New Report: Nationwide Survey Documents Beijing’s Campaign to Silence Falun Gong in States Across the United States

NEW YORK— A first-of-its-kind nationwide survey of 1,080 Falun Gong practitioners in the United States has documented over 600 cases of transnational repression targeting the community across 30 states since 2020.

Released by the Falun Dafa Information Center (FDIC) on June 30, the report—Americans Targeted by Beijing—finds that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is waging a deliberate and escalating campaign on U.S. soil to silence Falun Gong, one directed from the highest levels of the regime and with far-reaching implications for human rights and national security.

For over two decades, Falun Gong practitioners abroad have been among the key targets of what Freedom House in 2021 called the world’s “most sophisticated, global, and comprehensive campaign of transnational repression.”  But the survey results show a surge in repression following a 2022 directive in which CCP leader Xi Jinping personally ordered Chinese security agencies to intensify the global campaign against Falun Gong. Leaked regime instructions reveal a particular focus on the United States and on Shen Yun Performing Arts, a classical Chinese dance company founded by Falun Gong practitioners that had been gaining world renown.

Nearly half of all respondents (48%) reported experiencing transnational repression since 2022.  Reported incidents rose more than tenfold between 2020 and 2025: from 16 to 172 cases per year.Tactics reported include physical assault, harassment, property damage, violent threats, surveillance, censorship, and reprisals against relatives in China, with many incidents previously undocumented.

“What this survey documents is a top-down playbook — Beijing deploying every tool at its disposal to eliminate Falun Gong and Shen Yun on American soil,” says Levi Browde, executive director of the Falun Dafa Information Center. “Every American who cares about civil liberties and religious freedom should be alarmed that a foreign government has built an apparatus to surveil, harass, and silence U.S. citizens and residents in our newsrooms, theaters, town squares, and social media platforms. The United States needs to act now—before the list of targets grows.”

Distorted narratives—amplified by misleading media coverage and coordinated online disinformation—have taken a measurable toll on practitioners’ lives. An overwhelming majority of respondents (90%) reported noticing a rise in negative news coverage and social-media commentary about Falun Gong since 2022. Among respondents, 64% said this climate had affected them: they reported emotional distress, strained family ties, verbal harassment, or discrimination at work, school, or in their communities.

“There is especiallya feeling among the Chinese within our community that: ‘Wait a second. I left China, and now the same thing is happening here in America? I don’t understand,’” said an American high school teacher from New York. “There is bewilderment and disbelief.”

The report draws on an online survey of 1,080 Falun Gong practitioners across 41 states, conducted between September 2025 and March 2026. Distributed in English and Chinese through local Falun Dafa associations, the survey used anonymization and rigorous quality controls to ensure credibility and accuracy. The full methodology and survey questions are included in the report.

Key Report Findings:

• The American Falun Gong community is nationwide, diverse, and highly educated. Respondents span 41 states and Washington, D.C., with the majority (60%) identifying as U.S. citizens. More than 70% hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, and while the majority are ethnic Chinese, nearly 12% are Caucasian, African American, Hispanic, or of other backgrounds.

• Transnational repression is escalating, following Xi Jinping’s 2022 directive. Respondents relayed 646 encounters with transnational repression since 2020, with reported cases rising more than tenfold between 2020 and 2025. Almost half of all respondents (48%) reported experiencing at least one such incident. Americans in at least 30 states were affected, including at least 10 incidents each in California, New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Washington, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C.

• Shen Yun Performing Arts has emerged as a primary target. Respondents reported 146 instances of property damage, violent threats, harassment, and censorship related to their participation and volunteer work to promote the Shen Yun performances. Additionally, 53 respondents identified themselves as Shen Yun performers or staff and described an escalating environment of repression and misinformation, including the toll of being targeted with violent threats.

• Chinese officials were directly involved in 138 cases. PRC government agencies—including the Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of State Security, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs—were directly involved in 138 of the reported incidents. Known CCP proxies based in the United States also engaged in harassment, smear campaigns, and assault.

• American institutions are unwittingly enforcing Beijing’s agenda. The CCP’s propaganda and disinformation are increasingly infiltrating American society, deceiving U.S. institutions and opinion leaders into repeating its talking points and excluding Falun Gong practitioners from public life. Respondents reported 92 instances in which they were barred from parades, community events, or national conferences by U.S.-based entities because of their identity as Falun Gong practitioners. 

“Since the persecution began in 1999, I have not been able to safely return to China,” relayed a U.S. citizen originally from China, now living in New York. “When my grandmother, who raised me, was dying, I couldn’t go home. I couldn’t hold her hand. I couldn’t say goodbye. I couldn’t attend her funeral. That is what persecution looks like in real life. It separates families. It forces people into impossible choices between love and safety.”

The survey also found significant gaps in American awareness and enforcement. Many of the cases cited by respondents have gone unpunished due to the anonymity of attackers, absence of reporting by victims, inadequate action by law enforcement, or insufficient laws to protect Americans from a foreign regime undermining their rights and co-opting American institutions. The report offers concrete recommendations to the U.S. government and American civil society on how to counter the CCP’s transnational repression and enhance resilience.

To read the full report, see here. To interview one of the authors, email [email protected].

This survey is the latest in FDIC’s ongoing effort to document an escalating wave of transnational repression targeting Falun Gong practitioners since 2022. In May 2023, the FDIC released a special report, Surveillance, Slander, and Censorship that examines the CCP’s repression on U.S. university campuses. In 2024 and 2025, the FDIC released a series of research reports on transnational repression targeting Shen Yun and Falun Gong: Diplomatic Disruptions and Disinformation: Beijing’s Global Drive to Stop Shen Yun in January 2024, The New York Times’ Falun Gong Distortion in March 2024, Weaponizing Social Media: The CCP’s New Plan to “Eliminate” Falun Gong Worldwide in August 2024, An Unprecedented CCP Campaign to Sabotage Shen Yun, Eliminate Falun Gong Globally in December 2024, and The Real Story of Shen Yun: Beijing’s New Push to Destroy Shen Yun and Silence Falun Gong Globally in July 2025.