[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 120 (Thursday, July 13, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H3485]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      RECOGNIZING THE EPOCH TIMES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
South Carolina (Mr. Norman) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Speaker, when John Tang was earning his doctoral 
degree in physics at Georgia Tech in 1999, he never imagined that some 
20 years later he would be heading the fourth largest American 
newspaper by subscription count.
  At the time, the Chinese Communist Party, the CCP, had just started 
persecuting the spiritual discipline Falun Gong, practiced at the time 
by roughly 1 in every 12 Chinese. People would practice the slow-moving 
exercises in the morning in parks before going to work.
  Just like any other persecution campaign by the CCP, the regime 
relied on the media it controlled, both the state media and the private 
media, to demonize and isolate the group. In an attempt to demonize 
Falun Gong and justify its persecution, the media played nonstop hate 
propaganda attacking this peaceful meditation group.
  John, who had immigrated to the United States, watched from afar in 
horror as friends were persecuted for their beliefs.
  John decided to take action. Despite having no experience or 
investment, he started Dajiyuan, the Chinese edition of The Epoch 
Times, in the basement of his home in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia.
  John was driven by a wish to provide uncensored information to not 
only people in China but to people around the world. Soon, other 
Chinese Americans left their well-paying jobs to help John with this 
seemingly impossible endeavor.
  The Epoch Times' first reporting group was established in China in 
the year 2000, covering key events with a main focus on the CCP's human 
rights abuses. The CCP, however, sees any kind of independent reporting 
on its brutal human rights abuses as a threat. Within a few months, 
Chinese police raided the underground newsroom, arresting every 
reporter and every editor. They were imprisoned, specifically Zhang 
Yuhui and Shi Shaoping, who received sentences of 10 years where they 
faced frequent torture.
  The Epoch Times' China operation went underground, yet the Chinese 
edition quickly became a leading website on Chinese current events with 
millions of readers. Its print newspaper is now distributed nationwide 
as well as in 30 other countries around the world. Every day, many 
Chinese break through the CCP's internet firewall to read The Epoch 
Times' website.
  All of this has not been easy. Since the newspaper's founding, the 
CCP has waged a nonstop campaign to totally destroy it. The party has 
threatened the newspaper's advertisers, they have launched incessant 
cyberattacks on its website and IT systems, and threatened relatives of 
staff members back in China.
  The harassment has not been limited just to China. In 2006, the home 
of then-chief engineer Peter Li was broken into by assailants, who tied 
him to a chair and beat him before stealing two computers.
  Meanwhile, in Hong Kong in 2019, assailants started a fire in the 
newspaper's printing press, and in 2021, armed men entered the building 
and used sledgehammers to smash printing equipment.
  The Epoch Times also inspired the Tuidang, which means ``Quit the 
CCP'' movement. As a result of The Epoch Times' publication of this 
special series ``Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party,'' which 
provides the most thorough interview to date of the true nature of the 
CCP, more than 410 million Chinese people, and counting, have sought to 
sever their membership in this party and its affiliated organizations.
  Realizing that the CCP had put enormous efforts into infiltrating the 
United States of America, especially media organizations, resulting in 
many U.S. media carrying the communist regime's propaganda, The Epoch 
Times launched in English in 2003 and started a print edition in New 
York in 2004.
  The Epoch Times' independent reporting has attracted a large 
readership in the United States, now ranking as the fourth largest 
newspaper in the country by subscriber count. Its website is read by 
tens of millions of people each month.
  Just like its Chinese companion, The Epoch Times prides itself on 
being independent and serving the interests of the readers. Under its 
slogan ``Truth and Tradition,'' The Epoch Times adheres to the best 
practices and highest principles of journalism and seeks to highlight 
the best of humanity.
  The Epoch Times now has editions published in 36 countries and in 22 
different languages.
  This is all about one word: Freedom.

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