January 2026 Transnational Repression Update

From December 2025 through mid-January 2026, transnational repression targeting Falun Gong and Shen Yun Performing Arts escalated significantly. This period was marked by a sharp increase in anonymous death threats, heightened diplomatic-level defamation by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime representatives, and coordinated disinformation campaigns spanning multiple continents. Taken together, these incidents reflect a sustained and multifaceted effort to disrupt Shen Yun’s global touring season, intimidate venues and staff, and stigmatize Falun Gong through impersonation, intimidation, and defamatory narratives.

Escalation of violent threats

The most prominent trend during this period was a wave of explicit death threats directed at theaters hosting Shen Yun , ticketing services, performers, staff, and related institutions across Taiwan, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Poland, Italy, Spain, Australia, and the United States. These threats frequently referenced bombings, arson, shootings, vehicle explosions, and mass-casualty scenarios, and were often tied directly to demands that Shen Yun performances be canceled. 

Quantitatively, the escalation is stark: while 10 death threats were recorded in November 2025, at least 17 were documented in December 2025—nearly double the number recorded during the same month in 2024. Notably, many threats extended beyond Shen Yun and Falun Gong to include senior public officials, with warnings of assassinations or terrorist attacks in retaliation for allowing performances to proceed.

Several illustrative examples include the following.

• On Dec. 5, 2025, an email sent to a theater in Toruń, Poland, warned that multiple remote-controlled bombs had been planted and would be detonated if the Shen Yun performance was not canceled or if a public statement was not issued by the following afternoon. On Dec. 20, an actor impersonating a prominent Chinese dissident sent an email to the same Toruń theater, threatening theater staff and their families, stating: 

“If Shen Yun performances were to take place, staff members, including their families, would be in danger; they might be kidnapped or involved in car accidents! Of course, women would certainly be raped and murdered! Please consider this carefully.”

• That same day, identical threatening language was sent to Shen Yun’s Toronto ticketing service via both its LiveChat system and official email address, indicating coordinated dissemination.

• On Dec. 28, through Shen Yun’s Taiwan ticketing LiveChat, a sender impersonating an Epoch Times editor email issued more than 330 bomb threat messages within a three-minute window, warning that explosives had been placed at a Taipei performance venue and would be detonated immediately if Shen Yun was not canceled that afternoon.

Coordinated threats using identical images

Further underscoring coordination, multiple threats targeting different individuals and institutions were accompanied by identical graphic images.

• On Jan. 8, an email sent to Shen Yun’s Taiwan ticketing service impersonated Taiwan’s Minister of the Interior and warned that Shen Yun performances would trigger severe violence, including the possible shooting of President Lai Ching-te and a vehicle-borne bomb attack on the Presidential Office.

• On the same day in the United States, the Falun Dafa Information Center received a death threat email from an address impersonating an Epoch Times editor. The message listed staff members by name and stated:

“They will see God one after another within two months, and their families will be reunited with them before God. Oh yes, I swear before Almighty God, I am not joking.”

• Three days later, a host of NTDTV—a television network founded by Falun Gong practitioners—received a death threat via email. The sender used the same email address previously employed to threaten Shen Yun’s Taiwan ticketing service on Jan. 8, warning that a fatal “accident” would occur if the host continued contact with a witness critical of the CCP’s forced organ harvesting practices. The reuse of identical images across these messages further indicates centralized coordination.

Taken together, these incidents bring the total number of anonymous death threats targeting Falun Gong and its supporters since March 2024 to 229. While no physical harm occurred, the threats illustrate sustained efforts to intimidate, smear, and destabilize Falun Gong–associated communities. All incidents have been reported to law enforcement and remain under investigation.

This surge in anonymous threats coincided with renewed diplomatic-level defamation by Chinese state representatives. On Jan. 2, 2026, the Chinese Consulate-General in Sydney issued a public statement denouncing Shen Yun and Falun Gong, portraying the performances as political manipulation rather than cultural expression. This was followed by a series of similar statements issued in quick succession: on Jan. 5 by the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom, on Jan. 6 by the Consulate-General of China in Melbourne, and on Jan. 8 by the Chinese Embassy in Denmark. Each statement echoed long-standing CCP narratives targeting Falun Gong and Shen Yun.

These official interventions align with a broader and well-documented pattern observed over the past two years. Comparable defamatory statements were issued by the Chinese Embassy in Latvia in December 2024, the Chinese Embassy in the Netherlands in January 2025, the Chinese Embassy in Argentina in November 2025, and on multiple occasions by the Chinese Consulate-General in New York throughout 2025. Collectively, these actions indicate a sustained and coordinated diplomatic campaign to discredit Shen Yun and Falun Gong internationally, operating in parallel with anonymous threats and disinformation efforts.

Alongside violent threats and diplomatic defamation, theaters and government agencies across Europe, Taiwan, and the United States received coordinated disinformation emails portraying Shen Yun as abusive, exploitative, or involved in criminal activity. These messages frequently claimed insider status—such as former performers, journalists, or human rights advocates—and relied on selectively framed media reports or fabricated affiliations.

• On Dec. 19, 2025, an anonymous individual using the name “Sophia” and claiming to be a former Shen Yun performer circulated a lengthy disinformation email to a U.K. government agency, multiple U.K. theaters, and a U.S. theater. Sent from a ProtonMail address and requesting anonymity due to alleged safety concerns, the message accused Shen Yun and Falun Gong of abuse and illegal conduct and sought to dissuade venues and authorities from supporting upcoming performances.

• Between Jan. 5 and Jan. 7, an individual using the alias “JulianJack” and a ProtonMail address sent substantively identical disinformation emails to Shen Yun–hosting theaters and presenters in several European countries, including Italy and Spain. Notably, these emails included a video attachment promoting the CCP’s propaganda narrative regarding the “Tiananmen Square self-immolation,” bearing the logo of a CCP-run website dedicated to attacking Falun Gong. 

This linkage strongly suggests involvement by a CCP proxy–related actor and reflects a coordinated attempt to sabotage Shen Yun’s reputation in addition to overt threats.

Over the past decades, the Falun Dafa Information Center has undertaken sustained efforts to document, investigate, and expose false narratives and disinformation targeting Falun Gong and its supporters. The Center has published extensive, well-documented resources addressing and debunking the claims circulated in these campaigns, including in-depth research such as An Unprecedented CCP Campaign to Sabotage Shen Yun, Eliminate Falun Gong Globally, as well as detailed factual analyses of long-standing propaganda claims, including the Immolation on Tiananmen Square. Together, these materials provide readers, venues, policymakers, and the public with verifiable evidence to critically assess and refute disinformation, and to better understand the broader pattern of transnational repression targeting Falun Gong and its supporters worldwide.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at [email protected].