News and Events from Around the World
- Chile & Bolivia: Criminal Lawsuits Filed Against Jiang Zemin And Other High Ranking Chinese Officials
- Truth-clarification Stories from Manhattan
- US Court Affirms That Beijing Communist Party Secretary Liu Qi Is Liable for Crimes of Torture
- Reports on 2004 Australia Falun Dafa Conference and Activities on World Human Rights Day
- New York: Organizations Gather in front of UN Headquarters on World Human Rights Day to Condemn the Chinese Communist Party's Persecution of Falun Gong
- Speech by Lord Thurlow, Former UK Under-Secretary of State, on World Human Rights Day
- UK: Member of the European Parliament Write on the International Human Rights Day in Support of Falun Gong
- UK: Statement from Jill Evans MEP on World Human Rights Day: "I Share the Concerns of Many about the Treatment of Practitioners of Falun Gong."
- Mr. Liu Yongqi from Jilin Province Dies Within Three Days of Being Sent to Forced Labor Camp in December 2004
- The Brutal Treatment of Women Detained in Liaoning Female's Prison
- Violation of Professor Zhang Mengye's Human Rights for Practicing Falun Gong
- Young Female School Teacher Is Mentally Disabled as a Result of the Persecution
- An Appeal from an Overseas Chinese Student: "Please Release my Mother"
- Radio Free Asia Interviews German Falun Gong Practitioner on World Human Rights Day
- Migros Magazine 45 (Switzerland): "A wonderful energy began to circulate throughout my body"
- Leicester Mercury (UK): Chinese prison abuse highlighted
- The Age, Australia: Chinese leader sued in Sydney court
Falun Gong Practitioners' Righteous Action in China
- A Government Official in the Judiciary: Writing Letters to Clarify the Truth of Falun Gong
- Clarifying the Truth at a Birthday Party for an Older Practitioner
- Correcting the Environment With Righteous Thoughts
- Making a Breakthrough and Openly Clarifying the Truth Door to Door
The People Awaken to the Truth
- Taxi Driver Chases Practitioner to Ask for Truth Clarification Materials
- Protecting Falun Gong Books and Surviving an Accident Unscathed
- Witnessing the Miracle of Falun Dafa
Falun Gong Practitioners' Personal Experiences
- Woman's Terminal Cancer Completely Healed after Practicing Falun Gong for Only Five Days
- A Lymphoma Patient's Life is Saved by Practicing Falun Gong
News and Events from Around the World
Chile & Bolivia: Criminal Lawsuits Filed Against Jiang Zemin And Other High Ranking Chinese Officials
During Chinese president Hu Jintao's visit to Chile for the 2004 APEC Summit, Falun Gong practitioners filed a criminal lawsuit for the crimes of genocide and torture against former Chinese President Jiang Zemin and other high ranking Chinese officials.
On the 18th of November 2004, the same day Hu Jintao arrived for the APEC Summit, a criminal lawsuit was filed in the Chilean capital of Santiago against various Chinese officials who are directly implicated in the persecution of Falun Gong. The lawsuit specifically accuses four Chinese officials, Jiang Zemin, China's former president; Luo Gan, former Minister of Public Security; Li Lanqing, a high ranking member of the Communist Party, and Bo Xilai, the current Minister of Commerce and former governor of Liaoning Province, for crimes committed against Falun Gong practitioners during the persecution. Their crimes include genocide, kidnapping, torture and cruelty. Chile's legal code recognizes the principle of universal jurisdiction for such serious crimes. The lawsuit was signed by five Falun Gong practitioners, who were represented by three Chilean human rights lawyers, Mrs. Hiram Villagra Castro, Mr. Hugo Humberto Galvez and Mr. Cristian Pablo Campos.
Chile was the final stop for Hu Jintao during his visit to South America, having visited both Brazil and Argentina before arriving for the APEC Summit, where he signed various lucrative trade agreements between these Latin American nations.
On the afternoon of November 16th, 2004, another lawsuit was filed in neighboring Bolivia. The Bolivian lawsuit is against Jiang Zemin and Luo Gan for the crimes of genocide, torture, reduction to the state of slavehood or a similar state, threats, and the violation of liberty, which has been inflicted on millions of Falun Gong practitioners. It is a criminal lawsuit and was filed by Bolivian lawyers Don Marcos Zabalaga and Don Miguel Mardonez. The lawsuit itself came as the result of one the lawyer's personal interest in this persecution, after having been very moved when he first learned about it. The defense of human rights, life and people's dignity should be carried out in all countries of the world. This was the message lawyer Miguel Mardonez conveyed to explain the legal actions in Bolivia. The lawyers offered their time and efforts free of any charge, having been deeply moved from their hearts.
Bolivia's general prosecutor, with his office in the city of Sucre, received the lawsuit on November 16th. The lawsuit details the brutal persecution of millions of practitioners of Falun Gong and the cruel practices carried out in labor camps and the horrible tortures and mass murders. The crimes are the direct responsibilities of Jiang Zemin and Lou Gan. Lou Gan was director of the 610 Office, an extrajudicial body that coordinated and directed the persecution across China. The lawyers specifically requested that the prosecutor send a copy of the lawsuit to the Ambassador of China in Bolivia, so that he, as the Chinese authority in Bolivia, have knowledge of this legal action.
In the lawsuit the prosecutor is asked specifically for international arrest warrants for Jiang Zemin and Luo Gan, so that those responsible for the crimes can be brought before the Bolivian courts. The lawsuit for genocide is based on the Bolivian criminal code, which states that the Bolivian justice system is competent to prosecute the crime of genocide.
The lawsuit has been supported by 16 victims and was signed in the presence of one of the victims, Mrs. Dai Zhizhen, whose husband was tortured to death at the young age of 34, leaving without a father his daughter recently born.
Human rights affect the entire international community and therefore, all countries should show solidarity to put an end to acts of genocide and torture, like those carried out by defendants Jiang Zemin and Luo Gan, asking that ultimately justice be made for the victims and their families.
Truth-clarification Stories from Manhattan
A 10-year-old Boy Comes to Understand the Persecution
A 10-year-old boy was looking at the truth-clarifying posters. A practitioner walked over and asked him if he understood what the posters depicted. He said that he understood. The practitioner smiled and asked, "Would you please tell me what you know about it?" The boy answered, "In some places in China, good people are persecuted." The practitioner told him that the persecution is happening throughout the entire country of China. Because tyrant Jiang was jealous of so many people practicing Falun Gong, he started suppressing Falun Gong. The boy said, after listening to this, "Then they could just stop practicing." The practitioner asked him, "Do you have any hobbies?" He answered, "I like taking care of animals." The practitioner asked him, "If you were in China and many people including you enjoy taking care of animals, but the tyrant does not allow you to look after animals, what would you do?" The boy thought about it for a second and said, "The persecution is wrong." The practitioner showed him all the posters exposing the torture methods used against Falun Gong practitioners in China and explained them one by one. He shook his head while listening and said, "Terrible! Terrible!" Later, he signed the petition calling for an end to the persecution.
The Righteousness of a High School Student
A high school student noticed that Falun Gong practitioners have continuously held anti-torture exhibitions and clarified the truth to people in all kinds of weather for several months. She decided to do some research about this. She went online to search for information about Falun Gong and downloaded some photos depicting the torture suffered by practitioners in Mainland China. She told practitioners that when she attended her government class the day before, she told all her classmates about Falun Gong. Some classmates asked her, "How would you know that all of this is true, since the media does not report much on them?" She answered, "You can do the research online."
She also told practitioners enthusiastically that she wanted to learn Falun Gong and she would ask her mother to learn the practice with her. She said that she already found a practice site, which was just opposite her house. She also expressed her understanding that people's attitude towards Falun Gong was really important.
A Kind Gentleman
A gentleman passes by an anti-torture exhibition site every day. Each time he passes, he stops to talk with practitioners and asks them if they have updated Falun Gong truth-clarification materials. He said that his job was to provide financial information to investors. Since he learned about the persecution experienced by Falun Gong practitioners in China, he said he has become more cautious when he provides financial advice. It was extremely cold the other day and he was very concerned about practitioners. He told practitioners that they should stay inside the building, as it was too chilly outside. A practitioner told him that we need to do what we are supposed to do. Upon listening to that, he murmured to himself, "I need to think of a way." The practitioner said goodbye to him and told him to keep himself warm. The man's eyes were welling with tears and he was unable to speak, and had to turn around to avert his eyes.
Although it has been extremely cold these few days, it seems that more people accepted truth-clarifying materials. Many young people enthusiastically signed the petition. Some people said with a smile that they already had the materials. Some people nodded toward practitioners to show their admiration. Perhaps, the great compassion and tolerance that practitioners have embodied in the cold weather have moved people's hearts.
US Court Affirms That Beijing Communist Party Secretary Liu Qi Is Liable for Crimes of Torture
After one year trial, on December 8, 2004, Judge Wilkin of United States District Court Northern District of California affirmed a magistrate's ruling that Beijing Communist Party Secretary Liu Qi is liable for the crimes of torture and anti-humanity of the police under his administration in persecution of Falun Gong.
On December 13, Falun Gong practitioners held a press conference in front of Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles to announce the news.
A practitioner in Los Angeles said that the civil lawsuit was filed in 2002 by two citizens of China, two Swiss citizens, one French and one American based on Alien Tort Claims Act and Torture Victim Protection Act. The six plaintiffs were beaten brutally and tortured in Beijing, including Leeshai Lemish, who was arrested and beaten brutally for appealing on Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 2001 for Falun Gong.
Liu Qi was Mayor of Beijing and received the subpoena in San Francisco on his way to Salt Lake to attend the Winter Olympics there as director of Chinese Olympic team. He was charged for crimes of torture, other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, arbitrary detention, crimes against humanity, and interference with freedom of religion and belief.
The Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) in San Francisco and Ms. Terri Marsh, an independent human rights lawyer, represented the plaintiffs and filed the lawsuit. CJA is a human rights organization to help victims of human rights violations abroad.
On June 11, 2003, a Magistrate found that Liu was guilty and not entitled to the immunity foreign officials and sent his recommendation to District Court. On December 8, 2004, the district judge adopted the magistrate's recommendations that Liu was guilty.
Since Zhao Zhifei, vice director of Public Security Bureau, Hubei Province, was found liable for persecution of Falun Gong by a US Federal Court, Chinese high-rank officials have been lost in four civil lawsuits filed by Falun Gong practitioners. The former Communist Party Secretary, Jiang Zemin, who initiated the persecution, has been sued in many countries. Practitioners legal efforts to safeguard basic rights and stop the persecution is receiving wide attention around the world.
According to the Epoch Times, on the press conference on December 13, Associate Professor Wu Yingnian from Department of Statistics, University of California at Los Angeles said that the lawsuit was one of the 47 filed in 28 countries. The lawsuit scale was seldom seen after Nuremburg Trial of Nazi criminals. More lawsuits will be conducted and possibly in China.
Mr. Leeshai Lemish said that the court ruling was encouraging and provided a good reference for suing Chinese communist officials involved in the persecution of Falun Gong. Though the judge faced pressure from the Chinese regime, he made a ruling based on the facts. It sent an important message to China: those persecuting Falun Gong will be brought to justice.
Mr. Lemish said that some officials in the Chinese government violate China's law to persecute innocent people. They must be punished with international law. They must be held liable for what they have done.
Reports on 2004 Australia Falun Dafa Conference and Activities on World Human Rights Day
Falun Gong practitioners from different areas in Australia held a three-day series of activities to introduce Falun Dafa and clarify the truth. On December 10, 2004, World Human Rights Day, Falun Gong practitioners held an anti-torture exhibit for a whole day at the Queen's Square in front of the High Court in Sydney to expose the brutal persecution of Falun Gong happening in China. The practitioners also held a press conference regarding Falun Gong practitioner Chinese artist Ms. Zhang Cuiying's lawsuit against Jiang Zemin. They also built a Great Wall of Courage on Macquarie Street and Elizabeth Street to peacefully appeal for putting an end to the persecution.
During the morning of December 11, a large-scale group practice was held at the famous Darling Harbor in Sydney, attracting many tourists to stop and watch, and inquire about the Falun Gong issues. In the afternoon, practitioners handed out lots of Falun Gong truth clarification materials in nearby areas of Sydney. The practitioners also held an anti-torture exhibit. During the evening, some practitioners were invited to participate in a multicultural arts performance by the Hurstville local government. Some practitioners took part in a candle-light vigil and parade, and most practitioners participated in group Fa study and exchange of understandings.
On December 13, Falun Gong practitioners attended the Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference held at Rockdale city hall. The Falun Dafa conference enhanced Australian practitioners' coordination and cooperation as a whole entity, and practitioners became more close and harmonious through learning from each other and sharing experiences.
New York: Organizations Gather in front of UN Headquarters on World Human Rights Day to Condemn the Chinese Communist Party's Persecution of Falun Gong
On December 10, 2004, the World Human Rights Day, wind blew hard and misty drizzle fell. Falun Gong practitioners and a number of non-governmental organizations gathered in front of the United Nations Headquarters in New York to hold a press conference. They requested the United Nations to stage an open investigation on the Jiang's regime and the Chinese Communist Party's violations of Falun Gong practitioners' fundamental human rights and help stop this suppression.
Director of Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office Conference on Human Rights and Committee member of Unitarian Universalist Association of churches, Mr. Richard Cook said that the Chinese government's persecution of Falun Gong directly violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and it must be held accountable.
Cook spoke at the conference that Falun Gong practitioners' rally in front of the UN Headquarters today is to remind UN of Chinese authorities' continuous persecution of Falun Gong. He said that this totalitarian government employed political means, torture, imprisonment, and reeducation through forced labor to persecute Falun Gong. Its crimes are against humanity.
Mr. Cook pointed out that the Chinese government signed and ratified the UN Declaration. Falun Gong practitioners should also enjoy the rights mentioned above. The Chinese Communist Party's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners directly violates the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and it must be held accountable.
Falun Gong practioner, professor from Metropolitan College of New York, Mr. Feng pointed out that Jiang's faction has employed a quarter of the nation's resource to persecute Falun Gong for more five years. During this period, Falun Gong practitioners and people from all walks of life continuously stage petitions and appeals. Falun Gong practitioners in China have risked their lives and all kinds of pressure to peacefully resist the oppression.
Mr. Feng stated that currently the suppression of Falun Gong is still going on. We call upon all countries in the world to send out voice of justice and help stop the persecution.
Speech by Lord Thurlow, Former UK Under-Secretary of State, on World Human Rights Day
The following speech was given at a press conference opposite the Chinese Embassy in London on World Human Rights Day by former UK Under-Secretary of State Lord Thurlow.
We have in recent years become increasingly insensitive to the horrors that continue throughout the world. We become thick-skinned to the reports of violence, and genocide even. What is the most massive, most terrible, continuing, abusive human rights situation in the world today? Alas, it is in China, even though China has a great history and great tradition of culture which we, throughout the world, respect.
In 1999, Jiang Zemin, overriding the wishes of his colleagues in the Chinese Politburo, introduced a campaign to suppress the innocent group Falun Gong for nothing but their beliefs, amounting to no less than 100 millions Chinese citizens. Suppression of people for their beliefs is known under international law as genocide. The Chinese Government is guilty of genocide and those who have introduced this horror that has lasted for more than 5 years must be brought to justice.
Over 20 Lawsuits have now been filed in different countries around the world with former leader Jiang Zemin as the principal alleged criminal. His principal collaborators, who enforce the policy of violence, torture, rape of women and even the killing of small children, must be brought to an end and they are responsible to pay the penalty.
This week, we in the United Kingdom are joining those in other countries who have filed applications for criminal charges against former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin. If he or the other main collaborating criminals set foot in countries at which we and others have extradition agreement, it will be possible to bring them to justice in the court here or elsewhere. We have Pinochet as a precedent.
Today, week-by-week, we hear the growing reports of the increasing economic and international weight of China. China, in the future, may become a principal engine of world economic expansion, but to achieve this there must be cooperation between the governments and industrial leaders of the world with interests in China. I know from nearly 40 years of work in international relations that international cooperation is not a matter of getting around tables and delivering impressive documents. It all depends on trust and there cannot be any trust between principal Western countries and China until its abuses of human rights come to an end.
On World Human Rights Day, we assert the intention to continue to protest to the Government of China to bring this horror to an end. Our protests are not going to cease. We are going to continue in every forum to bring to the attention of public opinion throughout the world, the disgrace to the reputation of this great country. China has in its culture a great respect of her reputation and we are confident that things below the surface are beginning to move.
We appeal to the public and the media to give all possible support to our government in their continued protest. When our Ministers meet Chinese Ministers they are bringing the abuses again and again to their attention. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw made a resigning statement in July on the intention of the British Government to increase its efforts to bring torture, throughout the world, to an end. Persecution received by Falun Gong is the main example of that abuse. On this annual occasion, we assert the intention of this country, like all the free countries in the world, to use every means help to induce the Government of the People's Republic of China to stand side by side with others in a cooperative world of freedom and justice.
Lord Thurlow
10 December 2004
UK: Member of the European Parliament Write on the International Human Rights Day in Support of Falun Gong
European Parliament
Member of the European Parliament
Wednesday, December 8th, 2004
Dear Denise,
Thank you for your letter and invitation to speak at your press conference to mark your continued struggle for the human rights of Falun Gong practitioners in China on World Human Rights Day.
Unfortunately I am engaged on Friday with a number of meetings relating to European Parliamentary business in Brussels. I very much regret not being able to attend and I enclose below a statement of support, as you suggest.
"The struggle to defend human rights is more urgent than ever, with the so-called 'war on terrorism' and the ongoing pursuit of free trade and ever-greater profits taking precedence over upholding international law and human dignity in international relations.
"As we approach the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the world order has changed significantly. No longer are we concerned primarily with human rights abuses conducted by our supposed 'enemies' -- but by those conducted by our Governments and allies.
[...]
"It is vital that we do not allow our own governments to backtrack or their legal human rights obligations -- or continue to turn a blind eye to those governments of other states which treat human rights with contempt.
"China continues its bloody repression of the Falun Gong movement -- and its unlawful and vicious occupation and ethic cleansing of Tibet -- and yet EU foreign ministers are considering lifting the EU arms embargo on China this very week for the sake of improving trade relations with a fellow WTO member.
"Today especially, we must condemn human rights violations whenever they take place -- China, the UK, the US, the Palestinian occupied territories, Sudan, to name a few -- and re-affirm our commitment to the peace and security which comes from respect for international law, human dignity and the right to live a life with basic material needs met and free from persecution, discrimination and abuse."
I hope this statement of support meets with your approval and reaches you in time to read at your press conference, with which I wish you every success.
Yours sincerely,
Caroline Lucas MEP
UK: Statement from Jill Evans MEP on World Human Rights Day: "I Share the Concerns of Many about the Treatment of Practitioners of Falun Gong."
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December the 10th saw the annual World Human Rights Day. Member of European Parliament Jill Evans sent the following statement to a press conference held by Falun Gong practitioners. The conference took place opposite the Chinese Embassy in London, site of UK Falun Gong practitioners' 24-hour peaceful appeal that has been ongoing for over two years.
"I share the concerns of many about the treatment of practitioners of Falun
Gong. Peaceful freedom of expression is a fundamental human right that no
government should violate.
This week the Chinese Government asked the European Union to lift its embargo on arms exports to China. Both I and my parliamentary group strongly oppose this move - there can be no reasoning for doing so whilst the human rights situation in China remains as it is.
We must work together at the local and European level to bring pressure to bear on the Chinese regime so that it addresses our legitimate concerns on human rights."
Mr. Liu Yongqi from Jilin Province Dies Within Three Days of Being Sent to Forced Labor Camp in December 2004
Falun Gong practitioner, Mr. Liu Yongqi from Baishan, Jilin Province died from the consequences of brutal torture on December 13, 2004 at the Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp in Changchun City, Jilin Province. This happened on the third day after he was unlawfully taken there for custody. The labor camp authorities have blocked any information regarding Mr. Liu's death.
On December 10, 2004 after 1:00 p.m., practitioner Liu Yongqi from Baishan was sent to the Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp. He was taken into custody at Unit No. 5 (the so-called "Renaissance Unit"). Mr. Liu called out loudly "Falun Dafa Is Great" as soon as he was taken into the yard of the labor camp. Everyone in the surrounding buildings heard him. He could be heard calling out "Falun Dafa is good" throughout the whole night.
By December 13, Mr. Liu had died from torture. He Jianxin, the head of Unit No. 5, was the official on duty during that night. After Liu died, his body was carried out on someone's back. On the morning of December 14, the entire Chaoyanggou Labor Camp learned about his death. At a little past 8:00 a.m. on December 14, Zhang Jianxin, division head of the Forced Labor Division of the Changchun City Justice Department, arrived at the labor camp to handle this incident.
The details of the tortures Mr. Liu Yongqi had to suffer before his death are not yet available, as the labor camp authorities have blocked any information regarding this incident.
The Brutal Treatment of Women Detained in Liaoning Female's Prison
The following are facts of the persecution of practitioners illegally detained in Liaoning Female's Prison:
1. Ms. Liang Yanjun
Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Liang Yanjun is from Lingyuan City, Liaoning Province, China. The police from Qianmen Police Station in Beijing abducted her in September 2001 when she clarified the truth about Falun Gong at Tiananmen Square, and threw her into Beijing's Shijingshan Detention Center before she was transferred to Lingyuan City's First Detention Center in her hometown. She was illegally sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison because she refused to renounce Falun Gong.
Ms. Liang Yanjun suffered from severe physical and mental torture during her detention in Liaoning Female Prison. She was forced to read materials slandering Falun Gong and watch video programs attacking Falun Gong. She was also forced to squat with her knees together from 6:00 A.M. to midnight. She had to get permission of the captain of the torture team in prison to go to the bathroom. She was denied the need to take a shower or brush her teeth. At night, Falun Gong practitioners were under the watch of prison inmates, and were not allowed to speak to each other. They were under prison inmates' close watch around the clock. The prison inmates would even follow Falun Gong practitioners for short trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night. They had absolutely no freedom at all.
In order to force Ms. Liang to renounce Falun Gong, prison inmates Ms. Su Li and Ms. Du Ping, repeatedly beat up Ms. Liang. They hit her on the head and her face with a plastic bottle filled with water, punched her abdomen and lower body, and pulled her hair. They even threatened to strip off her clothes. When Ms. Liang asked them to stop their violence, the inmates replied, "You have brought it on yourself! Because you refuse to renounce Falun Gong, you have ruined our chance for a reduction of our prison terms." They added, "I couldn't care less whether you renounce your belief or not! But if you ruin my chance for a sentence reduction, I will certainly make life hell for you!"
2. Ms. Wang Lanzhi
Ms. Wang Lanzhi is a Falun Gong practitioner from Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province, China. She has suffered from appalling torture in Liaoning Female Prison. On her very first evening in the prison, she was forced to stand in the water room where a bunch of prison inmates repeatedly beat her and whipped her on the head, shoulders and face with shoes. Her agonizing wails woke up and shocked every prison inmate.
It is freezing in November in Liaoning Province, but Ms. Wang Lanzhi was forced to stand in only her underwear in the chilly water room every night, and during the day she was forced to stay in the dark, cold machinery room and told to repent for her decision to practice Falun Gong. She was subject to the prison inmates' beating and cursing. When Ms. Wang refused to read books that slandered Falun Gong, a female prisoner named Zhang Yanping who was in for manslaughter would slap her on the face. Then Zhang would knock her to the ground, pull her up by the hair, and then repeat the torture. When Ms. Wang Lanzhi traveled from one place to another, Zhang Yanping would drag her by pulling her collar. In just a few days of torture, Ms. Wang Lanzhi suffered a mental collapse and would stare into emptiness.
3. Ms. Guo Hongxiu
Ms. Guo Hongxiu is a Falun Gong practitioner from Gai County, Liaoning Province, China. She is a 27-year-old woman with a bachelor's degree. In May 2004, she was sent to the First Brigade in Liaoning Female Prison. On her first evening in the First Brigade, the prison inmates used extreme violence to try to force her to renounce Falun Gong. For two nights in a row, the inmates took Ms. Guo Hongxiu out of her cell and tortured her until early morning. Despite the violence and hostility, Ms. Guo refused to renounce Falun Gong and tried to clarify the truth about Falun Gong to them in a kind and patient manner. However, these prison inmates refused to listen, and continued their violent torture. During the day Ms. Guo was forced to stand and show repentance, and in the night she was taken out of her cell to the torture chamber. In just two days, her face became swollen and was full of blue and purple bruises. She had difficulty walking and was in a great deal of pain as she struggled to walk. Compared with how beautiful she was two days ago, she looked like a completely different woman.
4. Ms. Zhao Junfang
Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhao Junfang is a medical doctor from Xiliu Twon, Liaoning Province, China. In April 2004, she was sentenced to serve time in Liaoning Female Prison. During the day, Ms. Zhao was forced to watch a video program and read books slandering Falun Gong. During the night they deprived her of sleep and kept torturing her until early morning in order to force her to renounce Falun Gong in writing. In the end of September 2004, Ms. Zhao declared her words and deeds under forced brainwashing to be null and void. On the same day, two female prison inmates, Zhang Yingchun and Zhu Yajing, repeatedly beat her up until Ms. Zhao was covered with bruises and injuries and lost the ability to walk. Despite her disability, the torturers had two prison inmates haul her out of the cell to perform hard labor.
5. Ms. Fang Guiyun
Ms. Fang Guiyun is a Falun Gong practitioner from Fushun City, Liaoning Province, China. In Liaoning Female Prison, Su Li, Wang Lijie (who was in for manslaughter), and several other prison inmates kept beating Ms. Fang until she became disabled. Ms. Fang's severe injuries would send chills to anyone's bones.
In July 2003, Ms. Fang Guiyun was sentenced to seven years in Liaoning Female Prison. Once in the prison, she was subject to inhuman physical tortures and abusive curses. Every day she was subject to beatings and curses without any reason. Every day she was subject to intimidating interrogation without any reason. During the brainwashing sessions, Ms. Fang's face was swollen and full of bruises every day. Her hair turned brown and then gray rapidly, and became thinner each day. She looked like a completely different person than when she arrived. Prison inmates Su Li and Wang Lijie subjected her to cruel tortures. Su Li kicked her lower body violently, pinched her lips, pulled her hair and stuffed her mouth. When Ms. Fang lost her ability to walk, Su Li forced Ms. Fang to squat on her feet and read books that slandered Falun Gong. Whenever Su Li was not pleased, she would beat up and kick Ms. Fang. She slapped Fang Guiyun on the face numerous times. Su Li kicked Ms. Fang's lower body so hard and so frequently that her entire legs and feet were a shade of dark purple. Her feet were too swollen to fit into her shoes. Also, she lost the ability to walk.
Su Li and Wang Lijie decided that Ms. Fang was pretending to be ill, so they forced her to walk and to continue the forced hard labor. Su Li forced Fang Guiyun to walk upstairs without leaning on the handrail. As a result, Fang had to struggle to go upstairs. The difficulty caused Fang to sweat profusely. To get on each stair, she had to pull her left leg up and then hop up. She was forced to travel from the first floor to the third floor in this fashion. She often tripped and fell, but no one dared to step out and give her a hand because Su Li would curse whoever tried to help her. At the end of each day when everyone else returned from the hard labor, they would see Su Li and Wang Lijie dragging or hauling Fang Guiyun and beating her along the way. In the end, Fang Guiyun had become a withering frame, but Su Li and Wang Lijie were rewarded a reduction of their prison terms for their crimes. Moreover, Fang Guiyun's severe bruises and injuries on her legs were left untreated, and became infected. Her right leg is now 2.5 inches shorter than her left one, but they still did not give her any medical treatment.
6. Six Falun Gong Practitioners in Huludao City
Three police officers from Huludao City, Liaoning Province, including Ms. Xu Jun, Mr. Wang Hongli, and Mr. Yang Ruoqing, abducted six Falun Gong practitioners in Huludao City and threw them into Liaoning Women's Prison on October 10, 2004. One of the six practitioners was attacked instantly. Another practitioner, Ms. Mu Qin, used to suffer from myocardial ischemia (insufficient blood flow to part of the heart,) but became perfectly healthy since she started to practice Falun Gong. When the police hauled her to Liaoning Women's Prison, her myocardial ischemia surfaced again. Liaoning Women's Prison refused to take her at first, but the three police officers used disgraceful ways to make the prison take all six of them. When they watched the prison take away the six Falun Gong practitioners, they celebrated the practitioners' misery with a smile.
Among the three police officers, Yang Ruoqing used to be a prison doctor at Huludao City Detention Center. He had subjected Falun Gong practitioners on hunger strike protest to force-feeding, and had beaten up Falun Gong practitioners. Xu Jun is a policewoman in Huludao City. She has repeatedly used violence against Falun Gong practitioners and whipped them with shoes.
Ms. Mu Qin is 43 years old in 2004. Her husband and her son also practice Falun Gong. Her husband was sentenced to six years in prison in 2001, and is now detained in Liaoning Province Second Prison. Mu Qin was abducted in April 2004. Her 13-year-old son is now alone at home without anyone to look after him. In order to help rescue her mother, her son went to the police station alone and went on a hunger strike protest there for two days. He is still living by himself at home without anyone to look after him.
Violation of Professor Zhang Mengye's Human Rights for Practicing Falun Gong
Mr. Zhang Mengye is a 66-year-old former Associate Professor from the Guangdong Electric Power Institute. He is a former classmate of Hu Jintao, President of the People's Republic of China, from the Water Conservation School of Engineering of Qinghua University. Since Jiang Zemin banned Falun Gong and began the brutal persecution on July 20 of 1999, Mr. Zhang has been detained at Guangzhou Tianhe Detention Center. He was also detained at Guangzhou City No. 1 Forced Labor Camp for 2 years and 37 days. He was tormented physically and mentally. When he was released on February 10, 2002, this 5'4" man weighed less than 70 pounds. His eyes were dull and sunken, and his face was pale.
Three months later, on the morning of May 17, 2002, Guangzhou police officers arrested Professor Zhang and his wife without due cause, and sent them to a temporary "re-education center" (brainwashing center) at Huangpu District in Guangzhou City. Mr. Zhang went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. The "assistance team" tied him tightly to a chair and force-fed him with saltwater and water that contained hot chili pepper powder. They humiliated and tortured him with different cruel methods. Policemen Qiu Chaohua, Wang Jianbin and two others tightly tied his hands and feet and hung him up in a painful position for several days. Afterwards, they shoved his head into the filthy water in a sewage pit. He nearly suffocated. The policemen pulled his head up and let him breathe several times, then pushed his head into the water again. They tortured him like this repeatedly.
Professor Zhang Mengye grouped the persecution he suffered into six sections. On October 12, 2004, he reported them to Guangzhou City People's Procuratorate. However, the people in charge refused to accept the case. They said, "The Falun Gong issue is the responsibility of the government," "when taking actions during 'reform' work, it is difficult to avoid injury," and so on.
Young Female School Teacher Is Mentally Disabled as a Result of the Persecution
Ms. Liu Weishan was a young schoolteacher at Xiangfan City's Hanjiang Machinery Company. She was well known for her kind heart among her colleagues, and the students loved her. Ms. Liu was imprisoned on trumped-up charges. Since she refused to plead guilty, prison guards brutally tortured her. After two years in prison, we recently learned from someone at the Wuhan City Women's Prison that Ms. Liu Weishan became mentally disabled from the abuses she suffered.
Seeing people deceived by lies and slander on TV, Ms. Liu conscientiously clarified the truth about Falun Gong to people. She told people how righteous Truth, Compassion, Tolerance are and told people not to believe the lies on TV. For doing these things she was arrested and imprisoned in Xiangfan City's No. 1 Detention Center.
Ms. Liu appealed several times at the detention center but did not receive any replies, so she went on a hunger strike. The guards inhumanly tortured her during force-feedings. Several strong criminals held her head, hands and feet down, and roughly inserted a tube from her nose into her stomach. In the meantime, the guards incited other criminals to pinch her, pull her hair, slap her face; they even stripped Ms. Liu naked, only covering her with a sheet, claiming it was for her convenience. The force-feeding occurred twice a day. After 40 days of abuses, Ms. Liu's health deteriorated. To avoid their responsibilities, the guards secretly sent her to the Wuhan City Women's Prison, where Ms. Liu suffered more vicious abuse.
Guards urged criminals to abuse Falun Gong practitioners. In the No. 2 Section, guard Li Feng locked all of the practitioners into a very remote, small cell, cuffed their hands behind them and left them there with out any food or a place to sleep for several days. When practitioners went on hunger strikes, guards poured the left-over food from other criminals into a dirty barrel, and force-fed practitioners with the rotten, smelly liquid. Such mental and physical abuses mentally incapacitated many practitioners, and some even died. One of the practitioners there, who was a Ph.D. student at Beijing University, mentally collapsed and is now sweeping the floors in the prison everyday.
Ms. Liu Weishan is mentally disabled at present. She has lost lots of weight and her hair was shaved, also. The guards were afraid that she might die in the prison, so they often dragged her to the medical office for an infusion. Ms. Liu is now in critical condition, yet she was tied with her hands behind her to a metal bed frame.
Ms. Liu Weishan followed her conscience and refuses to give up her faith, even if she has to lose her life for it.
An Appeal from an Overseas Chinese Student: "Please Release my Mother"
My name is Wang Xiaoyang and I am a student in Switzerland. My mother, Qiu Minghua, is a Falun Dafa practitioner in Shuzhou City of Jiangsu Province.
There are three elderly people in my family in China. My Grandmother is eighty-four years old. My father is approaching sixty and has been suffering from poor health since he had a stroke. My mother is the pillar of the family, both from an economic and spiritual point of view. My family members are dependent on one another for survival and only want to lead a peaceful life.
At 1 o'clock on the 25th of November 2004, the police suddenly broke into my parents' home. They began searching the house and confiscating my parents' property. It wasn't long before everything was in a mess as if the house had been ransacked. A personal computer, a printer, a spare selenium drum, an address book and even a stapler were confiscated. The police illegally questioned my father. Facing such a situation, my grandmother went into a state of panic. My father's blood pressure alarmingly increased after this event.
On that afternoon, my mother was abducted when she arrived home from work. The police asked her to make a statement. Since she started to practice Falun Gong in 1997, my mother has not only been in good health but has also lived according to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. Her neighbors and colleagues all say that my mother is a good person. Practicing Falun Gong, being a good person and being open and above-board: why did she have to go to the police station? The police took away my mother without considering my elderly grandmother and my father's poor health. Later, I got to know that my mother is being illegally detained in the No.1 Detention Center.
My father hasn't seen my mother although he tried by every means. Why am I deeply concerned about her safety? Falun Gong is being brutally persecuted in China. 1,157 Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured to death, at least 6,000 practitioners have been illegally sentenced to prison and treated inhumanly, over 100,000 people have been sent to forced labor camps and thousands more have been forced into mental hospitals and injected with dangerous drugs. I have also found out that the state security spies and police in Shanghai and Shuzhou are using many different methods of torture on Dafa practitioners. Through acts of deception, they are forcing practitioners to write statements of repentance and are trying to destroy their spirits.
My grandmother and my father were dealt a deadly blow to both their bodies and minds when facing with the sudden change at home. They looked on helplessly as their own family member was kidnapped. Now my grandmother has taken to her bed and always asks when her daughter will be allowed to come home. My father has been warned that he will lose his life if another stroke occurs.
I am the only child of the family and am also a Falun Dafa practitioner. I have been unable to go home since the persecution of Falun Gong was launched by Jiang's Communist regime in 1999. On hearing that my mother had been kidnapped, I couldn't figure out what crime my mother had committed. She is over fifty; she has to go to work and look after her family members. If something bad happens to any member of my family because of this, it will be the greatest sorrow in my life.
For the past five years, tragedies like this have been happening every day in China. How many families have been broken up and how many children have lost their parents? All this is owing to the fact that they want to be good people and to tell the truth. I am now sternly warning those police who persecute good people: I hope that you can make a clear distinction between right and wrong. You should be responsible for both your own behavior and your family's: good is rewarded with good, and evil meets evil. I also hope that the world's people can stop the inhuman persecution. Then my mother, together with all Falun Dafa practitioners who are illegally detained and persecuted, can have their freedom and regain their own basic human rights.
I request that those who know the inside story please provide more information.
Radio Free Asia Interviews German Falun Gong Practitioner on World Human Rights Day
Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Xiong Wei, who was interviewed by Radio Free Asia during activities on the World Human Rights Day, said that two years of detention in a forced labor camp made her realize that the Chinese Communist Party not only abuses human rights but has done something even worse: the Chinese Communist Party makes the Chinese people completely forget their basic rights as human beings through years of propaganda and suppression. The following is an edited version of a report by Radio Free Asia's Tian Yi.
December 10 was World Human Rights Day. Ms Xiong Wei, who was arrested and imprisoned for two years after distributing leaflets disagreeing with the Chinese government's suppression of Falun Gong, took part in activities held by international human rights organizations and Falun Gong practitioners. According to her personal experiences, she called on the Chinese people to recognize human nature and human rights, as well as calling on international society to stop human rights abuses in China. Concerned about this issue, Ms. Xiong Wei accepted RFA's interview.
"Recently, I read an article called 'Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party', which gave me a great shock. Due to accepting communist education from birth, my mind has been distorted unconsciously by many notions produced under the Communist Party's unbalanced education - for example, my knowledge of human rights. In China, there are no human rights guidelines for treating people. Human rights violations don't only happen in prisons and labor camps, and they don't only happen to Falun Gong practitioners. In Chinese society and the treatment Chinese people receive, there is no sign of respect toward human rights or education leading to basic knowledge of human rights."
According to the Chinese Government's propaganda, "Chinese people don't need human right as Westerners do." Ms. Xiong Wei said emotionally, "Of course Chinese people need human rights. Chinese people need even more knowledge of basic human rights than people in other countries. The Communist Party's evil propaganda and education benefits its own domination. Chinese people don't even know the meaning of human rights and what kind of rest and food we need for our basic subsistence. This has been reflected even more prominently in labor camps. The food we ate was so filthy: it was hardly washed and there were many insects. We didn't even know whether we had the right to sleep. We never got paid for that heavy physical work. Where could we get our human rights from?"
With regard to this, Ms. Xiong Wei believes that to the Chinese society and people, the worse damage was, "The Chinese Communist Party's control of the media with its power to give people unbalanced information for years, which has concealed basic respect towards human rights and human nature. This was much worse for people than being hurt physically."
Migros Magazine 45 (Switzerland): "A wonderful energy began to circulate throughout my body"
2 November 2004
This is the story of a little girl who was very ill in her childhood, "Oh, not to the point of dying, I was never taken to casualty, but I was constantly in pain." An extremely serious form of eczema from the age of 9 months treated with a tar-based ointment, asthma that made her lungs shrink and restricted her breathing; day after day she fought against oppression. "The positive side, as for many children with health problems, is that it left me extremely sensitive to the suffering of others, I knew that more or less everywhere around the world people were suffering, like me."
In Geneva, she goes to the school of Châtelaine, then to the Voltaire college. She also becomes a Guide, head of the Tuareg patrol, of the Catholic group of Saint Mary of the People.
"Hummingbird" is her totem name. "I found the Guides magnificent! And I really liked my totem of hummingbird. I had been told: the hummingbird is a tiny little bird with a very big beak, with lots of stamina and which can travel many kilometres to find food for its young."
A young girl such as this hardly exists any more - far removed from today's youth - who has never smoked a joint, and for whom, far from materialism, it was of prime importance "to apply concretely in one's life the values and ideals discovered in adolescence." Moreover, "surrounded by admirable people, including the priest Andr?Fol who was actively engaged in social work", she also belonged to a contemplative group "to become a better Christian". "Think of others, be altruistic, that was my guide."
In 1985, having qualified as a lawyer, she immediately became a legal officer in the cantonal tax office where, following the death of a director, she was propelled at 27 years to one of the highest positions! She directed the division of registration rights, succession rights and land taxes, with some 40 colleagues under her. "I was the first woman to occupy such a high post." When her friends ask her what on earth she is doing at the tax office, she replies: "I try to put into practice my code of ethics and sense of justice." But a 70-hour working week over five years finally became too heavy a burden for her -- "and I passed the baton". She decides on a new course of life: to work 60 per cent for the administration of Geneva University and during her spare time to become involved in more social causes such as social mediation and handicapped people.
Between Buddhism and Taoism
At the same time, in Changchun, China, in 1992, Mr Li Hongzhi brought to the public the very ancient practice of Falun Gong (a traditional method of Qigong) and today practised in 60 countries (since 1996 in Switzerland).
From the outset, the Chinese Government gave full support and encouragement to the practice. That is, until Jiang Zemin, former Chinese President, became aware of the speed with which the method was spreading, simply by word of mouth, through all strata of society, and to what extent this new, harmless but powerful practice was winning hearts and minds, assisting perhaps towards their liberation. Towards the close of the 1990s, Mr Li Hongzhi having emigrated to the United States in 1995, a survey carried out by the Chinese Government brought to light 70 million practitioners in China, 1 person in 12: Jiang Zemin ordered their persecution on 20 July 1999, just as in the Roman Empire that of the Christians was ordered.
Strange coincidence! That same year of 1999, Marielle Pun becomes ill, suffering from backache around the clock. "Fibromyalgia syndrome" the doctors say. Something continues to whisper, like a wellspring within her: Think of others. Yet in summer 2000 it is sick leave.
Passed on by old practitioners
Her father tells her about a cousin in Canada who practises Falun Gong. Marielle Pun makes some enquiries in Geneva, discovers this discipline with its absolutely informal organization, "where experienced practitioners teach the beginners without charge, where no one asks you for a penny, not even for your name: not even the need to register in order to follow the class -- which is why the exact number of practitioners remains unknown". One drops in when one likes, leaves the class when one likes, always as free as the air. "Within six months, I had come through the problem." Once again she took flight.
In her apartment at Charmilles, she gives you a short demonstration. It is not complicated. "After three sessions of one and a half hours I had learned the exercises ... nothing simpler, no need to do your head in! There are only five exercises, four standing and the fifth, if possible, in the meditative lotus position (which everyone does according to his or her capability). Above all, what captivates her, she says, "is the philosophy of Falun Gong: an inner work, personal, at his or her own pace, to cultivate freely within, in daily life, these principles of truth, benevolence and forbearance. This practice brings you harmony and inner strength and allows the energy to circulate in a marvellous way throughout the body". It uplifts, calms, relieves stress and tiredness, "opens up the meridians", and allows one's masks to fall away.
Then, suddenly, an atrocious contrast to the glimpse of these harmonious movements, she shows you horrible photographs. People being tortured, shocked with electric batons, burned alive, skinned alive, covered with scars. She says "in China there could be from 4,000 to 10,000 deaths and hundreds of thousands of people in re-education camps, others in mental hospitals".
Defamatory propaganda
She produces the documentation that, since the beginning of the persecution, shows many reactions at the international level -- the European Parliament in February 2001, the unanimous vote of the American Congress in July 2002, March and October 2004 -- as well as at the local level: that of Joseph Deiss, the then head of the Federal Department for Foreign Affairs, who in March 2000 told the United Nations Commission on Human Rights of his concern; a petition with 27,000 signatures addressed to the federal Chambers in November 2000, which supported it; the position taken by the federal Council which "condemns the repression of which Falun Gong and minorities in general, notably religious, are the target". Or, again, the resolution of the Grand Council of Geneva, concerned in October 2002 by the "cruel and inhuman or degrading treatment" inflicted on the Falun Gong practitioners. Not forgetting Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and many others ...
"The focal point of this repression is the defamatory propaganda spread far and wide, hence the prime importance and responsibility of the media", Marielle Pun insists. "To give accurate information is our only antidote, the sole means we have to stop these atrocities in China." She sincerely believes that to speak truth allows for more space in which justice can prevail. She thinks that the word itself has wings.
Leicester Mercury (UK): Chinese prison abuse highlighted
December 11, 2004
Practitioners of Falun Gong, an Eastern art of refining the body and mind through exercises and meditation, are staging an exhibition in Gallowtree Gate. They say police in China imprison people they suspect of following Falun Gong and then carry out horrific torture techniques, including burning, hanging prisoners from their wrists until they lose circulation. Some of the horrors will be acted out in the demonstration.
Organiser Li Heping says he was imprisoned and tortured by the Chinese police for refusing to give up Falun Gong, and eventually fled the country.
He now lives in Leicester and has applied for asylum in the UK, but had to leave his wife and young daughter behind.
He has not heard from his father, who also practices Falun Gong, since he was taken into a labour camp earlier this year. The exhibition will run from 11am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday.
The Age, Australia: Chinese leader sued in Sydney court
December 10, 2004
A Sydney woman allegedly imprisoned and tortured for eight months in China is suing the country's former president Jiang Zemin in the NSW Supreme Court.
Bankstown artist Zhang Cuiying, 42, today formally began her lawsuit against the former leader and his "610 Office", alleging they were responsible for her "brutal torture" at a Chinese detention center.
Ms. Zhang said she was arrested in March 2000 for speaking out against Zemin's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, and spent eight months in prison before the Australian government intervened to have her freed.
It was the fourth time she had been arrested, she said.
Ms. Zhang said she was chained with heavy shackles and forced to work 10 hours every day for eight months, sharing a "damp, dark cell" with a mental patient.
"Bruises covered my entire body and the pain made me unable to sleep," she said, speaking through an interpreter, outside the court.
"The skin all over my body began to rot and fester, and since I refused to give up Falun Gong practice, the guards put me into the quarters for male prisoners to humiliate me."
A prison guard sent a letter to her husband who then appealed to the federal government, she said.
[...] then, she said, did the Australian Consulate intervene to secure her freedom.
The civil action against Jiang and his office was first filed in the NSW Supreme Court on September 15 and was today stood over, pending further legal advice, until February 28 next year.
Ms. Zhang's solicitor, Shanny Su today told the court the action had been served but Jiang had refused to acknowledge and accept the service.
The 610 Office - or Chinese Falun Gong control office - had received and acknowledged the claim, Ms. Su said.
Neither defendants were represented in court today.
Ms. Zhang said the action was not about the damages but bringing Jiang to account.
"It is for upholding justice that I'm taking Jiang Zemin to court for his grievous violations of human rights and crimes against humanity," she said.
The Australian case was one of 46 lawsuits currently filed against Jiang in 26 countries, Ms. Su's representative Elizabeth Higgins said.
"It's part of the biggest human rights case in the world since World War I," Ms. Higgins said.
Falun Gong Practitioners' Righteous Action in China
A Government Official in the Judiciary: Writing Letters to Clarify the Truth of Falun Gong
By a Falun Gong Practitioner from Hubei Province, China
I am a Falun Gong practitioner, and by profession a government official in the Judiciary. I began practicing Falun Gong on June 26, 1996.
I was demoted because of my Falun Gong practice. However, I felt it was important to let my former boss know that we Falun Gong practitioners were being persecuted. I wrote a four to five thousand word letter and sent it to the Chief Procurator of the Provincial Procurator's Office. In the letter, I told my story of practicing and cultivating Falun Gong, what Falun Gong was, and how the persecution was conducted. I also hoped that he could understand the Fa, treat his staff, which had practitioners, well and tell the goodness of Falun Gong to his friends and relatives. The letter was delivered to him directly through his nephew. He accepted and acknowledged the reception of the letter.
Later, I wrote a letter of about five thousand words to the former immediate supervisor at my workplace and hand-delivered it to his office. The letter clarified that the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners was ongoing. I hoped that he could be kind to the Falun Gong practitioners on his staff and provide a good environment for practitioners, which he has really done since then.
I not only clarified the truth to the upper level officials, but also to the officials on my level by writing them letters. My colleagues worked at the Political and Judiciary Departments. They have more knowledge of law than most people and they are easy to communicate with when you link your points with the law.
Therefore, using their understanding of the law, I listed how illegal Jiang's regime's persecution of Falun Gong was, and exposed the role of the 610 Office by focusing on its illegality. I pointed out in my letter that the 610 Office is the headquarters for the persecution led by Jiang's regime. It has authority over the law and every level of the government; it is a big tumor which needs to be eliminated completely. I wanted my colleagues to know the truth of Falun Gong, and that it is a righteous Fa.
I also wrote letters to my friends that I met in the military, my former colleagues, and my former classmates. I felt that they all had the chance to understand Falun Gong. Over the past several years, I have clarified the truth to them many times.
In the meantime, I continued clarifying the truth of Falun Gong to my relatives. My brother-in-law, who used to be the Deputy Division Chief, was upset about my demotion due to practicing Falun Gong. I wrote a letter to him hoping that he could understand the real truth.
Clarifying the Truth at a Birthday Party for an Older Practitioner
An elderly woman celebrated her 80th birthday this October. Her sons and daughters are fairly wealthy and wanted to organize a big birthday party celebration for her. Hearing the news, a fellow practitioner had a sudden inspiration: since the elderly woman's health had improved dramatically after practicing Falun Gong and her story was widely known in our area, her birthday party might be a great opportunity to clarify the truth with her personal story. The elderly woman happily accepted the suggestion.
The birthday party was bustling with activities, including a band playing music and drama troupes performing on stage. Almost one thousand people came to the celebration to enjoy the shows and to congratulate her on the birthday. Fellow practitioners used the opportunity to talk about the changes the elderly woman experienced after she started to practice Falun Gong. Her story manifested the wonders of Falun Dafa.
The elderly woman had congenital trachea problems and asthma since her childhood, which later led to heart disease and lung disorders. When she was just over 30 years old, she was no longer able to work. For many of years she was unable to lie down to sleep. Her lips always looked purple, and she was very skinny. To her, one day seemed like a year. Although she visited many hospitals and doctors, her condition did not improve.
In 1997, this elderly woman started to practice Falun Gong. For seven years since then she has practiced the exercises and studied the principles. All the diseases she had suffered in the past disappeared without any treatment. Nowadays she looks vigorous and can get about easily. Seeing her and hearing her story, people at the party all praised the miracle of Falun Dafa.
Some people who had been deeply influenced by the lies on TV, such as the concocted "Tiananmen Self-immolation" story, the "suicides," and so on, and they were still doubtful. Fellow practitioners further clarified the truth to them by exposing the Jiang faction's fabrications. These people suddenly realized what had actually happened. They felt very close to Falun Gong and were eager to read the materials. Three hundred copies of truth-clarifying materials and over 20 CD's were quickly handed out.
That day, a man asked for Dafa information. When a practitioner gave him a CD, he refused and said, "I have seen that CD many times. I wanted a copy of the CD that teaches the exercises." That night, when a practitioner took the CD to his home, he was so happy he said, "Am I a practitioner now? Can my home be a practice site? If anybody nearby wants to learn, they can come to my house to see the CD."
Not only did the local practitioners do very well that day in clarifying the truth, spreading the Fa, and keeping righteous thoughts and righteous actions, but practitioners from other places also cooperated very well. They worked together and functioned as one body in clarifying the truth to offer salvation to people. This was one of the important factors that made the event so successful.
Correcting the Environment With Righteous Thoughts
By a Falun Gong practitioner in China
My family previously supported my practicing Falun Gong. After July 20, 1999, when the persecution began, however, my husband's attitude changed because he was afraid of being persecuted.
My husband said to me repeatedly, "Stop practicing Falun Gong! The Chinese Communist Party has so many ways to crush you! No one can ever go against it!" He would become angry whenever he saw me doing the Falun Gong exercises or studying the Fa. I tried to practice in secret but I could not hide it from him. One time when I was concentrating on studying the Fa, he suddenly shouted at me, "You are reading the book again!" His voice was so loud he frightened me. I asked myself, "Why can't I read Dafa books? Why should I hide? What did I do wrong?" I thought about it and realized that I should not practice secretly because there is nothing wrong with Falun Dafa. From then on I studied the Fa and did the exercises openly, and my husband stopped interfering with me.
From then on, I practiced in front of my husband but he didn't change his mind about Dafa. He was worried and afraid. Once he received some truth clarification materials at work and he gave them to his supervisor and asked him to turn it in to the police. I said to him, "You did a wrong thing! The person who sent it to you did it out of compassion, but you repaid him by reporting this to the police, which can possibly result in him being illegally arrested." He yelled at me, saying, "I don't care!" I felt bad and decided to help him, by rectifying the environment at home.
Several days later, my husband fell ill and was hospitalized for over a week, without any improvement. I advised him to go home and take Chinese medicine. One day I tried to read the book Zhuan Falun to him but he didn't want to listen. I said, "You are always worried about me and you think practicing Falun Gong is wrong. You should listen and find out what your wife is really doing! See for yourself if there is anything bad in the book, and don't jump to conclusions!" He quieted down and listened to me reading the book. I finished reading Zhuan Falun to him in a week. I asked him, "Now can you tell me, is there anything wrong with Falun Gong? Is there anything wrong with Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance?" He didn't say anything.
Slowly my husband changed. He started to help me buy supplies for truth clarification materials, and helped me solve computer problems related to Dafa work. His work unit once organized an exhibition. I sensed it would be a Dafa-slandering exhibit and asked him, "Would you go if it attacks Dafa?" He said, "Absolutely not!" He not only did not go but he also asked his friends not to go. Now he reads truth-clarification articles online on a frequent basis. Recently I gave him a piece of jewelry with the words "Falun Dafa" on it and he accepted it and carefully put it away, although he has always claimed to be a "materialist from head to toe."
Our two sons support me in practicing Falun Gong, however they often ask me not to go out and clarify the truth because they think it's too dangerous. I gave them flyers and explained things to them. Soon they said they believed my choice was correct. During the past few years, my younger son helped me buy supplies and make flyers, and both sons sometimes even helped me distribute flyers. I told them that Master said, "One righteous mind can subdue one hundred evils." (Zhuan Falun), and that they shouldn't be afraid, because their mother is doing the most righteous thing, and they are doing the most righteous thing by supporting Falun Dafa.
One time a group of police officers suddenly went into a bar where my younger son was, and announced that they were going to search the bags of all people present. My son was a little nervous as he remembered he had a stack of flyers in his bag. He quickly calmed down and told himself nothing was going to happen to the flyers. Miraculously, the police stopped checking right before they got to him. My older son has also encountered similar situations that all ended without incident.
Another time a fellow practitioner, who was on her way to my home to pick up flyers, called me and said she was being followed, and that I should go into hiding (I was not at home at the time). I told her it's not that serious, and at the same time I sent forth righteous thoughts. I tried to stand very tall and straight, and I didn't stop distributing flyers.
Another time when I went to visit a friend, personnel from the public prosecutor's office suddenly barged in to ransack her home and I got up to leave. The officers stopped me and said, "According to the rules, we have to search you." I was a little nervous because I had many flyers in my bag. I had one thought, "They can't see the flyers!" I started sending forth righteous thoughts. They carefully searched my bag and took a long time to look over each piece of paper inside it. They looked at all my papers and books. They also did a body-search, including my underclothes. Because of my righteous thoughts and righteous actions, they did not see the flyers placed in the middle pocket of my bag.
My supervisors and the heads of my department all know that I practice Falun Gong. They didn't say anything but they kept an eye on me. Earlier this year I planned a trip to USA. and my supervisors said, "She is not allowed to go to USA. I told the person who broke the news to me, "They don't get to decide that!" I received my visa within one week.
Making a Breakthrough and Openly Clarifying the Truth Door to Door
Written by a Falun Gong practitioner from Hebei Province, China
Previously, the way I always clarified the truth about Falun Dafa and the persecution was by talking to my relatives and friends and distributing some truth-clarification materials. However, after I read Teacher's article, I reconsidered whether this way had its limitations.
When I walked down the street and saw the shops and street venders, I used to think that it would be good if there was an environment to openly clarify the truth to them, and it was a pity that the persecution still had not ended. Then I got a hint in a dream. After waking, I understood that this thought was actually a barrier, with the attachment of fear causing it. I realized that around me the evil almost did not exist. It was myself who thought the evil to be very big. After that, I started to clarify the truth to various stalls and shops door to door.
At the beginning of openly clarifying the truth door to door, I had some fears and difficulties. After entering a store, I asked about this and that, how the business was going and so on. After chatting a while, I would clarify the truth. After I did this in several stores, my feeling was that this was not as complex as I had previously imagined. Later, when chatting I almost always went straight into clarifying the truth. The results were very good. Finally, I would give them a greeting card or a copy of truth-clarification materials. But there were also some very tenacious people who clung to the lies and slander of the Jiang faction. I tried to systemically and in an understandable way clarify the truth to them. If some of them really cannot understand, I try to find an opportunity to speak to them again later on.
The People Awaken to the Truth
Taxi Driver Chases Practitioner to Ask for Truth Clarification Materials
One day in the fall of 2004, an elderly Falun Gong practitioner in Kangping County, Liaoning Province passed by a square and saw two taxis parked there. He went over to clarify the truth about Falun Gong to one of the two taxi drivers and gave him some truth-clarification materials. When the practitioner was about to leave, a voice came up from behind saying, "Wait a minute!" He thought that someone was trying to catch him in order to turn him in, so he ran away quickly while sending forth righteous thoughts.
The person drove up behind him shouting, and then parked in his way and asked, "Could you give me a copy of the brochure?"
Realizing that the person just wanted truth-clarifying materials, the practitioner gave him a copy. The taxi driver took the brochure and thanked him many times. Then he parked his cab in a nearby alley and began carefully reading it.
Protecting Falun Gong Books and Surviving an Accident Unscathed
Mr. Lu is 48 years old. After the persecution of Falun Gong began on July 20, 1999, a person was going to dispose of his Falun Gong books due to pressure from the government. Although Mr. Lu could not read, he knew Falun Gong was good, so he bought the books, including the book Zhuan Falun, from that person. From then on, Mr. Lu stored the books with care and often said, "Falun Dafa is great."
One evening in late August 2004, Mr. Lu was riding a three-wheeled motorcycle with a co-worker when a taxicab suddenly hit them head on. Mr. Lu's motorcycle was knocked over by the cab. The co-worker was thrown several meters and was injured in many places. The front of the motorcycle was severely damaged. However, Mr. Lu was safe and sound without any injury. Afterwards, he often said to people, "It is Teacher Li Hongzhi who saved me because I protected Dafa books and repeated the words 'Falun Dafa is great'."
Witnessing the Miracle of Falun Dafa
My second elder brother was very stubborn and always refused to say, "Falun Dafa is great" when I asked him to do so. He had high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, hemiplegia (total or partial paralysis of one side of the body that results from disease of or injury to the motor centers of the brain) and prostatitis (inflammation of the prostrate gland). Recently, he was diagnosed with diabetes and suffered from incontinence and could not walk. He was sent to the emergency room of the County Hospital many times. The doctor said that he had to undergo surgery, and the incision would take a long time to heal since he had diabetes and he was already 74 years old.
The hospital director said that even though a large amount of money had to be spent on the surgery and for his medication, he might not survive due to his advanced age and the multiple illnesses from which he suffered. During the surgery, a tube was inserted into my brother's abdomen and pumped out a lot of pus and blood. People who knew the severity of his situation said he would probably live for 3 days at most. Eventually the family spent over 10,000 yuan in just five days and bought a lot of medicine. Later my brother was transferred to a village branch hospital.
After two days, his belly was swollen and it was hard for him to breathe. The doctor refused to treat him any more. I told my niece, "Ask your father to say 'Falun Dafa is great'. You can also say it on his behalf." Since he had nothing to lose, my brother agreed to do it.
Thus, my brother kept repeating, "Falun Dafa is great" from then on. He would say it silently when he was too tired, and say it out loud once he woke up. Within 2 days of repeating these words, my brother could eat and walk by himself. His condition gradually improved day by day.
The day before yesterday, my niece told me that the pus was gone and her father would be released from the hospital in a couple of days. Falun Dafa is magnificent! Another life has been saved.
Falun Gong Practitioners' Personal Experiences
Woman's Terminal Cancer Completely Healed after Practicing Falun Gong for Only Five Days
By a Falun Gong practitioner in Jilin Province, China
My name is Ding Xianglan and I am 54 years old. I live on Chengde Street in the Longtan District, Jilin City and I am a retiree of the Jilin Chemical Engineering Institute. In October 2004, I went to Beijing to visit my son and I suddenly developed a high fever. I went to a hospital in Beijing for an examination. My temperature at that time was 39.5o C (103.1o F) and I was coughing. Blood tests showed that my white blood cell count was normal. After a CT scan, the doctor found that I had terminal lung cancer. The cancerous growth was obvious on CT film. I went to Beijing for treatment and after I exhausted my savings, I went back to Jilin City. I first went to the Second Hospital of the Jilin Chemical Engineering Institute to get injections. The injections cost 200 yuan each day. I then went to the First Hospital of Jilin Chemical Engineering Institute for a CT scan, and they again confirmed that I had lung cancer.
By this time, I was so skinny that I looked totally different from how I was before. My family's economic condition was not good and my whole family was trying to arrange money for me to undergo treatment. They planned to sell our residence to get money for me to have an operation. But how could I have the heart to let them sell our residence for my treatment! At the same time, there was an employee at my institute who was also affected with lung cancer. She died only three days after she started chemotherapy and she suffered a lot. Her death gave me a heavy blow and I did not have any hope for my cancer.
When I was in this desperate situation, one of my relatives who practices Falun Dafa came to my house. She advised me to practice Falun Gong and said, "Quite likely only Falun Gong can save your life."
At the beginning I was suspicious. But I thought later, "There is no other hope for me anyway and there are so many people who still persistently cultivate Falun Dafa under such a harsh persecution. Falun Gong must be something supernormal. There is nothing wrong with Truthfulness-Benevolence-Tolerance." I made up my mind -- I stopped chemotherapy, decided not to have an operation and decided to practice Falun Gong.
On November 20, I started to study the principles and practice the Falun Gong exercises. It was miraculous, but from the first day I started to practice Falun Gong, I began to recover rapidly. I changed every day. On the fifth day, I went to the Second Hospital of the Jilin Chemical Engineering Institute for an X-ray, and found that the cancer had completely disappeared. The diagnosis of the expert was, "The lung cancer has completely healed." The doctors thought that it was incredible that in five days, a patient with terminal lung cancer could become a healthy person. My face was a healthy, glowing color and I was energetic -- just like a healthy person.
All my family members and friends were astounded by my changes. Falun Gong is great! My family and I don't know how we can express our sincere gratitude to Master Li and to Falun Dafa. Here, I am only writing down my true experiences and I take full responsibility for what I have recorded.
A Lymphoma Patient's Life is Saved by Practicing Falun Gong
I am a student in a college in Heilongjiang Province, China
In August 2002, after I had completed my first year of high school and was about to begin my sophomore year, I began to feel pain from swollen lymph nodes in my lower jaw. My father took me to the hospital for a check up and the hospital confirmed that it was cancer originating in the lymph nodes and that the cancer had already spread to other parts of the body. I had to withdraw from school.
My father took me to a military hospital in Beijing for medical treatment, and through a friend, he found a well-known cancer specialist to treat me. The specialist said after examining me, "I cannot treat the cancer with surgery, so you may return to Harbin for treatment." Therefore, I returned to Harbin's Provincial Hospital for Cancer Treatment. Beginning in November, the doctor prescribed a total of 38 radiation treatments and I was sent home in January 2003. A month later, I returned to the hospital for a check up and this time the doctor prescribed two chemotherapy treatments. I felt particularly ill from the medicine injected into my body through an intravenous drip.
Despite the radiation therapy and chemotherapy, my condition worsened. When I went back in August 2003 for a re-examination, the doctor confirmed that the cancer had spread to my bones, and they administered more than 20 radiation treatments. My condition continued to worsen and by February 2004, my whole body ached. I went back to the hospital for another check-up, the doctor found the cancer had already spread throughout my body and I went through more than 20 radiation treatments again. Returning home afterwards, I could not eat or drink and any amount of food made me feel bloated. I became emaciated, dropping to about 53 kg (equivalent to about 116 lbs). My aching body kept me awake at night and neither sitting nor lying down gave me any relief. The medical specialist thought that the only thing for me to do was to wait to die.
Just when all seemed hopeless, suddenly the idea came to mind, "I should try practicing Falun Gong. Only Falun Gong can save me now." My mother was very pleased with my decision, as she is a Falun Gong practitioner. In the past, she had tried many times to urge me to practice Falun Gong, but I had not been receptive to her suggestion. Now, I began to practice Falun Gong. Not long afterward, I began to notice a change in my body; I could eat and drink all kinds of food.
The yearly college entrance examination was approaching, and I decided to participate in the examination. When I told others, everyone thought I was crazy, including my parents, my teachers and my classmates from high school. They wondered how a late-stage cancer patient who had only one year of high school education could possibly pass the entrance exams? However, I was very confident and I started to review and study for the tests. I worked hard for over a month and was accepted into a college in Heilongjiang Province. Classes started in September, and I also began military training. For two weeks I went to the training field everyday to deliver drinking water to my classmates. Amazingly, I found my weight had increased from about 53 kg to 59.5 kg (approximately 131 lbs.).
My experience again validates the splendor of Falun Dafa. I am grateful and thankful to our Teacher. It was Falun Dafa that gave me a new life.
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