Clearwisdom Weekly

On September 12, 2005, as the UN World Summit that will mark the 60^th anniversary of the United Nations was about to convene, Falun Gong practitioners gathered in front of the UN headquarters in New York to call upon leaders from all countries and the public to show concern over the brutal persecution of Falun Gong that is taking place in China. They also cautioned the Chinese leader Hu Jintao, who is about to come to New York to attend the UN Summit, not to continue following Jiang Zemin's persecution policies, but to immediately end the persecution of Falun Gong and release all illegally imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners.

At 12:30 p.m., Falun Gong practitioners held a press conference. Six practitioners recounted briefly the persecution their family members are suffering in China. These true stories illustrated that the cruel persecution of Falun Gong is still going on in China.

Ms. Yeong-ching Foo's fiancé, American citizen Charles Li was arrested on January 22, 2003 at Guangzhou Airport. He was then sentenced to three years in prison. The reason for his arrest was simply because he practices Falun Gong and wanted to expose the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong to the Chinese people. In nearly three years of prison life, Charles Li has been subjected to beatings, being force-fed, being forced to do slave labor for a long period of time, and being forced to watch videos slandering Falun Gong.

American citizen Liang Xiaofeng lives in Hong Kong. Her mother Yuan Yuju and her elder brother Liang Jinghui were arrested on July 19, 2005 from their family's computer shop in Luzhou City, Sichuan Province. The reason for their arrest was that they practice Falun Gong. On August 17, Yuan Yuju was charged for selling MP3 players with Falun Gong music at the computer shop and distributing Falun Gong flyers. She was sentenced to one year of forced labor and is being detained at Zizhong City's Nanmusi Women's Forced Labor Camp in Sichuan Province. Liang Jinghui is being detained at Luzhou City Detention Center. The police will not allow the lawyer his family hired to intervene, and refuse to let family members visit him.

Chinese American software engineer Zheng Wenli's parents Zheng Ruihuan and Liu Yinglan were both senior electric power engineers of Jidong Oilfield in Tangshan City, Hebei Province. At noon on July 8, 2005, they were abducted by officers from Zibo National Security Bureau and Binhai Police Department of Shengli Oilfield in Shandong Province. The police also confiscated computer equipment, Falun Gong books and materials from their home. Zheng Ruihua and his wife Liu Yinglan are still being detained at Shengli Oilfield Detention Center (Binhai Police Department's detention center). They are conducting a hunger strike to protest the illegal persecution.

Appeal for people's concern and an end to the persecution

Overseas Falun Gong practitioners' family members in China are suffering persecution. This is only a small example of the brutal persecution happening in China. In the past six more years, tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners in China have been sentenced to forced labor, sentenced to prison, forced to receive brainwashing and forced to become homeless. Nearly 3,000 practitioners are verified to have died as a result of the persecution. All this has been covered up by the CCP's lies and propaganda and information blockade.

As the United Nations World Summit is about to convene, Falun Gong practitioners will hold a 72-hour relay hunger strike in hopes of arousing more people's attention and support for stopping the persecution. Falun Gong practitioners also hope to caution Chinese leader Hu Jintao, who is about to come to America, not to continue following Jiang Zemin's persecution policies, but to immediately end the persecution of Falun Gong and release all Falun Gong practitioners who are illegally imprisoned.

Ms. Yeong-ching Foo stated that, but for the appeal of overseas Falun Gong practitioners, and the support and concern from the American people and people from all over the world, she dared not to imagine what Charles Li's situation would be like. Charles Li, an American citizen, was sentenced to a lengthy prison terms by the CCP for his belief. Freedom of belief is the foundation for the establishment of the U.S; we should not allow the CCP to go on committing such crimes of trampling upon human rights. As Charles Li is still in prison, we should keep up our efforts until Charles and tens of thousands other Falun Gong practitioners obtain their freedom.

At the press conference, practitioners also read a letter to President Bush from U.S. Congressman Chris Smith. The letter requests that President Bush raise the topic of China's human rights, including the persecution of Falun Gong, when he meets with Hu Jintao.

Several Chinese and Western media outlets attended the press conference and conducted interviews.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/9/13/110339.html

Hu Jintao's visit to Canada provided Falun Gong practitioners a good opportunity to clarify the truth to the society. Over the two weeks prior to Hu's visit, anti-torture exhibits were held on busy Toronto streets and in front of City Hall and Queens Park, the heart of Ontario's Provincial government. Various summer street celebrations were also good places for practitioners to distribute truth-clarification materials and collect petition signatures.

Prior to Hu's arrival in Canada, Falun Gong practitioners sent a petition letter signed by more than 100,000 people to Prime Minister Paul Martin. The letter read, "In the persecution of Falun Gong over the past six years in China, at least 2780 practitioners died due to the persecution. Hundreds of thousands of practitioners were imprisoned and mistreated. We hope that Prime Minister Martin would openly urge Hu to end the persecution of Falun Gong when he meets with Hu."

In order to allow Hu Jintao and his retinue to hear or see the facts, practitioners hastened to make many banners. They were not afraid of the difficulties and hung banners on the highway bridges on the route from the airport to the hotel where Hu stayed. Outside the hotel where Hu stayed, practitioners started their preparation as early as 7 a.m. At around 11:30 a.m., Hu's motorcade secretly entered the hotel from a small street behind the hotel. The well prepared Falun Gong practitioners were the only group of people who actually "greeted" Hu's motorcade. Outside Hu's hotel, practitioners exposed the persecution facts and urged to stop the persecution and punish those evildoers. Their appeal has never ended.

Around noon time, at the east side of Hu's hotel, a group of people circled several Falun Gong practitioners and cursed them loudly. According to Ms. Li's description after the incident, "Those people did not only curse us, but they also pushed and pulled us and attempted to rob the banners in our hands. Later, police officers came and drove them away."

"Nevertheless, we persisted in not swearing back when sworn at, and not striking back when pushed or pulled," said Ms. Li, "Later, a lady said to us with indignation that those people were from the Chinese Consulate. What they did was wrong. She went to argue with them, but they did not listen to her. That lady and her child left the 'welcoming team'"

A young western lady named Sarah-Grace expressed her wishes to learn Falun Gong. She said, "This is the first time that I saw such kind of people. All silently sat and did meditation. I did not see a leader. The tranquil and unique atmosphere really touched me."

Hu and his retinue went to visit the Niagara Falls which is 150 km away from Toronto in the afternoon. Some practitioners also drove over there.

Practitioners Mr. Liu and Mr. Ran drove into the Niagara Fall area. The police vehicles behind them sealed off the road. As soon as they unfurled the huge banner which read, "Hu Jintao, the time Gods and people give you is limited", Hu's motorcade passed by. What they saw first was a Falun Gong banner.

Practitioner Ms. Wu unfurled a Falun Gong truth-clarification banner. She stood exactly at the place where Hu Jintao got off his vehicle. She shouted in a close vicinity to Hu and his retinue, "Falun Gong is great!" and then play the song, "Falun Gong is good."

A practitioner Ms. Zhou held a sign that exposed the persecution suffered by Mainland practitioner Ms. Gao Rongrong. She stood on the passageway from where one can overlook the Falls. She accidentally met Hu Jintao and his followers. She walked over and highly held the sign and shouted, "Immediately stop the persecution!" and "Bring the evildoers who persecute Falun Gong to justice!"

On September 9, 2005, Canadian Prime Minister Martin brought up 10 human rights cases including Falun Gong during his meeting with Hu Jintao in Ottawa. He clearly pointed out that Canadian people pay attention to China's human rights record. During his talk with Hu, he would not put more weight on trade and investment than on human rights.

On the afternoon of September 10, 2005, Falun Gong practitioners from the US and Canada went to Niagara Fall to appeal to Hu Jintao and other visiting CCP officials to stop the persecution of Falun Gong. In front of where Hu and other officials got out of their car, a banner reading "Falun Gong" was set up. As practitioners held up two photos depicting tortures used on Falun Gong practitioners in China, Hu was only several steps away from them.

On the sloped lawn just opposite where Hu's motorcade stopped, Falun Gong practitioners held big banners, reading, "Hu Jintao, the time given to you by God and the people is limited," and a large photo depicting brutal tortures. Practitioners standing in front of the CCP officials saw many people gaze at these eye-catching banners. They hoped that Hu himself would not miss them, either.

Practitioners also clarified the truth to tourists around them, telling them about the persecution happening in China, and their purpose for coming to the waterfall. The practitioners also explained to the tourists how the CCP organized a "welcoming team" to put on a false show of peace and prosperity and cover up its crimes of murdering and violating people's human rights. Many people understood. When practitioners asked, "Do our banners block your field of vision?" They replied, "Lift them higher."

A reporter from the Washington Post interviewed practitioners on the spot. One of the questions the reporter asked was, "The persecution was initiated by former leader Jiang. What do you think of the present leader, Hu Jintao?" A practitioner replied, "Hu Jintao has been in office for over three years, and the inhumane persecution is still going on, so he cannot avoid responsibility. We hope that through this visit, Hu can truly learn the truth, make a right choice, and stop the persecution."

One Sunday morning at the Titiwangsa practice site in Kuala Lumpur, a young man came to learn about the truth of Falun Gong. Afterwards, he said that the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) where he studies would hold a carnival-like campus activity. He invited us to participate so as to enrich their programs and provide more education.

Faculty members and students from UTM practice Falun Gong exercises with practitioners

Students and faculty members from UTM listen to practitioners' truth-clarification and sign petition in support of Falun Gong

Thus, practitioners held group practice, truth clarification, and a signature drive on the campus of UTM from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on September 5, 6 and 9. Although that was during work hours, many practitioners actively took part in the activity. Practitioners felt that this was a precious chance to clarify the truth to students at this university. Some students immediately learned the exercises on the spot. Most students signed the petition to call for an end to the persecution as soon as they learned about the facts of Falun Gong.

The last afternoon, the university held a "sports for all". Falun Gong was selected as the main exercise to replace the quick rhythm gymnastic exercises that were usually picked in the past. At 3pm, a ten-people drum troupe entered the sports ground. They marched to the lawn. The sound of drums resounded throughout the campus. Then the "sports for all" began. Practitioners dressed in golden exercise suits led nearly 100 students to practice the Falun Gong exercises. After the exercise demonstration, some students did not feel that they had enough practice and requested to increase the practice time. The university proved their request. Practitioners help students to divide into several small groups and continued to teach them the exercises. The atmosphere was quite peaceful.

After the activity, the university cordially invited us to take part in the concluding ceremony. An edited film reviewing the activities was featured. People surprisingly found that practitioners' waist drum troupe and a young practitioner demonstrating meditation (the fifth Falun Gong exercise set) appeared on the screen. A round of warm applause sounded. Afterwards, we were invited to have dinner with the university's honored guests. A gentleman who sat beside me asked the meaning of the exercise demonstration and the waist drum performance given in the afternoon. I therefore detailed the facts about Falun Gong to all guests at the table. I felt that they listened to me carefully and they were quite interested in Falun Gong. They also expressed their sympathy towards those persecuted practitioners. Later I found out that the gentleman was a dean of UTM and one of the ladies on the table was a professor at UTM.