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Falun Gong is freely practiced in at least 57 countries around the world, but relentlessly persecuted in China. The peaceful courage of practitioners there has shocked their oppressors and moved the people of the world. While China continues to block all information, FGMtv brings you the stories you may not hear anywhere else.

Hello, and welcome to FGMtv on July 2nd, 2002

I'm Susan Mitchell.

The number of Falun Gong practitioners verified to have died as a result of mistreatment by Jiang Zemin's regime is 429. However, a new publication out of China that seems to have access to privileged information puts the actual number at over 7,000.

Our top story this week:

The Chinese government's Falun Gong black list re-appears, this time in Hong Kong, and nearly 100 practitioners are denied entry

And some of our other stories:

• Two Toronto practitioners are honored by the City of Toronto for being outstanding volunteers in the community.
• And in China, a woman writes that she was almost buried alive by police.
• Video footage from July 1st Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill in Ottawa
• A criminal detained in a Changchun forced labor camp is moved to appeal to the international community to save Falun Gong practitioners tortured there.
• Thermal geyser in Iceland spews black liquid during Jiang Zemin's visit.

First, our top story: the Chinese government's 'Black List' of Falun Gong practitioners, is used in Hong Kong this week to deny entry to almost 100 practitioners who came to appeal the persecution on the 5th anniversary of Hong Kong's handover to China.

• After Jiang Zemin learned that the number of Falun Gong practitioners outnumbered membership in the Chinese Communist Party, he instituted the persecution of Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999. Until that time, the government encouraged people to practice, saying that it would add to social stability and improve peoples' health.
• The Chinese president's decision to persecute violated his country's constitutional law that guarantees freedom of belief, freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly to its citizens.
• Since July 20th, 1999, practitioners around the world have often reported that people of Chinese origin have come to meetings and practice sites and have taken photographs and/or asked questions that have nothing to do with their personal spiritual lives. Instead, their questions have to do with peoples' names.
• Falun Gong has no membership lists. Those who want to keep in touch with each other share their personal information. Those who don't keep their information to themselves.
• In mid-June, just prior to Jiang Zemin's visit to Iceland, the Icelandic Ministry of Justice suddenly issued a directive to Iceland Air to deny boarding to Falun Gong practitioners travelling to Iceland.
• This directive contravened the Schengen Agreement, signed by Iceland on March 25, 2001. That Agreement exempts Schengen Visa holders from Visa obligations for up to 3 months in the Schengen area, which includes Iceland. Entry was denied to six from Canada, all valid Schengen VISA holders.
• They were told that their names appeared on a black list of 47 Falun Gong practitioners.
• Last week, Hong Kong authorities deported 58 practitioners from Taiwan who had come to appeal peacefully during the 5th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to China.
• Not only were they prevented from entering the territory, they were also humiliated unnecessarily by police who stuffed them in canvas bags and carried them on stretchers into the cabin of a return flight to Taiwan.
• After dumping them in the flight cabin, one police officer then videotaped all the passengers.
• How did Hong Kong authorities know that they were practitioners? Most of them are not contact names listed on the Falun Dafa Web sites. How did the Chinese government compile their 'Black List"? It could only be through espionage.
• Since June 22, immigration authorities in Hong Kong have turned away 96 practitioners, including two Americans, 67 Taiwanese, 13 Australians, four Japanese, two Swedes, one Swiss, two Singaporeans and one Indonesian.

moving now to Toronto, where 2 practitioners were honored for outstanding volunteer contributions to the city.

• On June 25th, the City of Toronto held its annual ceremony to honor outstanding volunteers in the community.
• Ms. Tiejun Zhang and Mr. Zhaojin Zhang (no relation) were among the 66 people receiving certificates.
• Tia and John, as they are known by their English names, both work tirelessly to share the goodness of Falun Dafa with people, and to help to clarify the truth of the unjust persecution.
• As a former ballerina and current teacher for more than 20 years at the National Ballet School of Canada, Tia has often performed traditional Chinese dances at various cultural events. Her sparkling smile and wonderful grace and beauty are a tremendous inspiration to everyone.
• John is one of the volunteer contact people in Toronto who has focused his energy on making sure that elected officials at all three levels of government - municipal, provincial and federal - are kept up to date on the persecution. Through the efforts of John and his wife, Carolyn, Canadian officials have extended their friendship and concern to practitioners and are working within their mandates to help bring a just solution to the persecution.
• FGMtv extends congratulations to Tia and John and agrees wholeheartedly with the statement made by the Celebration Committee president at the ceremony who said, "They deserve the awards!"

and from China...

• FGMtv has often stated that it sometimes takes a long time for practitioners to smuggle their stories out of the country. Here is a harrowing account of experiences two years ago, written by a 34 year-old Falun Gong practitioner in Hunan Province.
• She reports that on July 1, 2000, after appealing on behalf of Falun Gong in Tiananmen Square, the Beijing police attempted to murder her. They beat and kicked her until she was black and blue before sending her to a local police station in Daxing County, Beijing.
• After continuing interrogation, and without explanation, several policemen drove her to a place called the "Great Sand Pit," which is said to be an execution ground.
• They dug a large ditch and violently pushed her into it. As the dirt reached the level of her mouth and nose she heard someone ask, "Would you like to die?" She replied, "I will not die. I must go on to speak on behalf of Falun Gong."
• After some discussion, the police dragged her out of the hole and sent her back to the police station where they continued to interrogate and threaten her.
• The next morning, another shift of police officers unleashed some police dogs that bit her and tore into her clothes.
• An account by a 34-year-old woman of the treatment she endured because she practices the Falun Gong exercises and studies the teachings based on the universal principles of truth, compassion and forbearance.

Moving back to Canada now, for video footage from Canada Day celebrations in the country's capital city.

• July 1st, 2002 marked Canada's 135th birthday. Canadians from all over the country came to Ottawa to celebrate.
• Canada is a strong supporter of Falun Dafa, and was the first country to publicly condemn the persecution in China.
• As a thank-you to Canada and in an effort to continue to introduce the peaceful practice of Falun Gong to Canadians and tourists in town for the big birthday party, practitioners from Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa traveled to Parliament Hill. They presented an exhibition of the graceful Falun Gong exercises and also performances of traditional Chinese culture and songs composed by talented Falun Dafa musicians.

A former criminal appeals on behalf of Falun Gong:

A criminal detained in the Changchun Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp in Jilin Province was so moved by the kindness and innocence of the Falun Dafa practitioners that he was forced to monitor, that upon his release, he sent the following report to the Clear Wisdom Web site. Here is a short excerpt:

• Currently, over seven hundred male Falun Gong practitioners are detained in Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp, and they are subjected to severe torture on an ongoing basis.
• When I entered the camp I was appointed by the prison guard to be a "clamper"--that is, one of two criminal prisoners who "clamp" onto one Falun Gong practitioner without leaving his side, monitoring his daily life whether he is dressing, eating, sleeping or walking. [This was one way to prevent practitioners from talking to or interacting with one another.]
• At the end of March 2002, the Secretary of the Provincial Standing Committee visited the camp and gave the following order, "Within three months, Falun Gong's 'transformation rate' must reach 95% -- use any methods and at all costs punish the remaining 5%."
• It was reported that Luo Gan, [charged by Jiang Zemin to carry out the persecution], was staying in Changchun to monitor the situation.
• On April 5th, the supervisors, prison guards and prisoners in every team began a concerted effort to torture the Falun Gong practitioners using electric batons, police clubs, iron sticks, police ropes, triangular belts, axe handles, punches and kicks. They used all sorts of methods to torture the practitioners, staining the walls with their blood.
• This former criminal ends his report by saying, "As a Chinese citizen with a conscience and a Changchun city resident who knows the truth about Falun Gong, I can't bear to see so many innocent citizens tortured. I hope all people both on the Mainland [of China] and overseas will pay close attention to them and give them support and help, so they can be out of danger as soon as possible."

Iceland's thermal geyser 'welcomes' Jiang Zemin:

• One of Iceland's natural attractions is its thermal geysers that spout pure clear water high into the air.
• During Jiang Zemin's visit to Iceland, it seemed as if not only the sky protested, but also the earth - from deep within! One of the thermal geysers suddenly spewed out black liquid! It was captured in these pictures.

TV propaganda gets a break in two more Chinese provinces:

• From June 23rd for several days, prime time propaganda in Shandong province was interrupted with short messages of "Falun Dafa is Good!"
• Reports of the current series of tapping into the networks were received and reported to major newswire services of Reuters and Agence France Presse from Laiyang county and Yantai city in Shandong and also from Hunan province.
• With the limited means at their disposal, and under life-threatening pressure from the authorities, Falun Gong practitioners in China have resorted to ever increasing creativity in doing their best to expose the illegal persecution against them.

Natural disasters abound in China this year:

• Falun Dafa's founder, Teacher Li Hongzhi, has said, "When people do not have virtue, natural calamities and man-made disasters will abound."
• While parts of China have been reeling under the worst floods in decades, the worst snowstorm in the past 30 years hit the Baluntai mountain area of northern Jing County in Xinjiang Autonomous Region this June.
• The deepest snow was measured at 50 to 80 centimeters [about 20 to 31 inches], causing more than 100 kilometers of highway closures, while more than 50 vehicles and nearly 100 people were stuck on the road.
• The snowstorm cost the local herdsmen heavy losses.

and as if the weather wasn't bad enough...

• One news agency in Hong Kong broadcast that half of China has been hit with floods and the other half is being infested with locusts.
• One of the areas worst hit is Tianjin, where the persecution against Falun Dafa initiated the one-day appeal of more than 10,000 people around the government compound in Beijing.

Many officials who have persecuted Falun Gong practitioners are now suffering personal calamities:

• This week, reports were received of disasters that have overtaken the lives of two Chinese officials who have extorted exorbitant sums of money from innocent practitioners:
• Mr. Changzeng Li, the former director of the Dongzhangbu Police Station in Feixiang County, Handan City of Hebei Province, was discharged from public office and stripped of his party membership in March 2002.
• Mr. Jiqiao Chen, the former Deputy Director General of the Boyujuan District Port Office in Yingkou City of Liaoning Province, was fined 100,000 Yuan for drunk driving and causing a traffic accident.
• We believe that one cannot escape the well-known universal law of "good will be rewarded and evil will be punished."

A Magnificent Concert in Taiwan's National Concert Hall Recently, renowned Belgian pianist and composer, Peter Ritzen was inspired to make an orchestral arrangement of a song composed by practitioners.

• The result was his symphonic poem, "Falun Dafa is Good". He performed his work in a magnificent concert setting in Taiwan, accompanied by a choir of more than 100 voices and an orchestra of more than 100 musicians.

Thanks for watching FGMtv, dedicated to breaking through China's information blockade, revealing propaganda, and bringing you the truth of Falun Gong.