By Yang Hao, Vision Times
WASHINGTON D.C. — On July 21, a congressional forum in the nation’s capital recognized the global Tuidang (Quit the CCP) movement, as 31 Chinese participants publicly declared their withdrawal from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations.
During the event, Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) honored the center for its efforts in defending freedom of belief, speech, and human dignity. He also praised the movement’s commitment to peacefully exposing the CCP’s long string of human rights abuses while supporting those who choose to quit the regime.
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‘China is not the CCP’
Speaking at the forum, Wang Zhiyuan, chairman of the Global Service Center for Quitting the CCP, said the Chinese regime has denied its citizens meaningful choice for more than seven decades. “From childhood, people are placed under the CCP’s control,” Wang said. “From joining the Young Pioneers, to the Communist Youth League, to the Communist Party, it gradually labels each person while using the machinery of the state and propaganda to portray itself as China’s sole representative.”
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He stressed that, “China is not the Chinese Communist Party, and the Chinese people should not be represented by the CCP.” Wanted noted that more than 464 million people have publicly declared their withdrawal from the CCP, the Communist Youth League, or the Young Pioneers through the Tuidang website. He said nearly 6.95 million people made such declarations during the first half of 2026, averaging more than 38,000 withdrawals per day.
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Wang described the movement as “an unprecedented spiritual awakening in human history,” saying it is “not an armed revolution, but an awakening of conscience in which ordinary people declare from the depths of their hearts, ‘I refuse to let the CCP define who I am.'”
He argued that many overseas Chinese have become unfairly associated with the CCP because the Party has deliberately blurred the distinction between China and its ruling government. “I urge our fellow Chinese to proactively separate themselves from the CCP,” Wang said. “It is the best protection for ourselves and the next generation, so we are no longer mistakenly viewed as an extension of the CCP.”
Addressing those who remain undecided, he added, “Your identity is a dignity bestowed by Heaven, not the political property of the CCP. Take it back. Refuse to be held hostage by it.” Following Wang’s remarks, 31 Chinese attendees publicly announced their withdrawal from CCP organizations and received Tuidang certificates.
Growing global support
During the forum, Christopher A. McNair, representing Rep. Ogles’ office, read a statement entered into the Congressional Record recognizing both the Tuidang movement and the Global Service Center for Quitting the CCP and recognizing the organizations’s efforts in upholding freedom of speech.
In the statement, Ogles praised Falun Gong practitioners for enduring more than two decades of persecution in China because of their faith. Also known as Falun Dafa, Falun Gong is an ancient spiritual discipline rooted in the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. It was introduced in China to the public by Mr. Li Hongzhi in 1992.
After seeing its rapid rise in popularity as a threat to its authoritarian rule, the CCP launched a brutal persecution to eradicate the practice in July 1999. Since then, thousands of practitioners have died as a result of the persecution, while many others continue to face routine surveillance, arbitrary travel bans, detention, and imprisonment. The persecution has continued unabated for over two decades.
“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the courage of Falun Gong practitioners,” said Ogles. “For more than two decades, they have endured severe persecution in China because of their faith, a faith centered on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, and dedicated to reviving China’s traditional culture and values.”
Advocating for freedom of belief
Citing data compiled by Minghui.org, a U.S.-based website that documents and tracks the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China, Ogles wrote that at least 5,910 Falun Gong adherents have since died as a result of persecution by the CCP, while practitioners have also been subjected to arbitrary detention, torture, and forced organ harvesting.
He added, “I rise today to recognize the Tuidang movement (the movement to quit the Chinese Communist Party) and to commend the Global Service Center for Quitting the Chinese Communist Party for its work defending freedom of conscience and human dignity.”
The statement further said the movement reflects “an awakening of conscience and a return to traditional Chinese culture,” helping lay “a moral foundation for China’s future freedom and justice” while resisting the global spread of communist ideology.
Ogles also warned of the CCP’s worsening record of transnational repression, noting reports that the Tuidang Global Service Center received eight threatening letters between April 20 and April 28, 2025, and that one of its outreach booths in Flushing, New York, was vandalized on April 29.
He concluded, “Mr. Speaker, the right to hold and peacefully express one’s beliefs, and to freely choose whether to join or leave an organization, are fundamental human rights. I commend the courage of Falun Gong practitioners and the volunteers of the Tuidang movement, and I praise the Global Service Center for Quitting the Chinese Communist Party for defending freedom of conscience. I urge my colleagues to join me in standing with all those who peacefully advocate for human dignity and freedom of belief.”
Decades of oppression
The forum also featured testimony from Falun Gong practitioners who described their experiences of persecution in China. Zhang Wanxia, of New York, recounted years of detention, forced labor, torture, and family separation after she and her husband refused to renounce their faith.
“When I was more than eight months pregnant, I shouted ‘Falun Dafa is good’ in Tiananmen Square,” Zhang said, adding, “Seven or eight police officers threw me to the ground and punched me hard in the stomach in front of everyone.”
She said police repeatedly detained her, forced her into brainwashing sessions, deprived her of sleep for 15 consecutive days, and subjected her to physical and verbal abuse while in a labor camp.
“I was forcibly subjected to blood tests and organ examinations,” she said, adding, “When the doctors saw how healthy my internal organs were, they appeared unusually excited. It wasn’t until the international community exposed the CCP’s forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners that I realized how terrifying that so-called medical examination really was.”
Today, Zhang said her son studies classical Chinese dance at Feitian University and performs as a trainee with Shen Yun Performing Arts, the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company that’s based in New York. Founded in 2006, Shen Yun showcases the beauty and splendor of traditional Chinese culture and art prior to the ravages of communism. The company currently boasts eight equally sized troupes that tour and perform across the world simultaneously.
Many of Shen Yun’s performers and staff are practitioners of Falun Gong. Because of the persecution, Shen Yun is not currently able to perform in mainland China.
Maryland accountant Alisa Zhou called for the immediate release of her mother, Wang Youmei, who she said was arrested in China’s Wuhan Province on April 15, 2026, for practicing Falun Gong. “Today, I stand here because my mother cannot speak for herself,” Zhou said. “At this very moment, she is being held in a detention center in Wuhan simply because she refuses to give up her faith.”
She urged the international community to continue advocating for prisoners of conscience. “I am not asking the world to stand against China,” Zhou said. “I am asking the world to stand with the Chinese people. Freedom of belief is not only an American value; it is a universal human right that belongs to all humanity.”
