Media Reports

FFWD (Fast Forward Weekly) Calgary's news and entertainment Weekly

Oct 26-Nov 1, 2000 [10/31/00]

Falun Gong follower fighting to preserve ancient tradition

Stacey Hogan

A local follower of a traditional practice from China known as Falun Gong, which is banned in its country of origin, says the ancient exercise offers spiritual enlightenment and he hopes to share the experience with others.

"I have found the true meaning of my life," says Kai Liu, who is currently running a series of free seminars.

Falun Gong cultivates mind, body and spirit. Liu says participants find it to be simple and effective in physical and mental well-being - they are able to live in greater harmony with themselves and society.

During his workshops, attendants will learn the history of mediation, self-healing, modern medicine, supernatural powers, and more.

"If you do the exercise, you collect energy", says Liu. "I have benefited from its effectiveness, so I offer it for free".

Almost entirely through word of mouth, Falun Gong has spread to over 40 countries and is practiced by an estimated 70 million to 100 million people from all walks of life.

Because he has no funding, Liu has to hold the workshops in his apartment. The first night he had 10 people attend, but he hopes for more during the week.

"The first lecture in China in 1992 had only 50 people," he says, "And now it has grown to over 100 million."

That growth is despite the position of the Chinese communist government - Liu says the increased popularity of Falun Gong is perceived as a serious threat to the regime. Canadian practitioners believe it's important to reveal the truth about Falun Gong and have been actively involved in helping the public gain better understanding of it.

Liu also holds weekly sessions in Prince's Island Park, usually Sundays from 9:30 a.m. to around 11 a.m., and the public is welcome to join.

He has been practicing Falun Gong for more than a year and believes it has completely changed his life. While he doesn't guarantee fulfillment for everyone, he hopes that those who attend will have an increase in virtue and energy.

"I don't want people's money," he said, "I want to help people improve themselves and feel how I feel everyday."

For more information call Kai Liu at 244-5825.

With one photo: "Kai Liu (front) leads a Falun Gong session at Prince's Park"

Irish Times: China cannot cope with [...] dissenters [10/31/00]

From Conor O'Clery, in Beijing

CHINA: In a society where fear stifles dissent, the one thing the authorities cannot cope with is a movement made up of peaceful dissenters who have no fear.

The evidence for this could be seen during the last two days in Tiananmen Square, where waves of middle-aged and elderly members of Falun Gong defied a ban on their organisation by the Chinese government, offering themselves up as martyrs to security police who sometimes beat and kicked them, and hauled them off to detention centres.

But still they kept coming all day long, reminding the Chinese government that "they haven't gone away, you know", despite being prohibited [...] exactly a year ago.

Almost every day since then, small numbers of Falun Gong adherents from all over China have demonstrated in Tiananmen Square, the symbolic heart of the nation, but to mark the first anniversary of their banning, several hundred turned up on Thursday and yesterday. Despite deploying around the vast piazza in large numbers, the security police and soldiers cannot stop them.

Tiananmen Square is a Mecca for Chinese and foreign tourists - to close it would be a massive defeat for the government - and Falun Gong members are indistinguishable from ordinary sightseers. They wander on to the square and gather in small groups, then announce their presence by doing distinctive exercises with arms stretched upwards, or by unfurling banners or scattering leaflets in the air. Immediately the police pounce, running back and forth under the direction of plain-clothes security officials who themselves pose as tourists.

Yesterday, when an elderly man shouted "Falun Gong is good", seven plain-clothes officers threw him down on to the hard flagstones and punched and kicked him, then carried him bodily to a police vehicle.

Journalists and tourists have witnessed dozens of such incidents over the last two days, during which an estimated 500 followers of Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, were taken into custody. Security men lashed out with boots and fists at two young men who tried to unfurl a yellow banner.

A slogan was ripped from three elderly women by police who pulled one by the hair and punched another as they were forced into a police van which sped away with horn blaring. A man was led away bleeding from the mouth after being thumped. Another who tried to display a sign was bowled over and kicked in the chest, then punched repeatedly in the arms to make him let go of the banner. Police seized a camera from a Western visitor and ripped out the film.

There is no accurate record of what happened to the detainees, but from past experience most are released within hours and others sent to labour camps or reeducation centres.

The incidents - the most sustained protests against the communist government since the 1989 student movement - are never reported in the media, but everyone in Beijing knows that to walk near the square now is to risk being stopped and forced to produce papers by security police. Many people have been seen remonstrating with the police.

Falun Gong is a mixture of Taoism and Buddhism and traditional Chinese breathing exercises. Its exiled leader, Li Hongzhi, lives in New York. The organisation was banned after 15,000 members demonstrated outside Jongnanhai government compound in Beijing last year against ill-treatment of its members.

It has since been accused of [...]

Two members of Falun Gong, Qi Fengqin (43) and Zong Hengjie (34), died in police custody over the past month because of violent treatment, according to the Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Hong Kong. The group claims that 59 have died in custody since the government crackdown on the sect began in July 1999.

The government acknowledges that several have died but says most committed suicide or died of natural causes. Ominously for the authorities, there are reports of protests outside Beijing. The Hong Kong group said yesterday that in Changchun in Jilin province, 100 Falun Gong adherents have been on a protest hunger strike for five days.

The protests are expected to continue today and Monday.

AFP(via SCMP): Police wade into [group] followers as protests continue [10/31/00]

Monday, October 30, 2000

Protesters from the banned Falun Gong movement trying to distribute leaflets in Tiananmen Square yesterday were kicked and beaten by police and dragged off in a police van. Five women and two men were taken away after some shouted "Falun Gong is good". Several refused arrest and had to be carried struggling into the van, while one police officer hit their backs with a baton.

The protesters were hurling leaflets into the air as police frantically tried to collect them before they were picked up by onlookers.

The leaflets were carrying anti-government news [...].

The leaflet claimed that the crackdown on the movement had been decided unilaterally by President Jiang Zemin and that other leaders such as Mr Zhu and Vice-President Hu Jintao had not been in favour of taking such a tough line.

An elderly man who appeared to be an innocent bystander was taken for a Falun Gong member and beaten on the back of the head. He was saved from arrest at the last minute by his wife.

The incident took place as crowds of local and foreign tourists looked on, prompting police to strip films from their cameras after the incident.

Loudspeakers in the square started blaring patriotic and military songs, while male and female officers urged onlookers to disperse. Security was tight, with police vans criss-crossing the square.

Police have been on the watch after two days of protests late last week when about 150 [group] members were detained.

The mainland's Draconian crackdown on the Falun Gong began after 10,000 followers stunned the leadership by demonstrating in central Beijing in April last year.

AFP: Beijing Residents Lose Kite-Flying Rights after Falun Gong Protests [10/31/00]

BEIJING, Oct 28, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Chinese police, watchful after two days of demonstrations in Tiananmen Square by adherents of the forbidden Falun Gong [group], cracked down Saturday on a favorite hobby of Beijing locals -- kite-flying.

At least five kite enthusiasts were forced to land their craft in the huge central Beijing Square early Saturday morning, with police evidently fearing a third day of protests by the Buddhist-inspired group.

A man of about 60, astonished by the ban, was treated brusquely by police officers who forced him to leave the square, his kite under his arm.

"The square is so big, we should have the right," he responded to the police officers.

"They are very irritated by the Falun Gong," a kite-seller said, trying nonetheless to shift her stock.

"They must think the kites will obstruct them if there is a demonstration."

Hundreds of uniformed and plain-clothed police patrolled the square, the world's largest, having often brutally removed dozens of Falun Gong followers on Thursday and Friday.

The [group] followers planned to mark Monday's first anniversary of a vote by the Chinese legislature, which enacted a range of new legal powers against illegal religious movements. ((c) 2000 Agence France Presse)

AP: Three Falun Gong members die in custody [10/31/00]

12.10 p.m. ET (1724 GMT) October 30, 2000

BEIJING (AP) A human rights group said Monday that three followers of Falun Gong died in police custody, inncluding one man who the grou said was beaten to death after refusing to renounce his membership in the meditation [group].

Wang Bin, a 47-year-old computer specialist, was beaten for three hours by guards at the Dongfeng labor camp, the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy reported. He died Oct. 5, the Hong Kong-based group said.

The group also said Xie Guiying, 32, died of a beating at a police station on Oct. 18 in the eastern city of Zhunan. Liu Yucai, 60, a private doctor from northeastern Jilin province, died in a Beijing police station on Oct. 6, the report said.

The deaths raise to 62 the number of sect followers who have died in detention since China banned the Falun Gong in July 1999.

Chinese officials have declined to discuss individual reports of police abuse against Falun Gong members, but deny that any followers have died from police mistreatment.

Wang's former colleagues at an oil field management institute in the northern city of Daching are demanding that his killers be prosecuted, and sent a representative to discuss the case with police on Monday, the human rights group said.

A Communist Party official at the institute, who would only give his surname, Cui, said he had heard of Wang's death and the protests, but declined to provide details. He said he did not know how police responded to the representative's visit.

Arrests of Falun Gong members in Beijing's Tiananmen Square have become increasingly violent. On Thursday, police pummeled and dragged Falun Gong members to waiting vans, kicking one man in the stomach and head until blood ran from his mouth.

Falun Gong attracted millions of members during the 1990s, offering a combination of slow-motion exercises, Buddhist and Taoist teachings and the often unorthodox ideas of its founder, former government clerk Li Hongzhi, who has left China.

SCMP: Falun Gong appeals against crackdown [10/31/00]

Monday, October 30, 2000

ELLEN CHAN Updated at 6.43pm:

About 120 Falun Gong members presented a petition on Friday afternoon at the Central Government's Liaison Office in Causeway Bay, urging Beijing to halt its crackdown on the [group].

They tried to deliver a letter to Premier Zhu Rongji and other leaders but no one from the office came out to receive it.

''We are disappointed but we still have hopes for we know this is temporary,'' said Sharon Xu Jun, the group's SAR spokeswoman.

Ms Xu claimed that they had chosen October 30 for the petition in order to commemorate the revision of a law by the People's Congress a year ago, which redefined the [group] as [...].

''The new definition was not specifically referred to Falun Dafa but was used by a few people to direct against it,'' said Ms Xu.

Ms Xu thought official oppression had been escalating recently.

''We called for Premier Zhu and other leaders' immediate attention on the issue.''