Former Chinese dictator leaves gruesome legacy

The mastermind of mass imprisonment, torture, and killing in China has died. For hundreds of millions in China, Jiang will mostly be remembered as the architect of the most systematic, deadly, and protracted assault on Chinese citizens in decades: the persecution of Falun Gong. Jiang ordered the genocide of 70-100 million people because he felt threatened by its popularity, and belongs alongside the worst tyrants in history. The dregs of humanity that caused unmeasurable suffering upon his fellow mankind.

As a traditional spiritual and exercise discipline in the Buddhist tradition, Falun Gong quickly gained popularity in China after its public introduction in 1992. It attracted “qigong” enthusiasts and those drawn to its moral philosophy based on the virtues of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance, and adherents experienced many health benefits. Many government officials even practiced it before it was banned by Jiang.

The consequences of Jiang’s fateful decision in 1999 to eradicate the practice have been devastating. Millions of innocent Falun Gong practitioners have been abducted and then illegally jailed in prisons, some for over a decade. Jiang’s worst crime is the state-sanctioned mass killing of Falun Gong practitioners, so that their vital organs could be extracted and sold for organ transplantation.

We can only hope this human rights atrocity will end with his death and the killing will stop.

Katherine Combes

Kalispell