken from his home, subjected to medical examinations, and imprisoned in Harbin’s Xinkang Prison in August 2025. His “crime” was nothing more than practicing Falun Gong, a meditation discipline banned by the Chinese Communist Party in 1999. Zhao’s wife, Liu Shumei, also faced years of harassment and died in 2019 after repeated persecution, making Zhao’s continued practice a quiet act of defiance against relentless state pressure.

Zhao’s case highlights the Chinese regime’s long-running campaign of repression against Falun Gong, where ordinary citizens have been detained, fined, and tortured under vague charges such as “undermining law enforcement.”

NEWS

On Sept. 1, Texas brought into force a series of laws to protect Texans against threats from hostile foreign adversaries, including China.

The centerpiece is Senate Bill 1349, which creates new criminal offenses for transnational repression and unauthorized enforcement of foreign law. The measure targets agents of foreign governments or terrorist organizations who harass, intimidate, or attempt to silence Texans from exercising their right to free speech. It also mandates training for law enforcement to recognize and respond to such threats.

Other laws that came into effect the same day include House Bill 128, which bars sister-city agreements with foreign adversaries while promoting ties with U.S. allies, and Senate Bill 17, which prohibits foreign nationals and entities from adversarial nations from acquiring Texas real estate. Together, these measures form a broad strategy to curb foreign influence and safeguard civil liberties, making Texas a leading state in countering transnational repression.

Mr. Matthew Robertson, a doctoral candidate at the Australian National University (Canberra) and co-author of the study “Execution by Organ Procurement: Breaching the Dead Donor Rule in China” in the American Journal of Transplantation, testified before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China in March 2024.

His written testimony presents compelling evidence that China’s organ transplantation system was historically built via exploitation and human rights abuses, including trafficking, extrajudicial killings, and state-driven organ markets. Despite declarations of reform, systemic opacity and data manipulation persist. Robertson urged decisive U.S. actions—through investigation, oversight, sanctions, diplomacy, and accountability—to confront and dismantle this illicit system.

In an opening background section, Robertson observed, “Chinese-language sources reveal that the two key shifts in China’s transplant sector beginning in 2000 were volume and waiting times: tens of thousands of transplants were performed annually, many on an on-demand basis, coinciding with a gradual and then sudden drop in judicial executions. The use of political prisoners as an organ source, particularly Falun Gong adherents incarcerated en masse from July 1999, is the only plausible explanation for this outcome.”

On Sept. 7, over a thousand Falun Gong practitioners and supporters from the greater New York area braved wind and rain to hold a parade along Eighth Avenue in Brooklyn—home to the third-largest Chinese community in New York City. They shared the messages of “Falun Dafa is good” and “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” with local residents and expressed their gratitude for the recent passage of the Falun Gong Protection Act by the U.S. House of Representatives.

Cynthia Sun, a researcher at the Falun Dafa Information Center, participated in the parade, celebrating the 450 million Chinese people renouncing the CCP and its affiliated organizations.