(Minghui.org) Among the propaganda broadcast by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in China to incite public hatred of Falun Gong, the staged self-immolation hoax on Tiananmen Square on January 23, 2001 is the one that truly showed the Chinese regime's immorality and viciousness. Many Chinese people were misled by it and turned hostile towards the peaceful group of meditators.

Below is a letter recently sent to the Minghui website containing testimony from a soldier who had witnessed the incident.

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I was held in a detention center in 2007 for practicing Falun Gong. A girl was detained in the same cell. After we got to know each other, I told her that I practice Falun Gong.

“We meditate to improve our mind and body,” I said to her. “And it's not what the government claimed. The Communist Party published a lot of hate propaganda to smear Falun Gong. The so-called 'Tiananmen Self-Immolation' is one of them.”

“I know. That incident was set up by the government,” she immediately replied.

“Really? Have you heard about it from someone before?” I asked.

Eyewitness: 'It was a lie'

“Well, my boyfriend was a soldier in Beijing back then. When he came to visit me during that Chinese New Year break, we saw this report on television. He told me not to believe what was being publicized, since it was a lie.”

She went on. On the day before January 22, 2001, her boyfriend and other soldiers in his unit were told they would be on duty at Tiananmen Square on the following day.

“While we were on duty,” he said, “several vans arrived. People got out, lit a fire, and then put it out. It was as if they were making a film.”

Noticing video cameras, the soldiers thought that these people were shooting footage for a TV program. They did not fully understand it until they saw the scenes on TV.

He said, “We were very familiar with the scenes in the program—except that some were now labeled as Falun Gong practitioners.”

Other detainees in the cell were shocked to hear this. We talked about it for a long time, and most of them agreed to quit their membership in the Communist Party.