Five people attempt to set themselves on fire in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, an act that many people later claim is staged by the Chinese Communist Party to frame Falun Gong and thus escalate their persecution.

2001 Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident

2001 incident in China

The 2001 Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident took place in Tiananmen Square in central Beijing, on the eve of Chinese New Year on 23 January 2001. There is controversy over the incident; Chinese government sources say that five members of Falun Gong, a religious movement…

Tiananmen Square

Public square in Beijing, China

Tiananmen Square or Tian'anmen Square is a city square in the city center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen located to its north, which separates it from the Forbidden City imperial palace complex. The square contains the Monument to the People's Heroes, the Great…

Chinese Communist Party

Ruling party of the People's Republic of China

The Communist Party of China (CPC), commonly known in English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil War against the Kuomintang and…

Falun Gong

New religious movement from China

Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, is a new religious movement founded by its leader Li Hongzhi in China in the early 1990s. Falun Gong has its global headquarters in Dragon Springs, a 173-hectare (427-acre) compound in Deerpark, New York, United States, near the residence of…

Persecution of Falun Gong

The persecution of Falun Gong is the campaign initiated in 1999 by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to eliminate the new religious movement Falun Gong in China, maintaining a doctrine of state atheism. It is characterized by a multifaceted propaganda campaign, a program of…