Hey Chris?
(Inquisitive grunt)
You know how former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin
said he was going to eradicate Falun Gong in three months?
Yeah?
I don’t think that happened.
May 13th is World Falun Dafa Day.
Falun Dafa is more commonly known as Falun Gong.
It’s been 24 years its founder Li Hongzhi
began publicly teaching the meditation practice.
Here in New York, it’s being celebrated with a parade.
Around 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners from around the world
have descended on New York's humble, rat-infested, urine-soaked streets.
This is probably the biggest gathering of the practitioners
of the much maligned spiritual movement
since the Chinese regime started persecuting them in 1999.
So why does the Communist Party consider these people such a threat?
Is that a rhetorical question?
No…?
Then how about you go find out?
WHAT’S YOUR PLAN TO UNDERMINE CHINA?!
Chris! Be more subtle.
How are you planning to undermine China?
Undermine?
And so, what’s your plan to undermine China?
What’s your plan to undermine China?
Thank you. Nevermind.
Ok, it’s hard to see why anyone would consider these people a threat.
Well, Chris, have you ever heard of the saying “qí hǔ nán xià”?
Of course!
Well, this can’t end well.
“Qí hǔ nán xià.”
It means if you’re riding a tiger, it’s hard to get off.
And believe me I know.
I took China Uncensored Video Editor Seamus
to Central Park Zoo to put it to the test.
He will be missed.
Basically, it means you’re in over your head. Like poor, poor Seamus.
This parade wasn’t part of the plan.
Falun Gong was supposed to be wiped out in three months.
Jiang Zemin said he would “Destroy their reputations,
cut them off financially, and eradicate them physically.”
Instead it turned into an 17-year fiasco—
one the Communist Party can’t stop even if they wanted to.
You see, the Communist Party doesn’t like to admit
it ever did anything wrong.
The only thing it admitted might not have been perfect
was the Cultural Revolution,
and they still placed most of the blame on Mao’s wife.
And then tried to never talk about it again.
Imagine what would happen if the Party
officially stopped persecuting Falun Gong.
The Party would then have to admit that Falun Gong
weren’t the crazy dangerous people that had to be put down.
And ordinary Chinese people might think,
"Hey, if the Party lied about Falun Gong all these years,
and only persecuted them for political reasons,
the Party could decide to do that to anyone."
And maybe they’d start to question the Party’s rule.
Of course, it might already be too late,
because it seems like people are figuring out the propaganda on their own.
Yeah, I have some friends from mainland China, so.
They don't refuse to listen to the truth, at least, I think.
So they started to feel sorry,
and feel angry for the Communist Party that they still do the persecution.
I think they started to question the authority of the regime.
I know a lot of Chinese from my work, and so
but I feel like most of them can understand.
I think more and more people now get to know
people who practice Falun Dafa,
and also they have a pretty good impression.
My relatives in China used to be afraid to talk about Falun Gong
but now they’re not afraid.
They’ve changed their minds about the Communist Party
because in China there are no principles,
only money and power, and they have suffered.
So basically, the Party can’t stop the persecution of Falun Gong
without exposing themselves,
but they can’t keep it going forever either.
Exactly.
Hey, I've been trying to reach Seamus all day,
and I haven't been able to.
Do you know what happened to him?