The persecution of Falun Gong was not only the fault of one simple man. It was the fault of one man who held the three most powerful political positions in the entire nation: Chairman of China, the leader of the National People's Congress, and the leader of the military. His will was thus the deciding factor for any issue that he concerned himself with. With respect to Falun Gong, he decided to eliminate it. With every level and institution in society under his command, a very incorrect perception of the circumstances arose, namely that the Chinese people or the Chinese government opposed Falun Gong. That is not the case.

Falun Gong was widely praised by the Chinese government and people

Falun Gong, a Chinese exercise and meditation practice that teaches Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, was introduced by Mr. Li Hongzhi to the public in China in 1992. From 1992-1994, Chinese government institutions organized all of Mr. Li's Falun Gong teaching classes. The practice spread quickly and extensively in China from 1992-1998. During this period, it was highly praised and awarded by officials and Chinese government bodies -- such as the Public Security Bureau, National Bureau of Public Recreation, and Sports Commission -- for the benefits Falun Gong brought to people's health and the economy.

Before the persecution, Chinese television reported:

Falun Gong is becoming more recognized in China. People are filling parks and gardens to practice it. Falun Gong is beneficial to health and is beneficial to society as well, making society healthier and more productive.

In February 1999, US News and World Report quoted a Chinese government official as saying:

If 100 million people are practicing it [Falun Gong], that's 100 billion Yuan saved per year in medical fees. Premier Zhu Rongji is very happy about that.

A personal vendetta initiated the persecution of Falun Gong

On April 25, 1999, when 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners appealed to the central government for the release of 45 Falun Gong practitioners illegally detained in the city of Tianjin, China's Premier personally met with practitioners and then resolved the issue quickly and peacefully. The detained practitioners were all released immediately. This peaceful dialogue and resolution between Chinese people and their leaders was a first in the history of the Chinese Communist Party and Premier Zhu was praised around the world.

President Jiang Zemin apparently thought otherwise. He treated the April 25 protest as if it were a personal political insult as well as a threat to social stability. By insisting on harsh repression, Jiang could accomplish two ends: demonstrate his ability to bend the Party to his will and eliminate what he considered a potential threat to his rule and his legacy.
          -- Human Rights Watch, Dangerous Meditation

Jiang Zemin was so jealous of Falun Gong's popularity in society and Premier Zhu's popularity with Falun Gong practitioners after the April 25 incident that he immediately wrote two personal letters to the Central Police Bureau criticizing the Premier's handling of the issue.

While the state-run media assured people that the government held nothing against Falun Gong and that reports of persecution were simply ill-intended rumors, Jiang Zemin insisted on the establishment of the 6.10 Office (on June 10, 1999) and initiated the first round of nationwide arrests of Falun Gong practitioners on July 20, 1999, two days before officially announcing the crackdown. At the time, many leaders within the government were opposed to persecuting Falun Gong.

Communist Party sources said that the Standing Committee of the Politburo did not unanimously endorse the crackdown and that President Jiang Zemin alone decided that Falun Gong must be eliminated.
          -- Washington Post Foreign Service on November 12, 1999

After investigation, Human Rights Watch identified Jiang Zemin as the driving force behind the persecution:

... the decision of the Chinese leadership, led by President and Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin, to mount a full-fledged campaign to eradicate Falungong and to allocate the necessary manpower and financial resources...
          -- Human Rights Watch, Dangerous Meditation

By May 7 [1999], reports were circulating that President Jiang Zemin had called the group a major threat, that a high-level task force had been formed with Party leaders Hu Jintao and Luo Gan in charge, and that the decision to designate Falungong an illegal organization had already been made.
          -- Human Rights Watch, Dangerous Meditation

The 6.10 Office later developed into a Gestapo-like agency that exists at all levels of the country and whose sole purpose is to "eradicate Falun Gong". It carries power over all government and judicial systems in monitoring, identifying, detaining, jailing, torturing, and killing Falun Gong practitioners.

With the 6.10 Office established and nationwide arrests already underway, Jiang Zemin announced the ban of Falun Gong on July 22, 1999, claiming that Falun Gong practitioners "disturb social order and spread superstitions".

Jiang Zemin was the first to call Falun Gong an "evil cult", in an interview with Le Figaro, a French newspaper, in October 1999. Two days later, the People's Congress in China created a new "anti-cult" law. The Public Security bureau announced an "interpretation" of the "law" and branded Falun Gong an "evil cult" to be banned and eliminated. The "law" treated Falun Gong as "criminal" and "criminals would be subject to brainwashing and jail terms."

It was Jiang who ordered that Falun Gong be labeled a "cult," and then demanded that a law be passed banning cults, a party source said. "This obviously is very personal for Jiang," said one party official. "He wants this [group] crushed."
          -- Washington Post Foreign Service on November 12, 1999

Jiang Zemin ordered the public burning and destruction of Falun Gong books and tapes, blocked Falun Gong-related web sites, and started the relentless defamation campaign against Falun Gong in July 1999.

In covering the 1999 APEC summit, the Associated Press reported:

As China and the United States sought to mend recently damaged ties, President Jiang Zemin gave President Clinton an unusual gift: a book defending China's ban on a popular meditation [practice, Falun Gong]. ... the book's 150 pages in English is a relentless barrage of propaganda from China's entirely state-run media. ... Far from an academic exercise, Jiang's gift seemed intended to head off a new human rights dispute.

In interviews with Western media in 2000, Jiang increased the fabricated number of deaths allegedly caused by Falun Gong from the initial 1,400 to 1,700. These figures became a key aspect of China's anti-Falun Gong propaganda and have been reported ever since.

... in mid-February 2001, when President Jiang told provincial and municipal Party officials to strengthen local control over Falungong practitioners. The plan called for the immediate formation of local "anti-cult task forces" and similar units in universities, state enterprises, and social organizations to augment the "610 office" (named for the date of its founding), which reportedly had been directing the crackdown since June 10, 1999, and the "propaganda work office, which was in charge of the media campaign."
          -- Human Rights Watch, Dangerous Meditation

Jiang Zemin's orders make clear the strategy for dealing with Falun Gong: "Destroy their reputations, exhaust them financially, and eliminate them physically"; "Beaten to death can be counted as suicide"; and "Cremate immediately, no need to verify name or residence."

In Hong Kong in March 2001, two years after starting the persecution, Jiang continued his vendetta:

"I have to make it very clear the Falun Gong is an evil cult... Stability is overriding. Any countries or societies will have no prospects if they have no stability. Only stability will make the economy develop and prosper."
          -- South China Morning Post, March 6, 2001

After September 11, 2001, Jiang Zemin accelerated the persecution of Falun Gong in the name of combating terrorism, claiming Falun Gong to be a danger to China.

Further orders from Jiang Zemin include, in March 2002, instructions to "shoot on sight" and "kill without pardon" practitioners seen posting or distributing Falun Gong materials.

It is worthwhile to note that under this kind of dictatorship and pressure, the majority of high-level government officials in China seldom or never made any personal or public anti-Falun Gong statements. When a leader of a nation misuses and abuses his authority for his own will and sacrifices and attacks the lives of his citizens, his will and actions cannot be said to represent those of the government or the people.