Falun Gong practitioners march in Manhattan’s Chinatown on July 20, 2025, condemning the Chinese Communist Party’s attacks and threats overseas. (Dai Bing / The Dajiyuan)
[People News] In February 2026, the Falun Dafa Information Center (FDIC) disclosed that on January 30 of this year, it received a threatening message bearing the Shen Yun logo. This message was written in Chinese and used the name of Republic of China President Lai Ching-te to send violent threats.
The original text stated:
“Lai Ching-te shares with you
A large quantity of explosives has been placed at the White House, Mar-a-Lago. If Shen Yun continues performing, we will detonate the explosives! We will drive vehicles into crowds around the White House and Mar-a-Lago, and open fire on fleeing crowds!”
On January 30, 2026, the Falun Dafa Information Center (FDIC) received a threatening message bearing the Shen Yun logo. This message was in Chinese. (Screenshot from the Falun Dafa Information Center website)
The Falun Dafa Information Center said that from January 28 to February 1, 2026, malicious actors (or coordinated members of a group) used a page on a website affiliated with Shen Yun Performing Arts to send more than 200 similar violent threat messages. The example listed at the beginning is only one of them.
These messages included bomb threats and incited large-scale violence, usually saying that if Shen Yun performances continued, explosives would be detonated. These messages also frequently impersonated Mr. Li Hongzhi, founder of Falun Gong, Falun Gong practitioners, political leaders, and public figures.
The Falun Dafa Information Center said the above threats are consistent with a pattern of transnational repression targeting Falun Gong communities and their supporters around the world. Such transnational repression is often linked to pro-Chinese Communist Party activity.
Regarding violent incidents such as bomb threats against Shen Yun performances, digital experts told The Dajiyuan that bomb threats are acts of terrorism and constitute serious criminal offenses, and participants face imprisonment and sanctions.
Explicit death threats and terror threats
The content of these messages published by the Falun Dafa Information Center consisted almost entirely of explicit threats of large-scale violence, including bombings, shootings, arson, kidnapping, and sexual violence. The targets mentioned in the messages included Falun Gong supporters, government officials, cultural institutions, and government facilities around the world, including the White House and the Presidential Office Building in Taiwan.
For example, the threats said explosives had been placed in government buildings, airports, and public places, usually using the continuation of Shen Yun performances as the pretext.
Shen Yun Performing Arts was founded in New York in 2006 by Falun Gong practitioners, with the mission of reviving traditional Chinese culture and “showing China before communism.” Shen Yun tours globally every year, bringing pure truthfulness, pure goodness, and pure beauty to millions of audience members, which causes panic and unease in the Chinese Communist Party.
Renowned legal scholar and former Peking University law professor Yuan Hongbing previously told The Dajiyuan that “at an expanded meeting of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission held before the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th National Congress in 2022, Xi Jinping proposed a new round of strategic suppression and persecution targeting the overseas development of Falun Gong.”
“According to disclosures from people of conscience within the Chinese Communist Party system, Xi Jinping’s strategy can be summarized as ‘one center, two basic points.’
“‘One center’ means carrying out character assassination and moral destruction against the founder of Falun Gong… In Xi Jinping’s words, ‘to carry out a spiritual beheading operation against Falun Gong, in order to destroy the foundation of Falun Gong’s existence.’”
Yuan Hongbing said the “two basic points” refer to the fact that this escalated round of transnational repression is being carried out mainly through “media warfare” and “legal warfare,” and that the principal targets include Shen Yun Performing Arts and the founder of Falun Gong.
Incident tracking and independent reports by the Falun Dafa Information Center show that threat activity often surges during Shen Yun’s international touring season, and often coincides with high-profile performances or politically sensitive dates.
Since 2023, theaters hosting Shen Yun performances, cultural partners, and Falun Gong-related venues have repeatedly been hit by bomb and shooting hoaxes spread through email, web forms, and customer service platforms. These incidents have triggered evacuations and law enforcement responses in North America, Europe, and Asia.
In addition to Shen Yun itself, libraries, nongovernmental organizations, universities, and public institutions connected to the Falun Gong community are also frequently threatened.
The following are two more examples from this latest wave of threat messages listed by the Falun Dafa Information Center:
“Chen Shui-bian tells you: The Presidential Office Building of the Republic of China, Taipei Songshan Airport, Taoyuan Airport, Penghu Airport, Kaohsiung Airport, Taipei Arena, Tsing Hua University, Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office, and the Taipei Police Department all have many explosives planted in them! If Shen Yun continues broadcasting, all explosives will be detonated! Break into the Presidential Office Building of the Republic of China, open fire, and set fires!”
“Li Hongzhi (editor’s note: Mr. Li Hongzhi is the founder of Falun Gong) tells you: All Falun Gong practitioners worldwide, including political leaders and celebrities in various countries, will face grave danger over the next three months. It cannot be ruled out that their homes will catch fire, their families will suffer car accidents, they themselves will be kidnapped, and female practitioners will be gang-raped and then have their throats cut!”
The Falun Dafa Information Center believes that the breadth of these threats and the clarity of their target audience are consistent with the purpose of coordinated intimidation designed to maximize disruption and spread fear.
Impersonating Falun Gong and its supporters
All of these 200-plus messages used false sender names in the subject line, falsely claiming that the messages came from a specific individual.
Most of the impersonated names were in Chinese and included the founder of Falun Gong, Falun Gong practitioners, Taiwanese political leaders, and well-known activists.
In addition, two English names were also used, including U.S. President Donald Trump.
This impersonation tactic is identical to previous similar incidents, in which perpetrators used the names or email addresses of Falun Gong practitioners, dissidents, journalists, and government officials in order to intensify confusion, damage the reputation of Falun Gong groups, and incite panic.
The same pattern appearing again and again
This incident reflects a recurring pattern rather than an isolated event. Over the past several years, Falun Gong groups and Shen Yun-related institutions have been subjected to sustained, multi-pronged attacks, including impersonation, platform abuse, harassment, and large-scale death threats.
Although these threats have not yet caused actual physical harm, their cumulative effect is to intimidate, disrupt legitimate cultural activities, damage the reputation of the threatened groups, and repeatedly consume public safety resources.
According to public statistics updated by the Falun Dafa Information Center on February 25, 2026, there have been more than 243 anonymous death threats worldwide targeting Falun Gong and its supporters since March 2024 alone. This number also includes threats against Shen Yun Performing Arts.
On March 11, 2026, Falun Dafa Information Center researcher Alex Zhang told The Dajiyuan that among the statistical total of these 243 threat incidents, the case in which a Shen Yun-affiliated website was hijacked to send more than 200 violent messages “counts as only one incident.”
All known incidents have been reported to law enforcement and remain under investigation.
To stop Shen Yun performances, the Chinese Communist Party expands the scale of threatening groups, and death threats escalate
Levi Browde, executive director of the Falun Dafa Information Center. (The Dajiyuan)
Levi Browde, executive director of the Falun Dafa Information Center (FDIC), told The Dajiyuan that since the start of 2026, the Chinese Communist Party has continued to threaten Shen Yun Performing Arts through bomb-threat emails and other means, and has expanded the scale, with the number of incidents continuing to rise.
“Bomb threats are in fact terrorist threats,” Browde said. “These threats are increasing, and they are beginning to target government personnel and institutions that support us, such as federal agencies and FBI headquarters.” “Now it has begun expanding to those who support us. This truly is a serious problem.”
“The Taiwanese authorities have in fact already traced the bomb threats back to the Chinese Communist Party. So we know where these threats are coming from,” Browde said.
Independent researcher Sarah Cook, former China research director at the well-known U.S. organization Freedom House. (The Dajiyuan)
Regarding bomb threats and other attacks by the Chinese Communist Party against Shen Yun performances, independent researcher Sarah Cook, former China research director at the well-known U.S. organization Freedom House, told The Dajiyuan, “We are seeing an escalation of death threats, an escalation of deepfakes, and an escalation of smear campaigns. Some groups have received anonymous death threats. This is not only transnational repression, but also a form of transnational censorship — the goal is to silence people, create fear, and at the same time increase the security burden on venues.”
“Even if the bombs are fake, the real-world consequences are real.”
“You can see the same image being used in threatening emails sent to different Falun Gong-related targets, which indicates coordinated behavior,” Cook said.
Well-known human rights activist: impose sanctions
On July 18, 2019, at a rally on the West Lawn of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., commemorating the 20th anniversary of Falun Gong’s resistance to persecution, British human rights activist Benedict Rogers spoke. (Samira Bouaou / The Dajiyuan)
British human rights activist Benedict Rogers, vice chair of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission and founder and chief executive of Hong Kong Watch, told The Dajiyuan, “This matter (the bomb threats) is extremely serious.”
“If the perpetrators are Chinese citizens, and the evidence is sufficient, then they certainly should be deported.”
“Diplomatic measures can also be taken. Depending on the seriousness of the case, sanctions can be imposed.”
Co-chair of the International Religious Freedom Summit: bomb threats are serious criminal offenses
Katrina Lantos Swett, co-chair of the International Religious Freedom Summit (IRF Summit), doctor of law, and former chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). (Fang Ming / The Dajiyuan)
Regarding the continued bomb threats against Shen Yun Performing Arts, Katrina Lantos Swett, co-chair of the International Religious Freedom Summit and doctor of law, told The Dajiyuan, “This is very serious. If there is a coordinated threat campaign targeting theaters, that could constitute a serious criminal offense, and might even be regarded as a terrorist threat.”
“This also raises the question of how social media and communications companies can better regulate their platforms to prevent them from being used for this kind of threat.”
“If evidence shows that people conspired to issue threats in order to intimidate Shen Yun performances, that would be a serious crime, and the relevant individuals would face imprisonment,” she said.
(Interview report by The Dajiyuan reporter Xia Li)
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