Revenge of the Forbidden City: The Suppression of the Falungong in China, 1999–2005 by James W. Tong (review)

On April 22, 2012, hundreds of Falungong followers staged a march in Hong Kong to mark the thirteenth anniversary of their mass sit-in in Beijing, demanding a cessation of the suppression of the Falungong in mainland China and a dissolution of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). One of the largest qigong groups in China, it was in 1999 that the Falungong was brought to the world’s attention through two separate incidents. On April 25, 1999, more than ten thousand Falungong followers encircled the residential compound of the top leaders of the CCP, demanding that the authorities give the Falungong legal status. This was the largest protest in China since the 1989 pro-democracy student movement, and it came as a surprise to Chinese authorities. Three months later, on July 22, 1999, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs officially outlawed Falungong and embarked on a nationwide heavy-handed crackdown on the group. James Tong’s Revenge of the Forbidden City examines the state actions outlawing the Falungong and evaluates the effectiveness of the state in its anti-Falungong campaigns. Despite the voluminous extant literature on the Falungong, Tong’s book is a welcome addition as it offers new information and new insights into the dynamics between the Falungong and state actions. It shows in rich detail how the Chinese state prepared for its nationwide assault, implemented its ban on the group, launched a supporting propaganda campaign, and began a conversion program for followers.

The book is composed of nine chapters. The introductory chapter lays out the theoretical concern of the book. As a political science project, Tong’s major question is whether the CCP’s authoritarian power has been eroded by market reforms, as institutionalist theories suggest. Through studying the suppression of the Falungong, Tong aims to carry out an empirical test of existing theories on the decline of Chinese Communism. In particular, the book examines the monitoring and sanctioning mechanisms postulated by power dependency and market transition theories. The rich empirical data are presented from chapters 2 through 7 with a focus on the state’s preparation for the crackdown, its law enforcement operations after the crackdown, its anti-Falungong news media campaign, the educational and conversion programs for Falungong followers, the organizational structure of the anti-Falungong campaign, and the party meetings announcing the ban. A systematic evaluation of the effectiveness of the crackdown on the Falungong and the government’s subsequent anti-Falungong campaign is offered in chapter 8.

In the conclusion, Tong returns to the theoretical questions he poses in the introduction, and offers his own analysis. He argues, against the hypothesis of market transition theories, that the Chinese state has not lost its capacity to enforce compliance. As evidenced by the anti-Falungong campaign, the CCP still exercises its leadership authority in the political realm. Tong argues that it was the party, not the State Council nor the National People’s Congress, that took the lead in crisis management. The crisis management strategy was highly centralized and lacked the bureaucratic politics that typify situations where different institutional players compete for power in the Chinese political system. Below the central level, party organizations also took the lead in local anti-Falungong campaigns. Tong shows that it was party committees, not the government, that directed the work of local public security and law enforcement agencies and oversaw their operations. Thus, the party leadership was still dominant on both the central and local levels, and its role in dealing with an enemy of the state remains powerful. Tong concludes that, contrary to the idea that the power of the CCP has declined with market reforms, the anti-Falungong campaign demonstrates the enduring power of China’s authoritarian regime, its will to utilize its power, and its ability to achieve intended results.

This book has many...