When a Falun Gong practitioner is arrested in China, the family may or may not be notified. The same is true when practitioners are brought to trial, sent to forced labor camps, or sentenced to prison. There are laws on the books requiring notification, but since the Chinese Communist Party is above the law, these regulations are often ignored. In many cases when someone disappears, the family simply does not know why and has to go to many police stations and detention centers in search of their loved ones. In other cases, detained practitioners refuse to reveal their names in order to protect their families and employers from government retribution under the so-called "implication" system. This policy, which originated in feudal times, was resurrected during the Cultural Revolution. It is "guilt by association," a method of controlling people by punishing their family members or the companies they work for if they do something the government doesn't like--for instance, going to Tiananmen Square to appeal for Falun Gong. Although the exact number of Falun Gong practitioners that have disappeared during the persecution is not easily determined, it is believed to be in the tens of thousands. It is feared that many of these missing practitioners met painful, horrible deaths as victims of live organ harvesting. For more details about organ harvesting, see: Bloody Harvest: Revised Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China.
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May 2, 2024Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province: Two Falun Gong Practitioners Missing for More Than Two Decades
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Dec. 23, 2023Electrical Designer Detained Incommunicado for Nearly Six Months for Practicing Falun Gong
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Oct. 31, 2023Chongqing Woman Missing After Being Sentenced to Five Years for Practicing Falun Gong
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May 20, 2022Man Last Seen 20 Years Ago After Police Arrested Him for Doing Falun Gong Exercises
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Oct. 3, 2020Two Hunan Residents Missing for Over 10 and 20 Years, Respectively
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July 15, 2019Mr. Tian Mingjun Missing for Twenty Years
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May 24, 2017Hebei Woman Missing for 15 Years After Arrest
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Nov. 16, 2016Jilin Woman Arrested Again For Her Faith, Whereabouts Unknown
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Aug. 30, 2016Please Pay Attention to Missing Local Practitioners
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Aug. 14, 2016Xiantao Woman Missing After Recent Arrest
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March 23, 2016Guangdong Man Missing for Weeks; Family Suspects Arrest for Complaint Against Former Chinese Leader
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Jan. 19, 2016Ms. Wang Jialing from Heilongjiang Missing for 14 Years
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Dec. 25, 2014Mr. Cheng Fengxiang, Known for Tapping into a TV Network to Broadcast Persecution Facts, Missing Since 2005
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May 16, 2014Mr. Yue Naiming Missing, Police Take DNA Samples from His Home
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May 11, 2014Mr. Wu Liyou from Shanghai Arrested Again, Whereabouts Unknown
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March 23, 2014Zhang Min, Where Are You?
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March 12, 2014Mr. Wei Haiwen Missing for Eleven Years, His Household Registration Secretly Taken
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Nov. 9, 2013Mr. Sun Missing for 14 Years, His Family Distraught
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Oct. 4, 2013Ms. Gong Yumei from Shanghai Is Missing
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Jan. 19, 2013Ms. Yu Chunhua from Laixi Missing for Almost 12 Years (Photo)
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Aug. 27, 2012Falun Gong Practitioner Mr. Yang Guang Has Been Missing for Four Years
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May 19, 2012Zhao Xindong Mentally Ill After Persecution and Missing for Almost Three Years
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May 13, 2012Mr. Li Tuhan from Zhejiang Province Missing for Eight Years after Being Forced into Homelessness
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May 4, 2012Ms. Li Ruihuan from Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, Missing for Ten Years
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May 3, 2012The Chinese Government Has Legalized “Enforced Disappearance”
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April 24, 2012Practitioner Yu Guiping from the Gansu Province Research Institute Missing for Twelve Years (Photo)
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Oct. 22, 2010Ms. Zhou Yunxia Persecuted to the Point of Mental Collapse, Current Whereabouts Unknown (Photo)
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Oct. 10, 2009Mr. Bi Shijun and His Wife in Yingkou City, Liaoning Province Missing
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Oct. 7, 2009Mr. Zhang Weijin Missing for Two Years after Suffering from Mental Disability Due to Brutal Persecution
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Sept. 9, 2009Ms. Dong Fuyun from Changde City, Hunan Province, Still Missing after Four Years (Photo)
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July 30, 2009Imprisoned and Tortured for Eight Years in Shanghai's Tilanqiao Prison, Mr. Jiang Yong Goes Missing Once Again (Photo)
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July 12, 2009Falun Dafa Practitioner Mr. Li Guangwei Has Been Missing for Four Years (Photo)
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July 7, 2009Ms. Zhang Shengrong Missing for a Month and Half, Nobody Is Looking after Her Disabled Son
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June 21, 2009Two Female Practitioners Missing for Many Years
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June 10, 2009Ms. Chen Xia and Her Children Arrested and Missing for the Past Three Years
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May 18, 2009Practitioners from Shandong and Beijing Missing
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May 1, 2009Ms. Li Ruihuan from Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province Missing for Eight Years
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April 18, 2009Mr. Li Weizhi from Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, Went Missing from Beijing 9 Years Ago
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April 12, 2009Mr. Shi Jun in Shanghai Missing for Four Years (Photo)
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March 30, 2009Mr. Lu Yonghe Arrested in July, 2008 in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, His Whereabouts Still Unknown
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Jan. 28, 2009Ms. Li Xiuying from Changchun City and Mr. Zuo Chungang from Henan Province Disappeared Years Ago
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May 26, 2006Two Dafa Practitioners from Chongqing City and Chaozhou City Missing for Six Years
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March 28, 2002Massachusetts University Student Missing in China
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March 28, 2002Boston Herald: Falun Gong Practitioner Drops out of Sight in China
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June 27, 2000A Story of Looking for My Mother