Persecution of Falun Gong
The persecution of Falun Gong is the antireligious campaign initiated in 1999 by the Chinese Communist Party to eliminate the spiritual practice of Falun Gong in China, which maintains a doctrine of state atheism. It is characterized by a multifaceted propaganda campaign, a program of enforced ideological conversion and re-education and a variety of extralegal coercive measures such as reportedly arbitrary arrests, forced labor and physical torture, sometimes resulting in death.Falun Gong is a modern qigong discipline combining slow-moving exercises and meditation with a moral philosophy centered on the tenets of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. It was founded by Li Hongzhi, who introduced it to the public in May 1992 in Changchun, Jilin. Following a period of rapid growth in the 1990s, the Communist Party launched a campaign to "eradicate" Falun Gong on 20 July 1999.An extra-constitutional body called the 6-10 Office was created to lead the persecution of Falun Gong.