In a chilling revelation that underscores the ongoing atrocities committed under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Mr. Cheng Pei Ming, the first known survivor of China’s state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting campaign, spoke to journalist Tasnim Nazeer for The Diplomat about his survival against the odds.
Cheng publicly shared his harrowing experience at a press conference in Washington, D.C., on Friday, exposing his story and the ongoing forced organ harvesting that is taking place in China. His testimony offered a rare and disturbing glimpse into the horrors faced by prisoners of conscience in China, particularly practitioners of Falun Gong. Cheng is said to be the only known survivor of China’s forced organ harvesting, and his testimony is unprecedented in exposing the hidden horrors of the brutal industry.
A Brutal Ordeal
Cheng, who hails from a rural village in Shandong Province, was repeatedly detained and tortured between 1999 and 2004 for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual practice rooted in Buddhist traditions. The Chinese Communist Party, which views Falun Gong as a threat to its authoritarian rule, has branded Falun Gong a dangerous cult and has systematically persecuted its adherents for decades.
Speaking from inside a car in Washington, D.C., Cheng told me, “One day in 2002, I was told to pack up and was suddenly transferred to Harbin Prison and later to Daqing Prison. It was there that I was tortured even more severely.”
Cheng recalled the escalating brutality he faced in detention. In a particularly harrowing episode, he was tortured to the point of losing consciousness.
During his imprisonment, Cheng was subjected to forced blood tests – an ominous indicator of his organs’ viability for transplantation. “They did blood tests on me many times and subjected me to all kinds of inhumane torture,” he noted.
“The torture in the prison was very systematic. One was mental and the other was physical [torture]. Mentally they put me and my family members under pressure as they wanted me to give up my faith in Falun Gong and if I didn’t they would force my wife to divorce me when I was in prison.” Cheng was told that if his wife did not divorce him she would face similar persecution as he was facing.
After hours of excruciating torture known as “the big stretch,” during which his limbs were painfully stretched from all corners, Cheng swallowed a small rusty nail and a blunt blade he had found in the torture room. Despite not showing immediate signs of ill health, he was forcibly taken to the hospital on November 16, 2004.
His family was informed that there was an 80 percent mortality rate associated with the operation, supposedly to remove the objects he had swallowed.
“They said that I had to undergo an operation, but I firmly refused. They held me down and gave me an injection, and I quickly lost consciousness,” Cheng recounted. “When I woke up, I was still in the hospital and felt terrible pain in my side. There was a bloody tube connected to me. I was shackled to the bed. ”
Cheng was shackled to a hospital bed, with an IV tube taped to his foot, a drainage tube in his left chest, oxygen tubes in his nose, and a 35 cm incision on the left side of his chest. Typically, the removal of such objects would be done via endoscopy, but Cheng had undergone open chest surgery.
“The doctors and several of the ‘610 Office’ officials were there,” he recalled. The 610 office is a notorious secretive and powerful organization within the CCP, tasked with implementing the crackdown on the Falun Gong.
Cheng Pei Ming shows his scar during an examination in the United States. Photo provided by the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China (ETAC)
Following the forced surgery, Cheng was returned to detention at Daqing Prison, where he experienced severe shortness of breath and fatigue. Despite enduring ongoing torture by prison guards for his refusal to renounce Falun Gong, Cheng remained resolute.
In March 2006, he began a hunger strike and was subsequently transferred to Daqing Longnan Hospital. Upon arrival, his sister was present and witnessed Cheng being shackled to a hospital bed. A prison guard informed his sister that Cheng had supposedly ingested a knife and that the surgery required to remove it had an 80 percent mortality rate. This was the second time the family had been given such information, but this time, neither Cheng nor his family were asked to consent to the operation.
Cheng maintains that he had not swallowed any object and had no medical condition necessitating surgery before being forcibly taken to the hospital. He believes that the authorities were planning to kill him.
That night, before the scheduled surgery, Cheng requested to be unshackled to use the restroom across the hall. Upon his return, the guard forgot to re-shackle him and fell asleep, inadvertently providing him with an opportunity to escape via the hospital’s internal fire stairs.
“I noticed the fire escape on my way to the restroom and I knew where it was so I could use this to try to escape out of the hospital… I ran downstairs and called a cab in front of the hospital and quickly went out of the area into Tianjin city,” he said.
Cheng escaped as a refugee to Thailand where he stayed in a United Nations refugee camp. After a dramatic escape from China and a lengthy nine-year period of evading the authorities, Cheng made it to the United States in 2020.
A Grim Discovery
Once in the U.S., he underwent a series of medical tests that confirmed his worst fears: segments of his liver and a portion of his left lung had been surgically removed.
“At that time, I didn’t realize that it was organ harvesting. After undergoing medical tests, I found out that my organs had been harvested,” Cheng explained. “Part of my liver and lungs had been removed. I didn’t even know about it until I was examined in the U.S.”
Transplant specialists have confirmed through recent CT scans that Cheng is missing segments 2 and 3 of his left liver lobe, as well as half of the lower left lobe of his lung. These findings, along with a detailed report on his case, were presented to a panel in Washington D.C.
A CT scan of Cheng Pei Ming reveals the lower part of his left lung has been removed. Photo provided by International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China (ETAC).
There have been consistent allegations that China is engaging in forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience – mostly members of Falun Gong, but also Uyghurs and Tibetans – for decades.
In 2021, U.N. human rights experts expressed concern over credible information about the practice. “Forced organ harvesting in China appears to be targeting specific ethnic, linguistic or religious minorities held in detention, often without being explained the reasons for arrest or given arrest warrants, at different locations,” they said. “We are deeply concerned by reports of discriminatory treatment of the prisoners or detainees based on their ethnicity and religion or belief.”
But hard evidence has been hard to come by. Analysts have had to rely on meticulous analysis of China’s organ donation statistics and medical records to investigate the issue.
Cheng’s testimony changes everything.
David Matas, an international human rights lawyer and co-founder of the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China (ETAC), commented on the significance of Cheng’s case:
This particular issue required intensive research, as there are no surviving victims, no bodies to autopsy, and no easily accessible crime scenes or documents… Till now, there has not been anybody who was able to get up and say they have been killed for their organs. The bodies are often cremated after organ harvesting, so there is nothing physically to look at.
Mr. Cheng can say he has been organ harvested as there are parts of his liver and lung that are missing, and it’s incontestable. It provides a visual element, a speaking victim that we’ve never seen before with that type of abuse.
Matas emphasized the unprecedented nature of Cheng’s survival, but also noted that “Mr. Cheng’s survival itself is chilling because it’s the first case I have seen where someone didn’t even know about it until he got to the U.S. and was examined.”
“This case reinforces that Falun Gong practitioners are demonized to the point where they are not treated fairly, and that mistreatment extends to organ harvesting.”
Matas, who has done extensive research into organ harvesting in China, also provided a statement at the press conference that underscored the severity of the situation and sought accountability from the government of China. Matas believes there are over an estimated 100,000 people killed through organ harvesting in China per year.
A Tireless Advocate’s Efforts
Professor Sen Nieh, who has spent decades rescuing prisoners of conscience like Cheng, played a pivotal role in bringing him to the United States. “It started in late 2015 when a friend brought pictures of Mr. Cheng with a long scar on his body and shared his story,” Nieh recalled. “This touched me deeply, and I decided to help him. I visited members of Congress, foreign affairs committees, and senators, many of whom were very touched and wrote letters of support.”
After years of effort and with the support of colleagues, Nieh succeeded in relocating Cheng to the U.S. in July 2020. “He was hiding from the CCP in Bangkok too, and ultimately the rescue took five years. It was a miracle to me; I almost gave up, but it worked out. Mr. Cheng probably was the last group of people who could come to the States before the COVID-19 lockdown.”
Nieh emphasized the importance of Cheng’s testimony, stating, “Nobody knows what we meant by a survivor of forced organ harvesting because 99.9 percent die after being organ harvested. This is the first case we have found of a survivor.”
He further explained the medical evidence: “We have shown all the results that confirm that the left lobe of Mr. Cheng’s liver had been cut, and a small part of his lung had been cut. This case will force the CCP to face the fact that this person is a survivor, and they can no longer deny it.”
A Life Scarred by Injustice
Cheng’s survival, though miraculous, has left him with deep physical and emotional scars. “I’ve lost years of my life, and the fear of being hunted by the CCP never truly goes away,” Cheng admitted, underlining the long-lasting impact of his experience.
“Sometimes, I wake up in the middle of the night, reliving those days in prison. The faces of the guards, the cold sterility of the hospital room, the feeling of utter helplessness – it’s all still so vivid in my mind,” he shared.
Yet, despite everything he has endured, Cheng remains determined to speak out, recalling a pact with other Falun Gong prisoners of conscience back in China. “When I was in China in the prison I had an agreement with other Falun Gong practitioners that whoever would come out alive would tell the world to stop the evil crimes by the CCP, but many of them were already getting killed.”
By providing evidence of forced organ harvesting, “I am not only speaking for myself I am also speaking up for all those who have been tortured to death [by the CCP] who would never have the opportunity to be able to speak again and tell the world what really happened,” Cheng declared.
A Call to Action
As Cheng bravely shares his story with the world, the international community faces a critical moment. The Falun Gong Protection Act, introduced to the U.S. Senate last week, aims to address the crimes of forced organ harvesting in China. The legislation is a vital step in holding the CCP accountable for these heinous acts.
For Nieh and Matas, Cheng’s survival is both a beacon of hope and a stark reminder of the ongoing persecution in China. “Organ harvesting is still happening in China, and it’s not only happening but increasing out of control,” Nieh warned. “Our leaders cannot turn their eyes away.”
Matas echoed this urgency, stating, “We need to understand that forced organ harvesting isn’t just a human rights violation – it’s a crime against humanity. It’s happening on a scale that is almost unimaginable, and it demands a response from the global community.”
Cheng too said he hopes the heinous crime of organ harvesting can be stopped by the international community after hearing his lived experience of it.
“I am one of the lucky ones – I survived. But there are countless others who did not. Their voices were silenced, but I will continue to speak for them. The world needs to know what is happening in China. This evil cannot be allowed to continue.”