Falun Gong Practitioner and Shen Yun Emcee talks about Organ Harvesting by CCP
Shen Yun emcee and Falun Gong practitioner recently joined Richard Syrett’s Strange Planet to discuss the horrors of the CCP and the persecution of Falun Gong. One of the most egregious forms of persecution is organ harvesting. Leeshai goes into great detail is to how and when this all started. Below is a link to the audio on spotify. As of August 13, 2025, it will be on Strange Planet’s YouTube channel.
Listen to interview on Spotify below (starts at 1:30 Mark)
Episode Live On YouTube at 7:30pm EST on August 13, 2025:
In a detailed conversation with Richard Syrett, Leeshai Lemish laid out the scale, methods, and motives behind the Chinese Communist Party’s campaign of persecution against Falun Gong. He began by giving background on the practice itself, explaining that Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline rooted in ancient Chinese traditions that combines meditation and slow-moving exercises with moral teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.
By the late 1990s, it had gained immense popularity across China, with tens of millions of practitioners from all walks of life. This rapid growth and independence from Party control triggered deep anxiety in the CCP’s leadership, particularly under then-leader Jiang Zemin, who viewed Falun Gong as a potential ideological threat.
Lemish described how, in 1999, the regime launched a nationwide crackdown, mobilizing state propaganda, security forces, and a dedicated extralegal body called the “610 Office” to eradicate the practice. This campaign included mass arrests, forced labor, torture, and an extensive disinformation effort to dehumanize practitioners in the public eye. Lemish explained that the CCP’s propaganda not only vilified Falun Gong within China but also sought to influence international opinion through state-controlled media and diplomatic channels, framing the persecution as legitimate law enforcement rather than religious suppression.
Earth a Strange Planet in Deed
One of the most disturbing aspects Lemish discussed was the evidence of forced organ harvesting from imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners. He detailed how independent investigators, medical experts, and eyewitness accounts have documented a large-scale system in which prisoners of conscience are killed to supply China’s lucrative transplant industry. According to Lemish, this practice continues despite international condemnation, with transplant wait times in China remaining shockingly short—an indication of on-demand organ sourcing.
Lemish also noted how the persecution extends far beyond China’s borders. The CCP uses surveillance, harassment, and influence operations to target Falun Gong practitioners overseas, particularly those who expose the regime’s abuses. Universities, businesses, and media outlets in other countries have faced pressure to censor or marginalize Falun Gong-related content in order to maintain access to the Chinese market. Lemish emphasized that this is part of the CCP’s broader strategy of exporting its censorship model and controlling the global narrative on sensitive issues.
He explained that despite more than two decades of repression, Falun Gong practitioners have responded with remarkable resilience and peaceful resistance. Inside China, many continue to risk arrest by distributing leaflets, operating underground printing presses, and using creative means to counter state propaganda. Outside China, practitioners have organized rallies, art exhibitions, cultural performances, and public awareness campaigns to inform the world about the ongoing persecution. Lemish pointed out that this persistence has helped keep the issue alive in international discourse, though media coverage remains sporadic and often muted due to Beijing’s influence.
Lemish stressed the moral and geopolitical implications of the persecution, noting that it serves as a test case for how far the CCP can go in violating human rights without significant pushback from the international community. He argued that silence or inaction in the face of such atrocities not only emboldens the regime in its domestic repression but also in its external ambitions, including efforts to undermine democratic institutions and freedoms abroad.
Throughout the discussion, Lemish underlined that the Falun Gong issue is not only about religious freedom, but also about the integrity of universal human rights, the dangers of unchecked authoritarian power, and the moral responsibility of other nations to hold the CCP accountable. He called for greater transparency, independent investigations, and sustained public attention to counter the regime’s disinformation and ensure that the victims’ voices are not erased from history.
By the end of the interview, the picture was clear: the persecution of Falun Gong is one of the most extensive and brutal campaigns against a spiritual group in modern times, involving systematic human rights violations that have global ramifications. Lemish’s message was that confronting this issue is not simply a matter of helping one persecuted community—it is a critical step in defending the principles of human dignity and freedom everywhere.
