Philadelphia Rally Marks 466 Million People Withdrawing From China’s Communist Party

PHILADELPHIA—“I applaud, and I celebrate, those who are rejecting a party that has stood for repression, oppression, and suppression,” Christine Flowers, a Philadelphia immigration lawyer and syndicated columnist, said at a rally in Chinatown on Sept. 19.

“The party that carried out the massacre at Tiananmen Square, the party that imprisoned political dissidents, the party that has brought nothing but pain to a magnificent people, and history.”

The rally honoring the 466 million Chinese people who have renounced their affiliations with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was hosted by the Greater Philadelphia Falun Dafa Association.

Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is a spiritual practice centered on the principles of truth, compassion, and tolerance. Introduced to the public in China in the early 1990s, it gained widespread popularity, reaching between 70 million and 100 million practitioners by the end of the decade, according to official estimates at the time.

Flowers told the crowd that her work with asylum seekers had shown her how authoritarian governments can restrict faith, expression, and independent thought.

She has practiced immigration law for nearly three decades and has concentrated on asylum cases for about 20 years.

“This is the hallmark of the totalitarian regime, and this is the core principle of communist China,” she said.

“While the politics of these governments differ in some ways, there is a common thread: dehumanize the citizens, brutalize them into submission, strip them of their individual identities, their ability to practice their faith, to think freely, to express their views in the public square, to publish their opinions without being jailed, and to simply live their lives according to their consciences.”

Christine Flowers, a Philadelphia immigration lawyer and syndicated columnist, speaks at a rally in Philadelphia on Sept. 19, 2026. Serena Shi/The Epoch Times

The Tuidang (“Quit the CCP”) movement began after the 2004 publication of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, as a peaceful campaign based on individual declarations of withdrawal.

The Philadelphia City Council issued a citation initiated by Councilman Mark Squilla supporting the Quit the CCP global movement, and honoring millions of courageous Chinese people who, according to the citation, are advancing peaceful change in China and contributing to greater security throughout the world.

“Over the past 22 years, millions of Chinese people around the world have stood up to say ‘No’ to the CCP, fostering an unprecedented, peaceful movement for transformation and change in China,” the citation stated.

The Philadelphia City Council issued a citation initiated by Councilman Mark Squilla supporting the Quit the CCP global movement. Courtesy of Greater Philadelphia Falun Dafa Association

It added that thousands of people continue to submit withdrawal declarations each day.

The citation said the movement had offered the international community “a renewed vision of a world free from communism through peaceful action.”

A separate citation attributed to Pennsylvania state Rep. Mary Isaacson said the state House “supports the Tuidang movement and extends our gratitude to the courage and dedication of its members, past and present, in seeking to bring about a new age of consciousness in China and around the world through peaceful movement.”

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives issued a citation initiated by Rep. Mary Isaacson supporting the Quit the CCP global movement. Courtesy of Greater Philadelphia Falun Dafa Association

The citation referred to decades of political persecution in China and named Tiananmen Square demonstrators, Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Falun Gong practitioners among those affected.

“It is powerful when people who have been raised in a totalitarian regime with no other options have the courage to dig down into their souls and say, ‘I can’t support this any longer,’ and they walk away,” Flowers said in an interview after her speech.

She said Chinese people who reject the CCP have endured generations of dehumanization. “For them to stand up and have the courage to say no more-it’s powerful,” she said.

“And it’s a message for those of us who have not grown up in that kind of an environment, and it tells us that we too can push back if we find that there are things that our own government is doing that we don’t support.”

Flowers urged U.S. leaders to raise human rights concerns in dealings with Beijing, including the treatment of Falun Gong practitioners, Christians, political dissidents and students.

“Trying to create ‘free market’ ties with a country that does not comprehend the meaning of the word free is farcical,” she added.

Flowers specifically called for human rights to be discussed during President Donald Trump’s planned Sept. 24 meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Flowers said the setting added meaning to the event. A lifelong Philadelphian, she described the city as a center of American democracy and said speaking for people without political freedom in the “cradle of liberty” moved her.

Christine Flowers, a Philadelphia immigration lawyer and syndicated columnist, signed a petition supporting Falun Gong and victims of forced organ harvesting protection bill at a rally in Philadelphia on Sept. 19, 2026. Steve Wen/The Epoch Times

Dr. Mark Thomas, an assistant professor and coordinator in the Department of Political Science and Economics at La Salle University, submitted a statement supporting the rally.

“We, as Americans, are in a country which is a light on a hill,” Thomas wrote. “We owe it to ourselves and to the repressed peoples around the world not to put our light under a basket. We are the voice of the silenced.”

Thomas asked Americans to condemn the unjust imprisonment of those who want to express their conscience.

“Condemn the Chinese Communist Party for torturing and killing and maiming! Condemn the Chinese Communist Party for repressing believers, be they Muslims, Christians, Falun Dafa! But more than condemning quietly, call on Congress to sanction the CCP!”

The rally also drew passersby Viviana Takfoor, who left Venezuela with her family 25 years ago and now lives in Philadelphia, linked the event to her experience of economic and political decline in her native country.

“It’s terrible. I am from Venezuela, so I understand what communism is,” Takfoor said.

After encountering the rally while walking with her daughter, she signed a petition supporting the Falun Gong and Victims of Forced Organ Harvesting Protection Act, “to be part of the ending of these suppressors of the world.”

Viviana Takfoor, an immigrant from Venezuela, in Philadelphia’s Chinatown on Sept. 19, 2026. Steve Wen/The Epoch Times

Takfoor welcomed the reported 466 million withdrawals from the CCP.

“Finally, they understood that that’s not a way of living, not a way of moving a country forward for their people and their own,” she said. “It’s fabulous. People need to wake up.”

Nancy Lee, a sales associate at Bloomingdale’s in King of Prussia Mall, also stopped at the event.

She said reports of forced organ harvesting in China saddened her and urged people to share information about human rights abuses through social media.

Nancy Lee, a sales associate at Bloomingdale's in King of Prussia Mall in Philadelphia’s Chinatown on Sept. 19, 2026. Steve Wen/The Epoch Times

“We’re supposed to be treating people like humans,” Lee said. “Taking away people’s organs should absolutely be illegal. It should be banned.”

She called the withdrawal campaign “a great movement” and said people around the world should learn about it and offer their support.

For Flowers, the public declarations represented both a message to China’s leaders and a lesson for people in democratic societies.

“People who are here today, standing up for human rights, give me hope that the work that I’m doing actually will make a difference,” she said.