Investigative Report on the Persecution of Falun Gong by Liu Yunshan
Full Legal Name: Liu (last name) Yunshan (first name) (刘云山)
Gender: Male
Country: People’s Republic of China
Date of Birth: July 1947
Place of Birth: Tumed Right Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region
History of The Chinese Communist Party’s Appointments:[1]
1993–1997：Deputy Director of the Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee
1997–2002：Deputy Director of the Propaganda Department of the CCP Central Committee, and Chairman of the CCP Central Guidance Commission for Building Spiritual Civilization
2002–2012：Member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the CCP Central Committee, First Secretary of the Central Secretariat of the Communist Party of China, and head of the Propaganda Department of the CCP Central Committee
2012–2017：Member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the CCP Central Committee, First Secretary of the Central Secretariat of the Communist Party of China, head of the Propaganda Department of the CCP Central Committee and Chairman of the CCP Central Guidance Commission for Building Spiritual Civilization
Liu Yunshan Committed Particularly Severe Violations of Religious Freedom
After Jiang Zemin and the CCP launched the persecution against Falun Gong in July 1999, Liu Yunshan actively participated in the persecution. As head of the CCP’s propaganda department, he incited particularly severe violations of Falun Gong practitioners’ human rights and religious freedom, subjecting them to torture, prolonged detention without charges, disappearance by abduction, and other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, and the security of persons.
In June 1999, Liu Yunshan was put in charge of anti-Falun Gong propaganda in the CCP’s Leading Group for Handling the Falun Gong Issue,[2] which was established by Jiang Zemin to persecute Falun Gong. The notorious Office to Prevent and Handle Cult Issues (610 Office) is the executive office of this leading group. Liu was also the deputy director of the CCP Propaganda Department. Because of his active involvement in the persecution of Falun Gong, Liu was promoted to be the director of the Propaganda Department in 2002 and remained in the position for 10 years until the end of 2012.
In 2012, he was further promoted to the position of the Politburo Standing Committee member responsible for propaganda. During those years, as a result of Liu’s leading role in propaganda against Falun Gong, the persecution of Falun Gong in mainland China was at the most severe level. Countless numbers of Falun Gong practitioners were unlawfully detained and imprisoned, tortured, and sentenced. Many suffered from critical injuries and disabilities. Massive numbers of Falun Gong practitioners were killed through live harvesting of their organs.
Below are examples of Liu’s propaganda that incited hatred and persecution of Falun Gong.
On August 6, 1999, only two weeks after the launch of the persecution, Liu attended an anti-Falun Gong forum and gave a public speech as head of the CCP Propaganda Department and Chairman of the CCP Central Guidance Commission for Building Spiritual Civilization. He called on the audience to recognize “the extreme importance of the ideological and political struggle [against Falun Gong], and further expose and denounce [Falun Gong].”[3]
On December 14, 1999, Liu Yunshan gave another speech as head of the CCP Propaganda Department at the Second National Conference for Science Education. He specifically emphasized the importance of “exposing and denouncing” Falun Gong.[4]
On March 21, 2000, Liu Yunshan published a commentary in the Guangming Daily, a CCP mouthpiece, titled “A Major Event in the Ideological and Political Construction of the CCP.” In an effort to conjure a theoretical basis for the persecution, Liu claimed: “The Falun Gong issue gave us a serious political educational lesson. We should never underestimate the damage [of Falun Gong] to our Party, country, and people.”[5]
In February 2001, the CCP Central Personnel Department, Propaganda Department, Political & Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC), Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Personnel, and the 610 Office jointly held a conference in Beijing for the persecution of Falun Gong. More than 3,000 CCP officials attended the conference. As deputy director of the Propaganda Department, Liu Yunshan chaired the conference. Liu called for total elimination of the social foundation that Falun Gong depends on, and for fighting against Falun Gong to the end. [6]
In 2001, Liu Yunshan published another commentary on Research on Ideological and Political Work attacking Falun Gong. He emphasized intensifying the fight against Falun Gong. Liu further ordered that “local propaganda departments at all levels must fully understand the political meaning of the fight against Falun Gong, and the long-term, critical and complex fight.” He asked local CCP propaganda departments at all levels to treat the fight against Falun Gong as an important political task, and to intensify the brainwashing effort against Falun Gong practitioners.[7]
On July 15, 2001, an exhibition to defame Falun Gong was jointly arranged by the CCP Propaganda Department of (Liu Yunshan being the deputy director), Chairman of the CCP Central Guidance Commission for Building Spiritual Civilization (Liu Yunshan being the Chairman), the 610 Office, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Justice, and China Association for Science and Technology. Liu Yunshan spoke at the opening ceremony of the exhibition, advocating Marxist doctrine, theory of materialism and atheism, and requiring the exhibition to be duplicated nationwide with the purpose to further “expose and denounce” Falun Gong.[8]
In January 2004, Liu Yunshan, as the director of the Propaganda Department, spoke at the teleconference of “combating pornography and unlawful publications”, calling the illegal confiscation of Falun Gong materials the “firm attack on the infiltration of the hostile forces.” [9] At his order, those materials were confiscated and destroyed as cult materials and unlawful publications.
In January 2010, Liu Yunshan published a report titled “Propaganda and Ideological Tasks” where he used the excuse of “spreading Chinese culture” to spread the persecution of Falun Gong overseas. In the report he stated, “We must actively carry out international public opinion struggles involving Tibet, Xinjiang, Taiwan, human rights, and Falun Gong. We must thoroughly implement the cultural ‘going global’ strategy and run overseas cultural centers and Confucius Institutes. The real purpose is to establish the Chinese Communist Party's foreign propaganda in the name of ‘spreading Chinese culture,’ thereby gaining the right to speak and taking the opportunity to export the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong overseas.” [10]
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Reference
[1] Biography of Liu Yunshan, https://web.archive.org/web/20180216143551/http://www.xinhuanet.com/18c…
[2] Hong Kong Mail, February 16, 2001. “The so-called 610 Office is headed by Luo Gan, the Party’s main official in charge of maintaining law and order. It oversees the overall nationwide crackdown. The “propaganda work office” is headed by Liu Yunshan, the second-in-command of the Party Central Committee’s Propaganda Department. It is in charge of winning the media war. Mr. Liu's second-in-command is Li Dongsheng, the Party chief at China Central Television and its deputy head.
[3] The Communist Party Central Committee’s Civilization Office convened the symposium to engage in an in-depth disclosure and the criticism of Falun Gong and earnestly strengthen the building of spiritual civilization, https://web.archive.org/web/20020203043806/http://www.cctv.com/specials…
[4] Liu Yunshan’s speech at the Science and Technology Department of Hubei Province, “Advocate Education of Science, Follow Science and Promote Socialist Spiritual Civilization,” https://web.archive.org/web/20180324211235/http://www.hbstd.gov.cn/wzlm…
[5] 光明日报2000-03-21 全党思想政治建设的一件大事——认真学习《毛泽东邓小平江泽民论思想政治工作》刘云山 “法轮功”邪教问题的暴露，给我们上了一堂很深刻的政治教育课。“法轮功”邪教给我们党、国家和人民造成的损害，绝不可低估。
https://web.archive.org/web/20060517213243/http://www.gmw.cn/01gmrb/200…
[6] People’s Daily, February 26, 2001, http://www.people.com.cn/GB/shizheng/19/20010226/403922.html
[7] Ideological and Political Work Research, Issue 3, 2001, https://web.archive.org/web/20020207041107/http://www.ropiw.com.cn/33/b…
[8] People’s Daily, July 15, 2001, http://www.people.com.cn/GB/other6902/5948/20010715/512083.html
[9] China.com, January 15, 2004, http://web.archive.org/web/20040804100237/http://www1.china.com.cn/chinese/PI-c/481173.htm
[10]时事报告杂志社 2010年7月27日 刘云山：扎实做好今年宣传思想文化工作 要围绕关系我主权和安全的重大问题，积极开展涉藏、涉疆、涉台以及人权、“法轮功”等方面的国际舆论斗争。
https://web.archive.org/web/20180324224313/http://zt.ccln.gov.cn/jsxxxd…
