Photographs of charred corpses, disembowelled bodies and a graphic image of a man who has apparently hung himself from a rafter are designed to shock.
After the euphoria of Beijing's Olympic win at the weekend, the two-week exhibition, which exposes the dangers of religious cults, is a sign that life is back to normal in the Chinese capital.
The exhibition which opened at Beijing's Military Museum at the weekend specifically targets the Falun Gong spiritualist movement. One of the first guests was the Vice-Premier, Mr Li Lanqing, fresh from presiding over Beijing's triumph in Moscow. Mr Li's responsibilities extend from sport, through culture to science - and cults.
"We have won a great victory in struggling against Falun Gong, but this cult will not be reconciled to its defeat," a solemn Mr Li said. "We have won the right to host the 2008 Olympic Games. This shows that the international community has acknowledged the fact that China is marked by social stability and progress, its economy is prospering, and its people are living a peaceful and comfortable life."
The juxtaposition of the Olympics and the exhibition was purely coincidental, insisted a spokesman for the State Council information office. So too was the fact that tomorrow is the second anniversary of the Chinese Government's banning of Falun Gong as an "evil cult".
The gruesome display has been mounted by departments at the heart of China's security apparatus: the Propaganda Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, the State Council Office for the Prevention and Handling of Cults, the Public Security Bureau and the Ministry of Justice.
State-run media reported more than 10,000 visitors went to the show on the first day. "It is not freely open to the public because we are worried that Falun Gong practitioners will come here and do bad things," said Mr Zhao Chongxin, from the information office of the organising committee.
The paranoia with which the Chinese Government regards Falun Gong is born of the movement's ability to organise and continue to function despite the best efforts of the country's vast security apparatus. Ever since 10,000 followers surrounded the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in April 1999, China has waged a relentless campaign to eradicate the movement it once embraced.
It is not Falun Gong's mixture of Buddhist and Taoist beliefs, qi gong exercise routines and the erratic gospel of its founder Li Hongzhi that the regime most fears. It is the movement's ability to resist. This has been tempered by genuine public outrage and horror at the five alleged Falun Gong members' self-immolation in Tiananmen Square last January.
Behind Mr Zhao a display declares: "The evil cult of Falun Gong is a tumour on society." A family including two young children gazes at photographs depicting unspeakable horrors of the self-immolations.
The Falun Gong is not the only cult targeted by the exhibition. Other displays include the Japanese Aum Shinriyko, the Texas Branch Davidians, the Korean-based Reunification Church (the Moonies), the Church of Scientology and the Jehovah's Witnesses