Toronto Performances Canceled Over Unfounded Bomb Threats; Retired Beijing Teacher Dies in Custody

Dear Reader,

​Last week, a theater in Toronto, Canada canceled all remaining Shen Yun performances in response to threats—believed to be tied to China—that police had determined to be “unfounded.” Anonymous false alarm threats of violence have been an emerging tactic in the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) toolbox of transnational repression targeting Falun Gong.

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Though other threats have required added security or delayed shows, the incident in Canada marked the first time that such hoax threats shut down an entire run of performances at a single venue during the company’s global tour. The case raises serious concern about whether the free world can stand firm in defending freedom of speech and expression against the CCP’s escalating and deceptive transnational repression efforts.

Also in this issue:

• Ms.  Lü Anmin, an elderly Falun Gong volunteer, was attacked and robbed in Queens, following a similar assault four weeks ago.

• Ms. Yu Zhanqin, a retired Beijing teacher, died in custody within 9 months.

• A 21-year-old U.S. Army private pleas for the safety of her parents in China.

​Finally, I’d like to share a recent panel discussion held in Washington D.C., in which leading experts examine the CCP’s practice of forced organ harvesting in China, the persecution of Falun Gong, and other related topics.

“A Dangerous Milestone”: Toronto Theater Cancels Remaining Shen Yun Shows After Hoax Bomb Threat

What’s new?

On March 29, an emailed bomb threat triggered an evacuation of Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts just before a scheduled Shen Yun performance, forcing the cancellation of that day’s show. Toronto police determined the threat to be unfounded. A second threat the following day was likewise dismissed as non-credible.

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Despite those assessments, the theatre decided on March 31 that it would cancel all five remaining Shen Yun performances, scheduled between April 1–5, citing “escalating threats.” The theatre did not provide specifics to the event’s presenter.

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The incident is part of a deeply troubling pattern. Over the past two years, Shen Yun has been targeted by more than 150 hoax threats—including bomb threats, mass shooting threats, threats to rape and murder staff, and threats to kill the children of performers. Among them, many threats were directed at performance venues.

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“They’re scare tactics, and these scare tactics are meant to control what stories we tell, what art we put on stage, what ideas we get to express,” says Levi Browde, Executive Director of the Falun Dafa Information Center. “The idea that we would cower to these scare tactics and stop Shen Yun performing, I think, is a dangerous precedent in this transnational repression.”

Why does it matter?

A series of false alarms—where no credible threat of violence existed—effectively shut down an artistic event in Canada that the CCP wanted silenced, succeeding in a way that direct diplomatic pressures from China have often failed. Such an outcome validates this tactic as an effective weapon for transnational repression and the regime’s efforts to silence critics and persecuted minorities worldwide. It sets a dangerous precedent: that a totalitarian regime like the CCP can deploy intimidation to suppress freedom in the free world.

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“This really is not just about Falun Gong or even Shen Yun,” said Browde. “This is a litmus test: on the extent to which we are willing to defend our freedom of expression, our freedom of speech, against the largest totalitarian regime on Earth that is extending its arm into free countries and using scare tactics to try and get us to relinquish those freedoms.”

What else do you need to know?

Each Shen Yun performance brings authentic Chinese culture to thousands, while also exposing the CCP’s brutal persecution of Falun Gong in China. Viewing Shen Yun as a direct threat to its legitimacy, the CCP has long made the company a primary target of transnational repression and censorship against the Falun Gong diaspora, deploying a suppressive playbook of illicit diplomatic pressure, sabotage, bribery, disinformation, and physical attacks.

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The campaign intensified sharply in 2023, when Xi Jinping personally ordered a new strategy to escalate the overseas assault on Falun Gong. This year, Graphika uncovered a Chinese-based disinformation campaign targeting Shen Yun. Taiwanese authorities also traced related threats to IP addresses located in China.

Hundreds of audience members are evacuated from the Four Seasons Performing Arts Center on March 29, 2026, ahead of Shen Yun’s third scheduled performance in Toronto. (Cynthia Sun/Falun Dafa Information Center)

Elderly Falun Gong Volunteer Attacked and Robbed in Queens; Felony Case Opened

Lü Anmin, a 73-year-old woman, sustained visible facial injuries as a result of an assault incident that occurred on March 25, 2026, in Flushing, New York. (Global Tuidang Center)

On March 25, a 73-year-old female Falun Gong practitioner was assaulted and robbed in Flushing, Queens. The victim volunteers with the Global Service Center for Quitting the Chinese Communist Party (Global Tuidang Center), an organization that assists individuals seeking to formally renounce membership in the CCP and its affiliated youth organizations.

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The attack occurred around 3:50 p.m. as the woman was walking home after her volunteer shift. According to the NYPD incident report, the assailant punched her in the face, seized her phone and bag, and fled the scene. The NYPD has opened a felony investigation, with charges including second-degree robbery and causing physical injury.

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This is the second reported assault on a Falun Gong practitioner in the Flushing area within a month. The Global Tuidang Center has stated that it believes these incidents reflect a broader pattern of CCP-directed transnational repression playing out on American soil.

Retired Beijing Teacher Dies During Third Imprisonment for Her Faith

Yu Zhanqin, a retired teacher from Huairou District, Beijing, died on March 17, 2026, at the age of 68 while serving her third prison term for speaking publicly about Falun Gong. Her family, who had waited two days in the hospital lobby, was denied access until after she had died.

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Since 2021, Ms. Yu had endured three successive prison sentences of six months, fifteen months, and eighteen months, respectively.  Her latest arrest came after a couple recorded Ms. Yu speaking about Falun Gong in public and submitted the recording to police. That evening she was arrested and in February 2026, sentenced to prison. Ms. Yu remained held at the Shunyi District Detention Center until her health deteriorated sharply around March 15, 2026. Her death is a reminder that the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in custody continues unabated, with elderly women among its most vulnerable targets.

Six Years of Separation: A U.S. Army Soldier’s Call to End the Persecution of Falun Gong

Last month, U.S. Army soldier Grace Chen found out through a published report that her father had endured brutal torture in a Chinese prison because of his faith in Falun Gong. These were horrors he had never shared with Grace before: sleep deprivation, starvation, being doused with cold water in winter, and more. Six years after her parents’ arrest, the details on what they faced in custody was news to her.

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Since 2020, Grace has spoken at multiple events in Washington D.C. and New York, sharing her family story with hundreds of people. She said she “hoped to let the world know what it feels like to be a daughter whose parents were going through one of the most brutal persecution campaigns against faith in modern history.”

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Now a nursing student, Grace carries the resolve of someone who has lived through six years of separation and fear. In this first-hand account, she shares her family’s story and urges the world to help end the persecution, for her parents and all practitioners still suffering in China. As she puts it:

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My father is, and will always be, my hero. His devotion to his faith, his courage to stand up against tyranny, and his unwavering love and care as a father make me profoundly proud of him. Nearly 27 years later, the persecution of Falun Gong has gone on for far too long. Humanity must not allow this to continue.

Have you read this? Family Rescue Effort for Mr. Zhou Deyong

This month marks five years since the father of two U.S. residents was detained for practicing Falun Gong. Zhou Deyong, a senior geological engineer in Shandong Province, was arrested on April 23, 2021, for possessing Falun Gong books and materials. He was sentenced to eight years in prison two years later. Now entering his sixth year of imprisonment, Mr. Zhou has reportedly suffered torture and serious health issues including full mouth teeth loss since his arrest.

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In May 2023, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom added Mr. Zhou to its Freedom of Religion or Belief Victims List. His wife and son, now residing in the United States, are calling for his rescue.

On April 7, the Heritage Foundation hosted a 90-minute panel discussion in Washington DC on forced organ harvesting. The panel featured Representative Chris Smith, Jan Jekielek, author of Killed to Order: China’s Organ Harvesting Industry, Wesley J. Smith, Ethan Gutmann, Jay Richards, and Bob Moffit.

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Beyond an in-depth examination of the CCP’s forced organ harvesting practices and recent developments, the panel addressed the regime’s use of vilifying propaganda against Falun Gong as justification for torture and forced organ procurement, the expansion of these practices to other religious and ethnic minorities, and the apparent complicity of some American institutions in accepting the CCP’s narrative. Panelists also called for the urgent passage of legislation such as the Falun Gong and Victims of Forced Organ Harvesting Protection Act and the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act.