China Crisis News Bulletin #59

9/19/2000

Monitoring News of the Persecution of Falun Gong

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FALUN DAFA INFORMATION CENTER - Contacts: Gail Rachlin 212-501-8080, Erping Zhang 917-679-6944, Feng Yuan 917-912-3301, or Levi Browde 914-720-0963. Email: [e-mail]

*CHINESE POET ENDORSES FALUN GONG'S NON-VIOLENT APPROACH

*UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AIDS RESEARCHER DETAINED IN CHINA

*JIANG ZEMIN'S NEW RULES FOR SPIRITUAL AND RELIGIOUS GROUPS

CHINESE DISSIDENT POET RELEASED, SAYS MORE GROUPS SHOULD EMULATE FALUN GONG'S NON-VIOLENT DEMONSTRATIONS IN CHINA

NEW YORK, Sep 15, 2000 -- (Reuters) After two weeks in an overcrowded Beijing jail where he said he was forced to squat with his hands behind his head during interrogations, Chinese poet Huang Beiling called on the country's intellectuals to follow the example of Falun Gong meditators by fighting government oppression through widespread civil disobedience. "I respect them," Huang said of the practitioners of Falun Gong, who continue to defy a yearlong crackdown by the Chinese government that has included mass arrests. "They have been doing this peacefully. When they're beaten, they don't hit back. The intellectual community should do the same thing," said Huang, who writes under the name Bei Ling and was jailed last month for distributing a literary journal called "Tendency." Huang said the Chinese government seeks to suppress any organization or publication not under direct control of the state. He vowed to continue publishing his journal out of Hong Kong or Taiwan. ... Huang described prison cells so crowded that inmates had to sleep in shifts. "When you get your turn, the floor space is so tight that you have to sleep on your side between the other prisoners," he said.

CHINA WRONGLY DETAINS U.A.B. AIDS RESEARCHER, WIFE

09/15/00 (Birmingham News) A week ago today, Chinese authorities arrested UAB AIDS researcher Sean Lin and his wife [Xiaohua Du]. Their "crime?" They practice Falun Gong. ... Customs officials found Falun Gong materials in their luggage and they were detained immediately. Also a week ago today, the U.S. State Department released its annual report on international religious freedom. The report documents the Chinese government's harsh crackdown against Falun Gong, and makes clear just how serious a situation Sean [Lin] and his wife face. "There were numerous credible reports of police involvement in beatings, detention under extremely harsh conditions, torture (including by electric shock and by having hands and feet shackled and linked with crossed steel chains), and other abuses of detained Falun Gong practitioners," the report said. "There are credible reports that estimate at least 24 practitioners have died while in police custody since July 1999." The Chinese government, which treats Falun Gong as a cult, has sentenced leaders to prison terms of up to 18 years, and members face terms of three to seven years. As many as 5,000 members have been sentenced without trial to up to three years in re-education-through-labor camps, according to the report. Sean [Lin]'s supporters have begun a petition drive to persuade Chinese authorities to allow him and his wife to return to the United States. U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Vestavia Hills, has contacted the State Department and the U.S. Embassy in China and asked them "to do everything they can to make sure the people are well treated and ... allowed to return to the United States." Sean [Lin] and his wife never should have been detained in the first place. That they are Chinese citizens instead of U.S. citizens makes it harder to get them out of China, according to Bachus' office. Let's hope the U.S. government can exert whatever pressure it takes to force their release.

ON THE ONE HAND, CHINA FLATLY DENIES ANY REPRESSION OF RELIGIONS...

BEIJING, Sep. 13, 00 (CWNews.com) - The Communist government of China on Wednesday accused the US of interfering in its internal affairs, denouncing a US State Department report that said China is persecuting religious groups. The report, issued earlier this month, surveys religious freedoms worldwide and lists those countries which restrict freedom of religion. The White House could then use the report to level a variety of sanctions. The current report said China was brutally repressing the Falun Gong spiritualist movement, Tibetan Buddhists, Catholics, and other group. "Relying solely on rumors and lies to accuse other governments and interfere in internal affairs of other countries is a mistake repeatedly made by the US State Department report. This bad habit should be addressed," an unidentified spokesman for the State Administration of Religious Affairs said in remarks carried by the official Xinhua News Agency. The Communist Chinese government requires Christians to worship only in state-controlled associations, including the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which eschews any connections to the Vatican or the Pope. Many Catholics worship in illegal, underground churches, following only bishops appointed by the Pope.

...BUT ON THE OTHER HAND:

CHINA ISSUES NEW RULES TO LIMIT GROWTH OF SPIRITUAL MOVEMENTS

BEIJING 9/15/00 (AP) Seeking to stifle meditation sects similar to the banned Falun Gong, China published rules Friday prohibiting exercise groups from preaching religion and strictly limited their size and activities. Teachers of the traditional Chinese exercise qigong must register and be certified by sports officials, according to a copy of the rules that appeared in the state-owned China Sports Daily. Groups have to be small, dispersed and locally organized, the rules say. Activities with more than 200 participants require police permission. The rules come amid a 13-month-old crackdown on the multimillion-member Falun Gong, which draws on Buddhism, Taoism and qigong and uses meditative exercises. The government has rounded up its leaders and winnowed the group's numbers but failed to break its organization. A commentary published with the rules accused ''unwholesome elements'' of seizing on the rising popularity of qigong to carry out fraud, spread superstition and endangered society. ''These problems have seriously affected the normal conduct of healthful qigong activities, harming the interests of the masses,'' said the preamble of the ''Healthful Qigong Management Regulations.'' In the most pointed reference to Falun Gong, the rules prohibit qigong groups from spreading ''ignorant superstition'' or the ''deification of individuals.'' Also banned are Buddhist worship practices associated with the banned group and others like it. Exercise groups will not be permitted to use religious language in their teaching, be named after individuals or have the words "China," "Asia," "World," and "Universe" in their titles, according to the rules. They will not be permitted to organize in state-run companies, government offices, schools, military bases and other sensitive establishments.

NEWS FROM CHINA

[Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province] Practitioners Given Forced Injections - Nanchang practitioners were sent to a mental hospital, and given forced injections for two months, causing harm to their central nervous systems. Their bodies have suffered serious damage, causing rigid limbs and blurry eyesight; they can no longer recognize familiar people.

[Dongbu Village, Shouguang City, Shandong Province] Female Practitioner Beaten Unconscious In a Sack - A female practitioner was brought to the village officials, handcuffed to a tree for 24 hours, and paraded through the streets, for participating in Falun Gong activities. While trying to appeal to the village officials, she was surrounded, stuffed into a sack, then beaten with sticks until she was unconscious. She was then pulled out from the sack and handcuffed to a tree again. They poured water into her ears and choked her.

[Shandong Province] Female Practitioner Requires Skin Graft From Whipping - Several police officers covered her eyes and took turns whipping her. She went into a coma with a high fever for several days. Since the flesh on her thighs was so badly flayed they had no option but to perform a large-scale skin graft operation on her. In addition, the government forced her family to pay a fine of 29,000 Yuan (about $3,600, or 5 years wages for an average worker)

[Many other stories from China available on the Internet at http://www.clearwisdom.net or http://www.faluninfo.net ]

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE FALUN DAFA INFORMATION CENTER - Contacts: Gail Rachlin 212-501-8080, Erping Zhang 917-679-6944, Feng Yuan 917-912-3301, or Levi Browde 914-720-0963. Email: [e-mail] (9/19/00 11:2)