35-year-old Ms. Li Huiqi was tortured for two months in a Chinese Labor Camp, leaving her paralyzed and emaciated.
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35-year-old Ms. Li Huiqi was tortured for two months in a Chinese Labor Camp, leaving her paralyzed and emaciated. |
NEW YORK (FDI) -- Two months in the Shijiazhuang Forced Labor Camp in Hebei Province transformed a healthy, vibrant woman into a mere skeleton of herself.
Ms. Li Huiqi, 35, worked at the Shijiazhuan Paint Factory in Hebei Province. On December 2, 2001, police from the Weiming Street Police Station in Shijiazhuang City detained her because she practices Falun Gong. On February 2, 2002, after being illegally detained at Shijiazhuang First Detention Center for two months, she was sent to the Second Squad, Fourth Brigade of the Shijiazhuang Forced Labor Camp for a one-year term.
At the Shijiazhuang Labor Camp, "610 Office" officials and Labor Camp police tortured Ms. Li until she was on the brink of death.
During the time Ms. Li was detained and tortured in the labor camp, her health deteriorated dramatically. Still, the labor camp refused to release her.
During her detention, Ms. Li's family came to the camp many times and begged to be allowed to visit her. However, policewoman Qi Xiaoxia of the Second Squad, Fourth Brigade of the labor camp reportedly told them, "Falun Gong practitioners have no visitation dates. 'Visitation day' is not for Falun Gong!"
Sources say the camp also demanded money from Ms. Li's family.
On April 8, 2002, due to the torture Ms. Li had endured, the labor camp sent her to the People's Hospital of Hebei Province to be resuscitated. Ms. Li was emaciated. Many of her major organs were malfunctioning. Her pulse could not be detected, and she had to be put on a ventilator.
Ms. Li remained in serious condition, and was transferred to the Third Hospital of Hebei Province on May 30, 2002. Her condition remained serious and she had to be resuscitated several times.
Family members say they began funeral preparations on at least three separate occasions.
Throughout Ms. Li's ordeal in the hospital, labor camp police monitored her 24 hours a day, apparently fearing what she may reveal regarding the torture she experienced in the labor camp. The police also arrested Falun Gong practitioners who came to visit her.
"They used every way they could to prevent her persecution from being exposed," says one source from Hebei Province.
On the morning of December 12, 2002, Li Yong, a director from the labor camp and head of the fourth squad, and police officer Zhou Yilin went to the hospital. Stating that Ms. Li had "fulfilled her sentence" at the labor camp, they indicated she should be released, which meant the labor camp would no longer provide further medical treatment. The responsibility of caring for the now paralyzed Ms. Li was passed to her family.
Currently, Ms. Li is suffering from a urinary tract infection, pneumonia, and frequent muscle spasms. She cannot breathe without a ventilator. She is being cared for at home by her oldest sister, who is always by her side.
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NEWS - Mar. 3, 2003 Falun Dafa Information Center,
Background
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa (about), is a practice of meditation and exercises with teachings based on the universal principle of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance." It is a practice that was taught in private for thousands of years before being made public in 1992 by Mr. Li Hongzhi. Falun Gong has roots in traditional Chinese culture, but it is distinct and separate from other practices such as the religions of Buddhism and Taoism. Since its introduction in 1992, it quickly spread by word of mouth throughout China, and is now practiced in over 50 countries.
With government estimates of as many as 100 million practicing Falun Gong, China's President Jiang Zemin outlawed the peaceful practice in July 1999 (report), fearful of anything touching the hearts and minds of more citizens than the Communist Party. Unable to crush the spirit of millions who had experienced improved health and positive life changes from Falun Gong, Jiang's regime has intensified its propaganda campaign to turn public opinion against the practice while quietly imprisoning, torturing and even murdering those who practice it.
The Falun Dafa Information Center has verified details of 583 deaths (reports / sources) since the persecution of Falun Gong in China began in 1999. Government officials inside China, however, report that the actual death toll is well over 1,600, while expert sources estimate that figure to be much higher. Hundreds of thousands have been detained, with more than 100,000 being sentenced to forced labor camps, typically without trial.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE FALUN DAFA INFORMATION CENTER- Contacts: Gail Rachlin 917-501-4441, Levi Browde 914-720-0963, Erping Zhang 646-533-6147, or Feng Yuan 917-941-1097. Email: faluninfoctr@nycmail.com, Website: http://www.faluninfo.net/
(Clearwisdom.net)
The following is a record of the debate that took place in Canada's House of Parliament on February 28, 2003 regarding the motion in support of rescuing Falun Gong practitioners in China.
Mr. Scott Reid (MP for Lanark--Carleton) moved
| Motion No. 236 |
| That, in the opinion of this House, the Prime Minister should take advantage of his upcoming meeting with President Jiang Zemin of China at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Conference to privately raise the issue of the continued imprisonment in China of thirteen Falun Gong practitioners who have close family ties to Canada, and to emphasize that Canadians would be more willing to strengthen existing trade and aid ties between Canada and China if these individuals (namely, Lizhi He; Xiuzhen Lu; Tianxiong Peng; Zhanzhong Wu; Xiuchao Huang; Bo Qiu; Yueli Yang; Yangtao Jin; Jiangang Huang; Guangshou Huang; Mingli Lin; Zhou Zheng; and Changzheng Sun) were re-united with their families in Canada. |
He said: Madam Speaker, I assure you that I have made many pronunciation mistakes of the same sort, but the people of Falun Gong are very tolerant of those of us who are not perfect in our Chinese pronunciation.
The motion that was just read was unanimously passed, with a slight change in wording, by the House on October 24. The motion that we are debating today is identical in all practical purposes to that motion.
It is very unusual, to say the least, to debate a motion in the House of Commons that has been adopted, for all intents and purposes, four months after the fact of its adoption. This provides us with the unique opportunity to review the unanimous action of the House on October 24, and to see what results it has borne.
At that time, as the wording of the motion indicates, the Prime Minister was departing for Mexico to meet with leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference, including the president of China. I drafted and introduced this motion in the belief that any clear signal from the Prime Minister to the president of China, whether delivered in public or in private conversation, as the motion anticipates, would result in an improvement in the treatment of the 13 prisoners of conscience who are named in the motion.
As I imagined it then, the process would have worked something like this: the Prime Minister would spend a moment during his private time with President Jiang Zemin, drawing the attention of the president toward the unanimous will of the House of Commons. The president would probably regard this as an annoyance, but probably he would nevertheless, following this conversation, pass on this information to some underling with the instruction to make this minor irritation go away, so that China's relations with its valued Canadian trading partners might not be impeded by the peculiarly Canadian habit of obsessing over the individual human rights of particular individuals. And in the bowels of the vast Chinese bureaucracy, through a sort of trickle down effect, the appropriate administrators would probably in turn, so I imagined, be advised at the least to improve the conditions and the treatment of the prisoners of conscience and perhaps even to cause the release of some of the individuals named in this motion, simply in order to make this irritation go away.
Other honourable members seem to have agreed with the logic of the scenario that I had imagined and so the motion was passed without the opposition of a single member of Parliament. This kind of unanimous consent is a very rare occurrence in the House. I must say that it makes me proud of all my 300 colleagues and proud to be a member of the same institution as all my 300 colleagues in the House of all parties.
I am happy to report that the unanimous adoption of the motion seems to have resulted in at least the partial achievement of its intended goal. Of the 13 prisoners of conscience named in the motion, 5 have been freed.
Bo Qiu, a 27 year old photographer whose mother lives in Canada, has been released from the Liuchangshan labour camp. Yueli Yang, a 62 year old aerospace engineer and the mother of Zhendong Yang of Toronto, is now out of prison. Tianxiong Peng, whose twin sister lives right here in Ontario, was freed and on Christmas eve was reunited with her two year old daughter.
I would like to quote, if I may, from her twin sister, Helen Peng, who lives in Canada and who writes as follows:
| My wish (for my sister's release) [came true] on Christmas Eve. It is like a dream...I truly appreciate the Canadian [Parliament] and all the others for their kind help and I wish them the very best. I hope each government will help the Falun Gong practitioners persecuted in China and help end this persecution which should never have occurred. |
Even more encouraging in the three names that I have mentioned is the news about Changzheng Sun and Guangshou Huang, both of whom have been freed, and allowed to leave the country. I am happy to report that both Mrs. Sun and Mr. Huang have been reunited with their families here in Canada.
Reports from China indicate that the treatment of some of the other prisoners mentioned in the motion appear to have improved since October, and the evidence suggests that this is the direct result of the fact that the motion was passed in the House on October 24.
Looking back at a distance of four months, it seems to me pretty clear that from a technical or mechanical point of view what actually transpired to cause these positive developments, after the motion was passed in the House of Commons, was something very different from what I had imagined would take place.
Based on reports that I have received from contacts here in Canada, who are themselves in contact with friends and family in China and who have been monitoring the situation of loved ones within the Chinese penal system, it seems that the most important factor was not so much the internal pressure trickling down from on high, but rather the external pressure that the Canadian embassy in Beijing was able to bring to bear with regard to these 13 specific cases.
Canadian embassy officials, acting with impressive energy and efficiency, made it clear to the relevant Chinese authorities, that is to say the governors of the prisons and the administrators of the labour camps in which the 13 practitioners have been imprisoned, that Canada's Parliament and Canada's diplomatic corps was watching. In one particularly colourful and effective gesture, the embassy mailed Chinese New Year cards last month to each of the prisoners of conscience which made a dramatic impression, as members can imagine, upon the administrators who intercepted this mail. It made the point that they were not forgotten, that people were watching and that people in positions of authority cared very much about what happened to them. In the words of one Chinese Canadian with whom I recently talked, "It was as if the people at the Canadian embassy had been given a green light to do all the things they needed to do". It is that which has been the most effective in getting the results that we see today.
To illustrate this point, I would like to read from a letter that I recently received from a Canadian living in Toronto whose 63 year old mother was freed from prison three weeks ago, probably as a result of this motion. He writes:
| At one point, [my mother] was incarcerated in [a] notorious.... Forced Labour Camp... where lots of [Falun Gong] practitioners [have been] killed. I was really worried about her, but there was no way to know if she was still alive... |
The strong reaction of the international community made those in China that started the crackdown very nervous and afraid. It was from then on, that I started to hear about my mother's situation in the labour camp. |
The labour camp where my mom was imprisoned started to make a list of all those who have overseas connections... |
Because of the efforts of our government, our parliament, as well as the Canadian Embassy in Beijing, my mother was finally released. |
...She asked me to pass on her gratitude to all those who have helped with her release. She told me that the rescue efforts overseas have had a great impact in China. Whenever there is any sign of support from outside of China, those in charge of the labour camp became very nervous... and they would go and talk to her about it. |
There was one other remarkable action taken as a result of alert Canadian diplomatic officials in the wake of the October 24 resolution, which we are discussing here today. This involved Ms. Yuzhi Wang, who today resides safely in Toronto following a remarkable rescue.
As seems so often to be the case with Falun Gong practitioners, Mrs. Wang had led a quiet and productive life prior to her arrest. She owned a small computer store in Harbin, the capital of Manchuria. When she was arrested and imprisoned several years ago, Mrs. Wang was tortured and force fed.
When she came to Ottawa following her release, I had the opportunity to talk with Mrs. Wang and she described a bit of what was involved in some of the torture that she experienced. Force feeding is really a way of imposing a form of torture on someone. Whether they are on a starvation diet, it is done to torture them without officially being engaged in torture. Their mouths are forced open, a rubber hose is forced down their throat and cold water mixed with wheat flour is poured down their throat. This results in gagging, retching, severe cramps and in some cases vomiting and nausea. Its actual benefits in terms of delivering nutrition to the person in question is highly questionable.
As I said, Mrs. Wang was imprisoned and tortured. She was released from her first sentence in prison when her death as a result of her treatment seemed inevitable. To avoid taking responsibility for her death, the Chinese authorities shipped Mrs. Wang to the United Arab Emirates where she had family members who nursed her back to health. A new warrant for her arrest was issued after Mrs. Wang was sighted at the United Arab Emirates airport by Chinese authorities and it became clear that her health had recovered and that she would not remain meek and quiet about the conditions that she had suffered while in prison.
Local authorities in the United Arab Emirates were contacted by Chinese authorities and were preparing to deport Mrs. Wang back to China on the basis of this warrant for her arrest. Members of the Falun Gong Association of Canada rallied to support her and compiled the relevant documentation to present to the authorities in the United Arab Emirates to save her from deportation and from certain imprisonment, which Mrs. Wang does not believe she would have survived.
Included among the documents that were presented, both to United Arab Emirates authorities and also to Canadian consular authorities in the UAE, was a copy of the motion that had been adopted in the House on October 24. The package of materials seems to have been decisive in causing Canadian consular officials to arrange a ministerial permit for Mrs. Wang to come safely to this country where she now resides.
I would like to dwell for a moment on the question of ministerial permits and the good that they could do in the case of individuals named in this motion who remain in China, whether still in prison or in that curious state of quasi freedom that exists for someone who, like Mrs. Wang following her release, is in perpetual danger of renewed incarceration.
The importance of getting these people out of China whenever possible and to the safety of Canada where they all have family members, husbands, wives, sons or daughters, parents in some cases, waiting to greet them, cannot be overemphasized.
I would like to quote again from Helen Peng, whose twin sister is in China, out of prison but under close observation. She says, "I am sad for the tribulations my sister has endured and I hope she can come soon to the safe environment in Canada". I hope she can too.
The only way to ensure that the treatment of these individuals and other individuals in similar circumstances, including others not mentioned in the motion who also have close family ties to Canada, and to ensure that their rights are respected is to continue to have vigilance, to continue to draw attention to them and to be prepared to issue ministerial permits to allow them to come to this country where they can become productive citizens, as have many other individuals who have been persecuted in China for their spiritual beliefs.
I want to conclude with one individual whose story came to my attention after the motion had already been placed before the House and whose story is particularly sad.
Yunhe Zhang, whose sister lives in Vancouver, is currently in prison. She has a three year old child who never got to see her father. Her father was also in prison and died there a couple of years ago. Yunhe Zhang remains in prison, separated from her child who is being raised by relatives. Her mother-in-law died, a death that members of their family believe was premature, due to the conditions that her son and her daughter-in-law were suffering in prison in China and the stress that was involved in it.
This individual has done no harm to anybody. She believes, as do all members of the Falun Gong movement, in the values that are central to the Chinese culture and to all civilized society. The principles of Falun Gong, an apolitical movement, are a belief in tolerance, compassion and truth.
These individuals have always been productive members of the Chinese society. I am confident that those who would be allowed to come here to Canada on ministerial permits would also be productive members of our society.
I want to take this moment to thank all members of the House who voted in favour of the motion when it was before the House on October 24, 2002 and made it possible for several of these individuals to find their freedom again.
Ms. Aileen Carroll (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs): Madam Speaker, we continue to raise human rights concerns and to urge Chinese leaders to respect internationally agreed upon human rights standards during meetings with Chinese ministers and officials. We will continue to register Canadian concerns about human rights abuses both in general terms and with respect to specific cases where appropriate.
Canada also continues to make reference to China in annual country situation public statements at the United Nations General Assembly Third Committee, the latest occurrence which took place in November 2002, and also at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, and equally to support multilateral initiatives which promote our human rights objectives.
[...]
Mr. Stéphane Bergeron (MP for Verch res--Les-Patriotes): Madam Speaker, I too am pleased to speak in the debate on the motion by the honourable member for Lanark--Carleton.
First, I would like to thank and congratulate our honourable colleague from Lanark--Carleton for again drawing the House's attention to the very disturbing situation of Falun Gong practitioners in China. Based on our long discussions, especially on the expulsion of the Acadians, I know that the hon. member for Lanark--Carleton is deeply concerned with justice and respect for human rights.
Not so long ago, I had the pleasure of speaking in the House on a bill regarding China's accession to the World Trade Organization. I was very happy to speak in that debate to amend our legislation so that the People's Republic of China could join the WTO.
Members will recall that I mentioned at that time that there are a number of human rights issues in China that are currently great cause for concern. The fate of Falun Gong or Falun Dafa practitioners is one of our concerns, particularly in the context of China's accession to the WTO.
[...]
The People's Republic of China cannot, therefore, be surprised if the international community, and Canada in particular, is concerned about the human rights situation in that country, given its commitments within the international community in this area. The international community is therefore responsible for ensuring that the signatories of the treaties in question meet their commitments.
I must therefore say that the motion again presented by the honourable member for Lanark--Carleton has already had some positive impact, as he has mentioned. This motion, which was already unanimously adopted in this House in October 2002, appears to have brought about, or at least contributed to bringing about, the release of at least three of the Falun Gong practitioners listed in the resolution.
It therefore seems likely that focussing attention on the situation of our fellow citizens of Quebec or Canada, or of the Chinese relatives of those fellow citizens, can have a positive impact on what happens to them.
However, I think, and I am sure the member for Lanark--Carleton will agree with me, that through these specific cases we have decided to highlight here today, as we did in October, we really want to focus on the predicament of all Falun Gong practitioners and dissidents, whose human rights are being violated.
Falun Gong, as our colleague mentioned, is a peaceful and apolitical organization that promotes a spiritual approach based on three broad principles: truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. Falun Gong tries to bring human beings closer to the fundamental nature of the universe to achieve harmony.
[...]
Ms. Wendy Lill (MP for Dartmouth): Madam Speaker, on behalf of [my party's] caucus it is my pleasure to speak in favour of Motion No. 236, which urges the Prime Minister to encourage the President of China to release thirteen Falun Gong practitioners.
As I understand it, these thirteen people are currently in prison solely because of their beliefs. It is no secret that China has an appalling human rights record and routinely tortures and imprisons people for their beliefs and for taking peaceful action such as publishing an article critical of government policy or assembling in Tiananmen Square to protest the lack of democracy in China. There are hundreds of stories of the Chinese government violating the human rights of the Falun Gong.
I thank the member for Burnaby--Douglas for providing me with the information that I am using today. For example, on March 14, 2002, four Swiss and twelve Hong King citizens were forcefully arrested while staging a peaceful appeal outside the Chinese liaison office in Hong Kong to raise awareness of China's escalating persecution of Falun Gong. As the number of demonstrators was less than fifty, no permit was necessary for this gathering. As video evidence clearly attests, the demonstration was small, unobtrusive and completely non-violent, yet the police used violence in disrupting the event and taking away the participants.
As well, just last week there were four deaths reported. One was that of a 37 year old woman who was arrested for distributing New Year's greeting cards with the words truth, compassion and tolerance written on them. Her husband was only informed of her death 10 days later.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch report that many thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured, murdered, subjected to sexual violence, including rape and forced abortions, and arbitrarily imprisoned in psychiatric facilities, labour camps and penitentiaries. As well, the government of the People's Republic of China has embarked upon a massive public campaign to breed hatred and discrimination against Falun Gong practitioners.
I cannot think of any reason that any human being should be subjected to the kind of abuse that the Chinese government has put upon the Falun Gong. The persecution of the Falun Gong violates China's own constitution as well as the international covenant on civil and political rights and the universal declaration of human rights. China is a signatory to both.
Generally it is the practice of sovereign countries not to interfere in the internal affairs of another sovereign country, yet through globalization our world is coming closer together and the artificial boundaries of nation states are fast crumbling. The Chinese efforts to persecute the Falun Gong go beyond the Chinese borders. In Canada, adherents have been victims of death threats, vandalism, harassment, cyber-attacks and other forms of intimidation and discrimination.
I think in this case Canada has a responsibility to encourage the Chinese government to stop these attacks and respect international law. What is the point of having international agreements if countries can sign on and then turn around and not respect them, without any repercussions?
In July 2002 the U.S. Congress passed a resolution that urged the U.S. government to condemn the efforts of the People's Republic of China to persecute the Falun Gong practitioners domestically and internationally and to strive to ensure that China released all imprisoned adherents of the faith in accordance with international human rights laws. Canadian protests also do make a difference, as Canadian Lin Shenli was recently rescued.
I fully support this motion and urge the Prime Minister to discuss the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners with the President of China as a matter of human rights. No one should have to suffer what these people have been through. Canada has a responsibility to help put an end to this.
Mr. Irwin Cotler (MP for Mount Royal): Madam Speaker, I am pleased to support the motion of the member for Lanark--Carleton and the individual cases and underlying cause that inspire it: the ongoing prosecution and persecution of the Falun Gong in China, in a word, the criminalization of innocence that finds expression in the intimidation, harassment, arrest, detention, coercive interrogation, torture, beatings and imprisonment of people for doing nothing other than espousing ancient Chinese values, which are also universal values, of truth, compassion and tolerance.
It is instructive and encouraging to note that since the member for Lanark--Carleton spoke to a similar motion on October 24, 2002, regarding the plight of thirteen Falun Gong practitioners with close family ties in Canada, which received unanimous support at the time and for which initiative he is to be singularly congratulated, five have been released, while a sixth, Yanying Wu, has been released but remains under house arrest.
As I mentioned, the news of their release is encouraging, and the improved treatment of other of these prisoners still in detention is also encouraging, and the whole is testimony to the role that the House has played and the role of our Canadian embassy and diplomats in that regard. As the member for Lanark--Carleton put it, we made it clear that we are going to be watching, that we are going to maintain a watching brief, that the prisoners are not alone in this regard and that we stand in solidarity with them.
But while this news is encouraging, as I have just described, and as the member for Lanark--Carleton went into the individual cases and humanized the appreciation and understanding of the cases and cause, the important point that must also be appreciated today and which is the import of my remarks is that while we are pleased and indeed encouraged at the release of people who are effectively prisoners of conscience, and we extend our appreciation to all involved in this effort, we have to realize that those released should never have been arrested to begin with.
We have to realize the following: that they should never have been imprisoned, held incommunicado and subjected to coercive interrogation and beatings while in detention; that they should never have been deprived of the companionship and shared life with their loved ones; that there remain eight Falun Gong practitioners with a Canadian connection still in detention, seven of them and one under house arrest, as I mentioned; that those who have been released should also not mask the fact that thousands upon thousands of Falun Gong practitioners, as has been mentioned in the House, have been detained and imprisoned for nothing other than espousing these values of truth, compassion and tolerance. We have to realize that in addition to their false imprisonment, their fundamental values of conscience and religion, of assembly and association and of expression and information, have been systematically violated, and that, indeed, over 100,000 people have been sent to labour camps without any legal process while over 1,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been detained in psychiatric institutions.
The Chinese authorities recently have passed new rules allowing courts to try followers for subversion, separatism and leaking state secrets if they spread any information about the Falun Gong, thereby further enlarging the dragnet of the criminalization of innocence. We are witnessing in effect a systematic and sustained assault on freedom of religion in general and the rights of Christians, Buddhists, Taoists, and Muslims in particular. For example, this has even included, by the Chinese authorities' own acknowledgement, the confiscation and destruction of houses of worship and religious books and material. This also has a Falun Gong connection, for the anti-cult legislation, developed to criminalize and eliminate the Falun Gong, has been used against 16 other religious organizations that refuse to tailor their beliefs and practices to the demands of Chinese authorities.
In a word, we would be remiss if we did not make mention of all this and sound the alarm about the dramatic increase in the persecution of the Falun Gong, including the increase in the rate of arrest and detention, the increase in deaths of Falun Gong in detention, the increase in the beatings and torture, according to eyewitness testimony and documentary evidence of Falun Gong detainees, the increase in the numbers sent to psychiatric institutions, and the use of atrocity propaganda to demonize them in the eyes of their fellow citizens.
Accordingly, I call upon the Chinese authorities: to release the seven Falun Gong practitioners with a Canadian and family connection from their imprisonment, and permit them to be reunited with their loved ones here in Canada; to repeal the illegal ban on the Falun Gong; to rescind any laws or regulations specifically criminalizing the Falun Gong as an "illegal association" and prohibiting thereby the exercise of the fundamental freedoms of their members as guaranteed under Chinese law; to cease and desist from any policy or practice of torture or other degrading punishment or treatment of prisoners in detention, something that Chinese authorities undertook as well with the ratification of the international covenant on civil and political rights, with respect to which we have made representations; and to release all Falun Gong members now detained in prison, forced labour camps or psychiatric detention.
[...]
(Clearwisdom.net) Taiwan's Vice President Lu Hsiu-Lien, two organizers of the Human
Rights Consultation Team and Falun Gong practitioners held a press conference on
March 1, 2003. They protested the Hong Kong government's treatment of Taiwan
Falun Gong practitioners, denying entry to 80 and expelling them back to Taiwan.
Vice President Lu Hsiu-Lien said that this violated human rights and was as evil
as the "228 Affair" that happened in Taiwan 56 years ago. Ms. Lu called on the
people of Taiwan to be aware of the Hong Kong government's human rights
violations and asked other related governmental departments to condemn these
actions.
Taiwan
Vice President Lu Hsiu-Lien (right) hosted the Human Rights Consultation Team
press conference in President's Hall and condemned the expulsion of the Falun
Gong practitioners.
Taiwan media outlets reported that over 450 Taiwan Falun Gong practitioners flew to Hong Kong to attend the Falun Gong conference with visas issued by the Hong Kong government. However, the Hong Kong authorities detained 80 practitioners at the airport. The Hong Kong authorities used violence in expelling them, injuring the practitioners in the process.
"Hong Kong's Human Rights Have Fallen"
Vice President Lu Hsiu-Lien hosted the press conference as the coordinator of the President's Hall Human Rights Consultation Team, together with two other coordinators and several Falun Gong practitioners who were involved in the affair. She strongly condemned the Hong Kong authorities for using violence in barring and expelling Taiwan Falun Gong practitioners.
Ms. Lu said that the recent events in Hong Kong were merely the tip of the iceberg, and the government will step up to protect human rights. She also wanted other governmental departments to voice their objections to the Hong Kong authorities.
Ms. Lu stated that citizens should pay attention to Hong Kong's human rights violations. If the Hong Kong government doesn't change its ways, the treatment of Falun Gong practitioners will happen to other people from Taiwan. She also pointed out that this is proof that Hong Kong's human rights have fallen.
Ms. Lu said that four million trips are made each year from Taiwan to Hong Kong. Hong Kong was "the Pearl of the East" and "Light Tower of Freedom" in people's minds, yet these human rights violations have happened in Hong Kong. It reminded her of when in 1991 she deliberately tested China by attempting to attend the Beijing National Day celebration by going through Hong Kong. The Hong Kong immigration department knew her identity, so they politely denied her entry. Now, when the Taiwan Falun Gong practitioners went to Hong Kong, they were not only denied entry but also wrapped in canvas and violently expelled. "Beijing of 1991 was even more civilized than Hong Kong of 2003. How has the Pearl of the East deteriorated so fast?"
Vice presidential coordinator Mr. Liu Ford stated that the Hong Kong government should apologize publicly for the misbehaviors of its customs and police officers. The Hong Kong government should conduct an internal investigation into its procedures and implementation of these procedures in dealing with visitors, especially those with valid visas.
It was reported that Taiwan's Administration Department has issued a strong protest to the Hong Kong government February 20, 2003 regarding this incident.
The President of the Taiwan Falun Gong Association, Mr. Chung Ching-his, said that there are over 800 public Falun Gong practice sites in Taiwan, and some of the practitioners' names are published on the website. It is quite possible that the Hong Kong authorities used a "black list" of names to deny entry to Falun Gong practitioners.
(Clearwisdom.net)
27th February 2003
Right Honourable David Blunkett, Member of Parliament
Secretary of State
Home Office for the United Kingdom
We wish to express our deep concern at the imminent deportation of Chinese citizen and Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Lili Lin, who was arrested and held at the detention centre in Manchester Airport today. Her deportation has been set for next Friday, March 6th 2003.
Ms. Lin applied for asylum in Manchester in October 2001 on the grounds of being a Falun Gong practitioner and is married to Jinfei Zhang, a PhD student at Liverpool University. She has recently announced that she is 6 weeks pregnant. She moved from Manchester to Liverpool to live with her husband and informed the Home Office of her change of address, since when she has regularly reported to the Home Office in Liverpool. However, the Home Office refused her asylum application and sent a refusal letter to her old address, which she did not receive. Her failure to appeal against the decision in time meant she has been listed for deportation.
As you will be aware, the Chinese government has embarked upon a campaign of severe persecution of Falun Gong practitioners since July 1999, resulting in the deaths in custody of nearly 600 practitioners, while many more have been illegally arrested and sentenced to up to eighteen years without trial in prisons, labour camps and mental hospitals, most suffering brutal torture while in custody.
Our grave concern is that Lili Lin would be put in serious danger if she were deported back to China and would be especially vulnerable in view of her pregnant state. She and her husband have been active campaigners against the persecution and have often been to the Chinese consulate in Manchester and the Chinese embassy in London to appeal and demonstrate, and of course the Chinese authorities will be well aware of their activities in the UK.
In view of this we would appeal very strongly to you to show leniency towards Lili Lin by allowing her to remain in the UK, and to avoid certain persecution by the Chinese authorities if she were to be repatriated. We would greatly appreciate it if you would give her case the utmost importance and consideration, and overturn the decision to deport her in the name of humanity.
Yours sincerely,
Vice-Chairman
European Friends of Falun Gong
http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200303/10703.html
(Clearwisdom.net)
Right Honourable David Blunkett, Member of Parliament
Secretary of State
Home Office for the UK
Your Excellency,
I respectfully ask for your urgent attention.
I have learned that a UK Falun Gong practitioner, Lili Lin, is now being held at a deportation centre in Manchester Airport, waiting to be deported back to China. Her life will be in danger the moment she steps on Chinese soil. As a practitioner of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, she would face incarceration, torture and even murder if she really were sent back to her home country. It's a real cruel persecution going on there aimed at Falun Gong. Sending Lili back to China would be a terrible mistake.
I implore Your Excellency to look into the matter immediately. It would really be terrible if the British Government sent her back to suffer at the hands of the Chinese regime.
There have been some clerical errors regarding the decision to deport her. An important document was sent to the wrong address and Lili therefore had no chance to appeal against the decision to deport her.
Please help this kind woman who only wants to follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance (the principles of Falun Gong). Please let her stay together with her beloved husband in England.
Yours Sincerely,
Swedish citizen
http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200303/10680.html
Written on February 22, 2003
(Clearwisdom.net)
I learned yesterday (February 21) that some practitioners who had planned to attend the Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference hosted by the Hong Kong Falun Buddha Fa Association were denied entry into Hong Kong. Today we encountered the same problem.
When it was my turn to go through customs in Hong Kong, the policeman looked at the computer screen for quite a long time. After a while, another policeman came over saying that they needed to ask me some questions for security reasons. I was then taken to a small room where some fellow practitioners were already being held. One after another, more practitioners were brought in. At one time there were over 20 practitioners in the room.
While they were questioning us, some of us clarified the truth to them, some sent forth righteous thoughts, and some presented them with Dafa truth-clarification materials. We hoped that they would become aware of the consequences of their actions. A policewoman surnamed Liu came in, and she was immediately recognized by some practitioners who were repatriated to Taiwan by her when they came to Hong Kong last July. They asked her, "Last time you told us that because Jiang was coming we were not allowed to enter Hong Kong. You welcomed us to come visit again. However, this time, we were denied entry again without any reason." She was rendered speechless and asked us to talk to her colleagues.
Later on, we started to recite the Fa and send forth righteous thoughts. The police who stood there watching us could not take the Dafa materials, so we showed the materials to them. Some of them did not have good health and wished to also learn Dafa. One policeman even came to me asking for some Dafa materials.
Many practitioners held in a bigger room next door were sent back to Taiwan. We insisted on not leaving the small room. Practitioners from other places also refused to come into the small room. Then more policemen came in and they started to use force. I was carried out, with one of the policemen pulling my thumb until I was pushed onto the plane. Some of our practitioners were tied up and wrapped in a canvas bag and carried onto the plane. After we were on the plane, we clarified the truth to the flight attendants and passengers.
After I was sent back to Taiwan, I called my wife who had been allowed to enter Hong Kong. She told me that while I was detained, she, along with our two kids, requested that the customs officials release me. My children kept crying and they wanted to see their dad. Later, my eight-year-old boy said someone gave him a flyer promoting tourism in Hong Kong. It said, "A Trip of Freedom to Hong Kong." But I want to let everybody know that there is no more freedom in Hong Kong.
(Clearwisdom.net)
Yinmahe Forced Labor Camp in Jiutai City, Jilin Province is a place where Falun Dafa practitioners are being ruthlessly persecuted. I want to expose the evils that are happening there.
Zheng Hailin is the director of the No. 4 brigade. On the surface he seemed to keep other inmates from hitting and scolding Dafa practitioners. On the other hand, he tried to deceive and entice the true practitioners with the help of practitioners who have gone astray. When someone recognized his hypocritical words and actions, he immediately took off the friendly mask and instigated beatings of that person. For example, one time a Dafa practitioner, Han Dechun, attempted to break out of the labor camp, and failed. Zheng ordered that Han be viciously beaten. In fact, Zheng has instigated and ordered the persecution of most Dafa practitioners here.
Police officer Zhang Xin, of the No. 4 brigade, is the principal culprit in the persecution of Dafa practitioners. His shadow can be seen in all the evil deeds. The following is a record of persecution of Dafa practitioners by Zhang and other evil officers:
On March 19th, 2002, officers Zhang Xin, Guo Yiping, and Zhang Mincai savagely tortured Dafa practitioner Zhang Beiqi. He was transferred from the Yanji Forced Labor Camp, and is currently being detained in the No. 4 brigade, unit 2. He was severely beaten by officers at the Yanji Labor Camp. The beatings left him with an injury to his waist, which caused him to have trouble walking. In order to defend his basic human rights, Zhang Beiqi wrote down facts about the persecution he endured at Yanji Labor Camp and appealed to the court. After the officers in No. 4 brigade found out about this, they summoned Zhang Beiqi to the office. Zhang Xin and Guo Yiping each used an electric baton to hit Zhang Beiqi on the head and face. After a while, they ripped off his clothes and started shocking him with the electric batons. Zhang was in such pain that he was rolling over on the floor. The officers still thought it was not enough punishment so they handcuffed Zhang Beiqi's hands to the heating pipes. While officer Zhang Mincai held Zhang Beiqi still, Zhang Xin and Guo Yiping hysterically tortured him for over an hour.
On March 25th, because Dafa practitioner Li Ronxiue was unwilling to yield to the evil and give up practicing Falun Dafa, he was hit, kicked, and electrically shocked by officers Zhang Xin and Zhou Kaiming. The officers didn't stop until Li's face was deformed, and he was not able to get up off the ground. Li is from Lishu County, Jilin Province. He has now returned home.
On April 2nd Dafa practitioner Dong Xue was summoned to the office. He was asked to declare that he would no longer practice Falun Dafa. Dong refused their request. Officers Zhang Xin and Zhou Kaiming started beating Dong. They took off Dong's clothes and shocked him with electric batons. Blood from Dong's nose was all over the floor. Dong was covered with injuries after over an hour of beating and his face was deformed. Dong stated that he would appeal to the higher court after he gets out. Officer Zhou said that they were not afraid because all the officials would cover up for each other.
On April 5th, Wang Guofa, an official from Jilin province, was visiting and inspecting the Jiutai Labor Camp. Prior to the visit, the officers at Jiutai Labor Camp transferred Dafa practitioners who were injured or crippled to an unknown location. They then secluded other practitioners to a quiet corner. The officers were passing messages back and forth. After the official left, they transferred practitioners back to the labor camp. We must point out that those officials are very much aware of the persecution of Dafa practitioners. However, they would rather believe the false appearance at the labor camp, which is not only self-deceiving, but deceives others as well.
Falun Dafa practitioner Lin Xianchen was "transformed" through brainwashing. Later, he declared that all of his words and deeds that resulted from forced brainwashing were null and void. Officer Zhou Kaiming found out about this. On September 7, at a work site, Zhou violently beat Lin with a plastic tube that was over a meter long. Lin had wounds all over his body, including over thirty bloody marks. The next day, Zhou used the same vicious method to torture Cheng Peizhong, another Dafa practitioner. Lin is a resident of Jiutai city, Jilin province. He is currently being detained at the No. 4 brigade, unit 3. Cheng is from Helong county, Jilin province. He has returned home.
On April 11th, the No. 4 brigade ordered another round of torment and punishment for those Dafa practitioners who were most determined in Falun Dafa beliefs. Everyday they were forced to sit on a stool for over 14 hours, with only two minutes for a restroom break. [Sitting on the cold stool is a torture method. Practitioners are forced to sit on a small iron stool that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead. They are not allowed to turn their heads, close their eyes, talk to anyone or move at all. Several inmates are assigned to watch over the practitioners and force themáto remain motionless while sitting on the stool. Usually some hard objects are inserted underneath the practitioners' lower legs or ankles to make it harder for them to tolerate this abuse.] Anything that does not conform to their wishes results in a beating. There were two resident guards, Yang Zhanchun (from Sanchahe) and Zhang Baozhu (from Songyuan). Another person, who was in charge of practitioners' sleep deprivation, was Zhang Huaju (from Yushu). The two so-called resident-guards would find several practitioners for forced brainwashing every night. If anyone refused, they were taken to the washroom and beaten. Some practitioners aren't allowed to change the clothes they have been wearing for almost three months. They are not allowed any visits from family or friends. Besides increasing prison terms by five to ten days every month, sometimes when someone's prison term comes to an end, another three months is added, sometimes even 6 months are added. Practitioner Li Youcun from Wangqin County had his prison term increased by 11 months. Practitioner Zhang Beiqi had his term increase by over 12 months.
On October 20th, Falun Dafa practitioners Li Qiang and Liu Qin conversed one word with each other at a work site. Officer Guo Yiping overheard it and beat both Li and Liu on the spot. After work, Liu Qin was summoned to the office and Guo again beat him again. Liu's face was swollen and he had severe injuries to the brain and abdominal area. He couldn't get out of bed for several days. Li Qiang is from Jiaohe, Jilin province. Liu Qin is from Sanchahe, Jilin province. Both men are detained at No. 4 brigade, unit 3.
Officer Zhou Kaiming, from No. 4 brigade, frequently extorts money and materials from inmates. He questions everyone who is assigned to the No. 4 brigade. Based on the individual's financial situation, he decides how much money to extort. If the person satisfies his request, then that person won't need to work, but still gets a lot of work points every month. If one cannot meet Zhou's requirement, then he has to work, but still gets zero to negative work points every month. On November 18, 2002, Dafa practitioner Li Qiang was very ill. He hadn't eaten or drank anything for 9 days, and his life was hanging on by a thread. Around dusk, it was decided that Li would be sent to the hospital for treatment. Officer Zhou used the excuse that the labor camp did not have cash and asked Li Qiang to pay for his own medical cost, or else he would not be treated. Because Li had not been allowed any visitors for a long time, he did not have any money. Office Zhou ordered the resident-guards to ask other Dafa practitioners for money. The "money tickets" used inside the labor camp cannot be used anywhere else. It was obvious Zhou wanted the money for himself. Everyone saw his greed and refused to cooperate. At the critical moment, a clerk from the administrators department, Peng Yong, arrived. He saw that Li Qiang was in critical condition, and immediately went out to prepare for transportation to the hospital. At the same time, Officer Zhou Kaiming again ordered the resident-guards to ask for money from other Dafa practitioners. Zhou himself never stepped into the room to take a look at Li Qiang.
The following is an account from Dafa practitioner Qiao Jianguo of his own experience and what he has witnessed at Yinmahe Labor Camp. Qiao is from Zhucheng City, Shandong province. He is currently being detained at Yinmahe Labor Camp No. 4 brigade, unit 2.
"On April 5th 2002, I was led to a small room on the second floor. Inside the room, there was only one bed, 5 or 6 electric batons and some electrical needles. The room has a chilling affect on people. I saw a person on the bed. His four limbs were stretched out and tied to the corners of the bed. There was nothing on the bed but a wooden board under his neck. It looked as if he had been tied up for a long time. They used electric batons to shock him.
After I was taken inside, I was beaten several times. I was told that they had a special way to punish me. Several officers came and ripped off my clothes and pinned me to the ground. My feet and arms were pressed to the floor. Someone held my head down as well. My mouth was stuffed with a cleaning rag. They made four cuts on the opening of a rigid plastic tube to give it a very sharp and jagged edge, and pressed it against me, twisting as they applied pressure, boring it into my flesh under the armpits and on my thighs. The pain from this unthinkable torture made me scream uncontrollably. After ten minutes, the officer was sweating from the effort required to twist and bore the crude object into my flesh, so another officer replaced him. Afterwards, the person who had held my head said that my eyes were rolling backwards. They thought I was dead.
Then they used the same torture method on the person on the bed. That person is Huang Yaodong, from the No. 1 brigade of the labor camp. He had received this treatment twice before. There were four bloody holes on his body. The ones under his armpits were about the size of a fist. His wounds were under treatment for several months. The hospital wanted to admit him, but the labor camp took him back and claimed that there was no money for his treatment. He is very determined not to yield to the evil. Another practitioner, Wu Dexiu, was also subjected to the torture, and he is also very determined. Another person was not only "drilled," but his eyes were smeared with toothpaste (which burns painfully), and even his tongue was injured. He has suffered tremendously. These practitioners were all from the No. 1 brigade, and I met them at the clinic. My wounds from the "drilling" were infected and formed a scar. They finally healed after more than a month."
Due to the fact that information is blocked by the evil, what we have exposed here is only the "tip of the iceberg."
(Clearwisdom.net)
Dafa practitioner Ms. Chen Xiangzhi, a 42-year-old Falun Dafa practitioner from Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province, was once illegally sentenced to two years of forced labor education for refusing to bow to official demands to give up her practice of Falun Dafa. After she was released, she frequently clarified the truth to people about the persecution. As a result, she was arrested again and illegally sentenced to eight years in prison. While she was incarcerated at Yangmahe Women's Prison in Jianyang City, Sichuan Province, she was subjected to brutal torture. Due to the relentless beatings, her lumbar vertebra was broken.
Another female Dafa practitioner, Zhang Lin, also from Panzhihua City, was illegally sentenced to ten years in prison for clarifying the truth to people. She is now also being detained at Yangmahe Women's Prison.
Phone numbers for Yangmahe Women's Prison:
86-832-7722652, 86-832-7722930
February 10, 2002
(Clearwisdom.net)
Respected U.S. District Court:
I'm glad to hear that your court has accepted the Genocide civil suit against Jiang Zemin filed by Falun Dafa practitioners and their relatives. Since July 22nd of 1999, Jiang's regime has been persecuting Falun Dafa. My family and I, who live in Mainland China, have suffered both physical and psychological torture. Soon such unprecedented injustice will end and the truth will be exposed. The following statement is the true story of the brutal tortures my family and I have suffered, and I hope it can serve as part of the evidence for Jiang's crimes.
On July 20th 1999, under Jiang's order to ban Falun Gong, police in every area started arresting Falun Dafa assistants (volunteer contact persons) nationwide. All of the media outlets nationwide then began to fill the newspapers, radio waves, and television screens with fabricated propaganda attacking and defaming Falun Dafa and our Teacher, Mr. Li Hongzhi. On July 20th 1999, my eleven-year-old son and I peacefully appealed in Changchun city, where the Jilin Provincial government is located. We requested the release of all illegally detained practitioners, the restoration of our Teacher's reputation and a legal and fair environment for practicing Falun Gong. There were several thousand practitioners from different areas who went to appeal. During July 20th and 21st, in order to disperse the crowds of practitioners, police used high-pressure water hoses to drench the appealers with cold water. Both my son and I were soaked and trembled from the chill. Even a woman with her one-month-old baby was hit by the hose. Even a cold-hearted person would shed tears upon seeing that scene. After that, the provincial government dispatched a large group of soldiers and policemen. They dragged, kicked and beat up all of the peacefully appealing practitioners until all several thousand of us were forced into detention in the courtyard in the Jilin Police Academy. They forced us to watch a movie attacking Falun Dafa. We were prohibited to walk around and to use the restroom. Other Falun Gong practitioners and I protested, only to be met with punches and kicks.
In late 1999, I went to Beijing to appeal for the first time. Upon arriving at Tiananmen Square, the evil police from the Qianmen Police Station in Beijing and the Jilin Public Security Bureau illegally arrested me and detained me at the Jilin liaison office in Beijing. There the wicked police from Jilin City forcefully body-searched me, took away all my money, 300 Yuan, and put it into their own pockets. I was later sent back to Jilin City and detained at the Yushu Street Police Station in Longtan District, Jilin City. I was finally released after being illegally detained there for seven days.
On February 18, 2001, I was once again kidnapped by the Public Security Bureau of Longtan District and the Yushu Street Police Station and illegally detained at the Jilin City First Detention Center for over 50 days. During my detention there, I suffered brutal torture. One wicked policeman, surnamed Xing, incited other inmates to monitor practitioners and to not allow them to talk amongst themselves. During the cold winter days, whenever a practitioners were sent in to the cell, Policeman Xing ordered the inmates to strip them off their clothes, pour several buckets of cold water on them and beat them viciously. One time he forced me to squat for over six hours without moving a bit. He would beat me up if I moved a little. Other inmates, encouraged by him, also ruthlessly beat me. Xing has always been notorious for his viciousness in the Jilin police department. Another time I insisted on practicing the Falun Gong exercises, so he continuously beat me to the point that both of my eardrums were broken. My hearing has still not recovered from his abuse.
I was later sentenced to forced labor "education" for one year at the Heizuizi Labor Camp in Changchun City, Jilin Province. Here I suffered even more inhumane treatment and torture. The wicked police there tried to brainwash me with slanderous propaganda and incited other inmates to beat my face with bamboo sticks and to strike my whole body with leather belts and batons. Very often I was black and blue all over. During the cold winter months, they stripped me and forced me to stand in the hallway with all the windows wide open for over five hours until my whole body was frozen. They forced me into the position of "backing up an airplane" (please see http://www.faluninfo.net/torturemethods/2001-11-22-kx-1-1.jpg for an illustration) without moving and put me under a wood case. One wicked policeman from the seventh team surnamed Hou repeatedly shocked me with an electric baton for over one hour until I fell unconscious. Later, I decided to carry out a hunger strike to protest the persecution against me. On the third day into my hunger strike, they force-fed me with salt and corn flour gruel. They tied me up on a bed so that my arms and legs could not move. They used an iron support just for force-feeding to hold my mouth open and fed me food without allowing me time to swallow. I was choked; tears flowed out of my eyes and I spit corn gruel all over. Their torture did not end there. They again used a metal bar to slide my teeth back and forth. My teeth were loosened and then dislocated. I have not been able to chew food since then. We were also forced to do intensive labor. Very often we had to get up at three or four in the morning and work until midnight. For those practitioners who refused to give up their belief in Falun Dafa, the police tortured them with even crueler methods. I was once healthy and strong. After being tortured so brutally and for such a long period of time, I became extremely weak and my life was in danger. Fearing responsibility for my death, the labor camp released me.
On December 24, 2002, I went to Beijing to appeal for the second time. I unfurled a banner printed "Truth, Compassion and Tolerance" in Tiananmen Square. A dozen policemen immediately rushed towards me. I shouted: "Falun Dafa is good. Falun Dafa is the righteous way. Restore the reputation of Falun Dafa and of our Teacher!" I ran while holding up the banner with several dozen police chasing me from behind. A police van drove toward me very quickly and knocked me down. The police van drove over my body and I fell unconscious immediately. The wicked policemen took me to the Qianmen Police Station. They placed me in a quiet place at midnight and ran away so as to shirk responsibility for my death. Because I insisted on practicing Falun Gong, the local Yushu Street Police Station in Longtan District, Jilin City held my identification card and repeatedly attempted to arrest me. As a result, my now fourteen-year-old son and I were forced to leave home and move from place to place.
The above is my experience, which I have provided to the United States District Court. I hope that you will thoroughly investigate the evidence and uphold justice so that Jiang's criminal group will be punished according to the law.
My address:
# 104, 2nd building, 4th group, 2nd committee
Yushu Street, Longtan District, Jilin City, Jilin Province, China
Zip code: 132000
February 24, 2003
(Clearwisdom.net)
The following is a partial list of cases of persecution of students and staff at Dalian University of Science and Engineering in Liaoning Province, China.
Huang Hongqi, male, 31-years old, a Ph.D. student, majored in mechanics. He was illegally arrested in September 1999, and illegally sentenced to 3 years of forced labor in December 1999. In the same month, he was dismissed from the university.
Jin Xin, male, 33-year-old, was a Ph.D. student in Chemistry. He was arrested illegally in September 1999, sent to labor camp for three years in December 1999 and was dismissed from his school as well.
Zhang Tongbin, male, 28-year-old, was a master's degree candidate in Chemistry. He was arrested illegally in September 1999, and arrested again in November 1999 and dismissed from his school later.
Ye Mingjun, male, 25-year-old, was a student in the Civil Engineering School. He was illegally arrested in November 1999 and later dismissed by the school.
Li Dong, male, 25-year-old, was in Civil Engineering School. He was forced to withdraw from the school in March 2001 and was arrested in November 2002.
Lin Shoukui, male, 23-year-old, was in the Mechanics Department. He was illegally suspended from the school for one year in March 2001.
Liu Jia, female, 25-year-old, was in the Electronics and Communication School. She was illegally arrested in 1999 and dismissed from the school. She was sentenced to labor camp for three years in 2001.
Tian Songsong, female, 27-year-old, was in the Electronics and Communication School. She was illegally arrested in 1999 and was suspended from the school for one year.
Li Chunling, female, 28-year-old, was in the Software School. She was illegally arrested twice in 1999 and sent to a brainwashing class that was held in a drug-rehabilitation center. She was sentenced to three years of forced labor, was laid off and fined 5000 Yuan.
Song Meilan, female, 28-year-old, was in the Mathematics Department. She was illegally arrested in September 1999, dismissed from her position and sent to a labor camp for three years in 2000.
Wang Hongwei, male, 25-year-old, was in the Electronics and Communication School. He was arrested illegally in January 2000, and forced to withdraw from the school that March. He was illegally sentenced to three years of forced labor in February 2002. He got out of the labor camp last September and has now become homeless to avoid further persecution.
(Clearwisdom.net) The Jiang regime's fabricating charges against Charles Li is a great opportunity for us to clarify more clearly why Falun Gong practitioners in China interrupt TV broadcasts with messages of the truth. The charges against Charles are fabricated. More importantly, clarifying the truth on the airwaves is truly a righteous act.
1. In the United States, the Fourth Amendment guarantees the right to privacy in our homes, among other places. If a band of criminals broke down our doors and began to torture and kill people, would we not believe we have the right to stop such behavior? Of course we would. In fact the law even permits one to act in self-defense.
2. When the terrorist attacks of September 11 occurred, Americans felt invaded and ever since have created new laws, new policies and perhaps even a war to protect themselves in their own country -- in their homes (also known as "homeland security"). The Fourth Amendment and right to security in one's home is sacred. Americans obviously do believe we should and must protect that sacred flame.
3. What if the Ku Klux Klan took over America and spouted hate propaganda against African Americans, Catholics and Jews, every single day inspiring the hateful and brutal murder of all of us? We would stop the propaganda because of its brutal and murderous effects. How is stopping that propaganda different from Falun Gong's interruption of the state-controlled propaganda broadcast in China? Isn't it a way to tell the truth about Falun Gong and thus stop the mass murders?
4. We need to explain that in China, one cannot deploy the law to stop the genocide. One is arrested for peaceful appeals, for legal appeals, for speaking to the media, and so on. The police invade homes and kill husbands and wives. If its clear that the state owned media and its propaganda network is the cause of these acts - no one could torture Falun Gong without believing we are bad - then of course a non violent interruption of the airwaves is a noble way indeed to stop what no man would otherwise countenance.
We need to genuinely clarify the truth in this aspect. The above are just some ideas.
(Clearwisdom.net) Recently I read an article on the Chinese website Minghui.net about overseas practitioners' residence status. Since quite a number of Chinese practitioners are applying for political asylum, I have some thoughts on this issue that I would like to share.
Practitioners seeking asylum and those who are not have different ideas and attitudes about this issue. During this Fa-rectification period, I think we should discard all notions that we have developed in our personal cultivation and think about this asylum issue from the perspective of Fa-rectification and saving sentient beings.
The author of the Minghui article writes: "'Political Asylum' is a protection given according to international human rights covenants. It is not constrained by national borders. It holds the respect for the value of human beings as a priority and manifests a spirit of international humanitarianism. Although it has the word 'political' in it, it is obvious that it is by no means equivalent to 'politics' by its usual meaning, and it is not a 'preferential' treatment at all. It is just a guarantee of the most modest right... that to existence itself. In other words, it is a right that all human beings should have. A 'Special residency permit' is also like this. Dafa practitioners are perfectly eligible for such rights, and we should enjoy the rights in an open and dignified manner. This is not politics, but rights that we deserve. When we ask for support from politicians in the international arena and clarify the facts to them, we are not playing 'politics' or 'liaising with foreign powers.' Claiming our rights is not 'political' either."
Let's also look at the definition of "refugee" according to International Refugee Law. A refugee is "any person who has a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion, and who is outside the country of his/her nationality."
The persecution of Falun Gong by Jiang's evil political gang is unprecedented. This fact alone should ensure that all overseas practitioners holding Chinese passports have a legitimate right to claim asylum in a dignified manner in any country that signed the international human rights covenants, so that they can avoid having to return to China to suffer persecution.
If a foreign government grants refugee status to a Dafa practitioner, it means that this country recognizes the persecution in China as a very severe breach of human rights covenants. This is a blow to Jiang's regime, which boasts that, "the Chinese people are enjoying the best human rights situation in history." In other words, every successful asylum claim is a blow to the evil.
For those of us overseas, while rescuing practitioners already in prison in China is something every one of us in the community of cultivators is willing to do, our helping fellow practitioners who are facing imminent danger seems to be something controversial. Some practitioners think that the motives of some of those who are applying for asylum are not entirely pure, and that they are doing so out of selfishness, so that they can stay overseas permanently, or that they are trying to use Dafa to gain a wonderful life overseas for themselves, because "they are not yet in a situation where they have absolutely no way out." There is a tendency to think that those practitioners whose asylum claims have been refused or whose cases have been delayed for a long time must have suffered all these tribulations because their motives were not pure, that all their sufferings have been caused by their own attachments, and that their problems can be solved only when they themselves improve on the Fa, etc.
It is true that many non-practitioners, in order to achieve their own personal goals, are seeking asylum while claiming to be Falun Gong practitioners. Everyone will have to be responsible for what he or she does. My purpose here is not to talk about what these non-practitioners are doing.
We know our fellow practitioners the best. They, like everybody else, are clarifying the facts and saving sentient beings. Most of those practitioners who have applied for asylum did so because they had no other choice. Some faced the imminent expiration of their student visas. Some had other reasons. These practitioners are suffering great hardships. In the country where I live, before their refugee status is granted, they are not allowed to work and have to rely on meager benefits from the government. With certain new regulations, some practitioners cannot apply for even this small amount of support. Also, before they get their refugee status, they are not allowed to go abroad, so they are not able to go to other countries to introduce Falun Gong. Some of these practitioners have been shouldering great financial burdens for our Dafa work, but now their own financial situation is very tight.
This serious interference to our Dafa work has been arranged by the old forces. We should realize that this is also persecution. We cannot refuse to help our fellow practitioners just because they have this or that attachment. We should support them. Just as Master said, "The next person's things are your things, and your things are his things." ("Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. Fa Conference") We are one body. The number of overseas practitioners is already quite small. Master once said, "overseas students should try not to go to Mainland China, because you are needed in exposing the evi.l" ("Teaching the Fa at the Great Lakes Fa Conference in North America") The above-mentioned practitioners are playing an extremely important role in overseas Dafa work.
Are we really waiting for them to be deported to China? Are we going to come to our senses only after they get arrested in China, and we have to start a project to rescue them? Also, why do practitioners have to become impoverished and at a dead end before other practitioners will recognize their justifiable claims for seeking asylum? On the human level, even the United Nations is not that inflexible. Isn't the above line of thinking complying with the principles of the old forces? As fellow practitioners, we should do our best to help them solve their status problems. They deserve to have a relatively good environment to do Dafa work. And what they ask for is only a legal status in this country.
In society, Dafa disciples deserve to have beautiful and blissful lives, either in terms of moral qualities or living conditions. If they are not only kind, peaceful, and tolerant, but also enjoy health, financial well-being, and harmonious family lives, they would be in a better situation to validate the Fa. However, the old forces don't understand Fa-rectification cultivation or what is happening in the cosmos. All they know are principles of personal cultivation. Using "testing Dafa" as an excuse, they want to "destroy their [Falun Gong practitioners'] reputation, remove their sources of economic support, and annihilate their bodies," in order to damage the image of Dafa and prevent sentient beings from being saved. Their persecution is intended to make it hard for us to devote our whole hearts and minds to the work of rectifying the Fa and saving sentient beings. They are wasting our precious time, which could otherwise be well utilized to save sentient beings, and they are persecuting the beings that could otherwise have had opportunities of salvation.
Looking at this issue from another perspective, if practitioners applying for asylum do have the intention to stay overseas permanently, and if they want to stay because of their personal attachments, they need to eliminate those attachments. We cannot go to any extremes. However, if a Dafa disciple wants to stay somewhere, the understanding side of the resident sentient beings are very happy, because they have been longing for Dafa disciples to bring the Fa to them so they can be saved. For instance, why do we care so much about establishing Falun Dafa Associations in different countries? Setting up a legally recognized organization can provide local practitioners with a legally protected cultivation environment, and it it shows that Dafa has established a foothold in that country, which has profound implications for the future of that country. Following that same line of logic, if this country accepts the asylum applications of Dafa practitioners, aren't they establishing a good foundation for their own future? It is only that some of our practitioners haven't really realized the heavy responsibilities on their shoulders. But we can always improve together through our group study and experience sharing.
I think practitioners should not accuse each other of trying to take advantage of Dafa. Aren't these accusations just human thinking? The "attachments" of fellow practitioners are by no means their fundamental qualities. In fact, those attachments should simply not be recognized and should be eliminated through cultivation and righteous thoughts. We should not regard the attachments as part of our fellow practitioners themselves. Aren't these "attachments," whether yours or mine, being used as excuses by the evil to persecute Dafa and Dafa disciples and being used as tools by the old forces to do damage to our "whole body?" In fact, many Chinese practitioners do not want to be accused of trying to take advantage of Dafa and have been doing everything they can to keep their legal status in ways other than applying for asylum. In doing so they are enduring many hardships. Dafa disciples in the Fa-rectification period are doing everything to safeguard Dafa. Even if some practitioners did not have a completely pure motive initially when they applied for asylum, they have been constantly improving and have become genuine Fa-rectification disciples. Their attachments or impure thoughts can by no means regarded as justifiable reasons for the old forces to persecute them.
Some practitioners support those who are applying for asylum, but they haven't understood this from the Fa. I heard one practitioner advise another, "You need to think whether you will be able to sustain the sufferings of that magnitude. If you can't, you could drop down in level from the tribulations. If you think you have cultivated to that level where you can sustain it, then you can go back." I think this is a seriously misguided remark, especially for those whose understanding of the Fa is not very deep, since we must not acknowledge this persecution at all. Are we doing Fa-rectification cultivation just to sustain sufferings and tribulations? Master said, "When Dafa is persecuted, the first thing Dafa disciples should think of is saving sentient beings and how to validate Dafa." ("Touring North America to Teach the Fa") This is what is really required of us according to the Fa. We have not come to this human world to suffer and to eliminate our karma, and we have not come here to cultivate ourselves or to improve ourselves, either. Instead, we have come to the human world to help Master rectify the Fa and save sentient beings. In compliance with the principles of the old cosmos, the old forces want us to establish our mighty virtue through being persecuted. But Master requires us to establish our mighty virtue through breaking through the old forces' arrangements and saving sentient beings. We definitely cannot think that the old forces and the evil have any helpful role to play in the Fa-rectification and our improvement! If we think that way, our minds are still stagnating at the stage of personal cultivation, and we might as well be acknowledging the arrangements made by the old forces.
I think we should look at this issue from a righteous perspective. Practitioners are not applying for asylum in order to hide out and escape persecution. Those evil forces persecuting us count as nothing, and they don't deserve to test Dafa and Dafa disciples. On the contrary, seeking asylum is resisting the evil and plays a role of safeguarding Dafa in the period of Fa-rectification. When I saw that some practitioners in another country equated applying for asylum to writing the so-called "Guarantee Statement," I found the comparison ridiculous.
Some practitioners think that the citizens of that country and public opinion are hostile to asylum seekers, and that we should not become a "burden" or "trouble" for the government and the taxpayers or create a negative public image for Falun Gong. On the radio, TV and in newspapers there are almost daily discussions on the issue of asylum, and it has truly become a very sensitive issue. Master told us that everything in this world has come for Dafa. Therefore, the government and the media should support us, and we should not be looking for reasons for them to justify their failure to support us.
I think we, as Dafa disciples, should have this righteous thought: "Wherever Dafa goes, Dafa should be welcomed." We should put ourselves in a proactive position in Fa-rectification. "Who is really the gallant lead in this gigantic play? I made this trip just for the sake of sentient beings." \ ("Descending to the Earthly World") "Dafa disciples are now sentient beings' only, sole hope for salvation." ("Righteous Thoughts") Having come to today's historic stage in the Fa-rectification, we should be clearly aware of our mission to play the main roles in this great drama. Isn't this a good way to clarify the facts to the government, the public, and the media of our country? When we explain to them why Falun Gong practitioners need help to guarantee their personal safety, we are also telling them what has been happening in China.
This is also a good opportunity for the governments of our countries to show their support for Dafa. If they can help practitioners in difficulties, they are creating a wonderful future for themselves. If they send a Dafa particle into the hands of evil, however, they would be doing the worst thing to Dafa, and it will be very difficult to make up the losses. Things that happened in Germany, Iceland, Cambodia, and Burma have brought huge losses. In democratic countries, the governments are elected by the people and therefore represent the people. If a government cannot understand the benefits Dafa has brought to the human race, fails to stand up against Jiang's Regime's persecution of Falun Gong and its deprivation of practitioners' basic human rights, and even commits wrong-doings under the threat from Jiang's regime, this government has completely lost its righteousness and justice. People have elected them so that they can express their kind ideas and opinions on their behalf. But if the elected cannot represent their constituents in a righteous manner, where will they belong when this drama ends? And what about the people who elected them?
Doesn't how a nation or a country chooses to reposition itself in Fa-rectification depend on how we clarify the facts? Of course, we should be clear in mind that they should support Dafa in the first place. But if we encounter difficulties, that means we haven't clarified the facts clearly and thoroughly enough. As long as we clarify the truth clearly, they should support Dafa. So what remains for us to do is to clarify the facts about Dafa and the persecution to them.
If the government thinks what is happening in China is too far away for them to offer any material support, they are in a perfect position to offer help to practitioners who are currently living in that country.
Lately, quite a few Chinese practitioners have had their asylum claims refused. If we fail to act promptly, they could be sent back to China at any time. The recent Minghui article, which Master commented upon, said, "whether Dafa practitioners participate or not, each individual practitioner's every thought is playing an important, decisive role." "For projects that we cannot participate in, we should still look at them with righteous thoughts, so as to prevent the negating of our strength."
Their cases were not handled properly, in part because they don't speak the language and don't understand the legal procedures of the overseas country in which they apply for asylum. They need help, especially from practitioners who are citizens of the country. Besides sending forth righteous thoughts to support them, we could write letters to our elected officials regarding these practitioners' asylum claims, asking the them to write to immigration authorities. We can explain to the immigration authorities why the government should grant these people refugee status and allow them to stay in the country. We can also explain the situation in China and overseas, so that the government can truly realize the evilness of Jiang's regime.
Almost all practitioners who had their applications refused by the immigration authorities found this same sentence in their refusal letters: "You do not have a well-founded fear of being persecuted if you go back." This indicates that we need to clarify the facts to the government in more depth. I think every practitioner can give good reasons why Chinese practitioners have a well-founded reason to believe that they would be persecuted if they were sent back to China. At the same time, we can write personal references for those practitioners to the minister or other people in charge of immigration issues.
We cannot regard this as merely a practitioner's personal issue any more, and we cannot continue to be callous about the hardships borne by practitioners who have claimed asylum. We should care about these practitioners and their families, who are in great difficulties. Whatever help we can offer, be it material or spiritual, even if it's just a few words with care and warmth, would let them feel the boundless and compassionate power of Dafa, rid them of the terrible feelings of loneliness, and help them strengthen their righteous belief in the Fa, because whatever we are offering them beams with compassion and the sense of "whole body," which are results of our cultivation in this great Fa! Isn't this also a proactive effort to break up the old forces' arrangements?
From the perspective of practitioners who are applying for asylum, I think every applicant should ask himself or herself the question, "Why am I seeking asylum?" And we should understand this issue from the Fa.
I've talked with many practitioners who have applied for asylum, but most of them have never thought carefully about this issue. Some said they applied because other practitioners advised them to do so. Some feel that applying for asylum is not something glorious -- who wants to become a refugee? What's more, some other practitioners don't understand the difficult situation they are in. This makes them feel that they seem to be doing something that is not dignified. Some practitioners are wondering, once they have started the application, when they will be able to go back to China. They are in a situation in which going back doesn't seem to be an option and staying is not something desirable, either. In their hearts, they feel very bitter and that they have lost a lot. Some practitioners think they will just let it be and accept whatever happens: "If the immigration bureau refuses my application, I'll just go home. What's the big deal?" They have taken a passive role in this whole matter, and their passive attitude makes them unable to clarify the facts actively. Some other practitioners think that, because they are not good at the language and don't understand the legalities involved, they don't have to put any effort into this matter, since "There are fellow practitioners who have offered to help."
In view of all the above, we organized these practitioners to study the Fa together and to share their relevant understandings and experiences.
A practitioner had her application refused, and then her appeal case was also turned down (a combination of unlikely circumstances occurred during this process, and also this practitioner doesn't speak the language), which means that the immigration authorities can deport her at any time. She doesn't know what to do, and her husband didn't take it seriously, either. In fact, he didn't even tell other practitioners, thinking that launching another appeal would be too troublesome and that there would be nothing to fear if he were to go back to China with his wife.
It's true that, for Dafa disciples, going back to China isn't anything to fear. But Fa-rectification cultivation shouldn't be confined to the narrow scope of personal cultivation, in which letting go of life and death is the defining factor. Dafa disciples can let go of life and death, because they've seen through the human phenomenon of life and death, and they don't care about the sufferings in such a brief moment in the long journey of life. However, the human bodies of Dafa disciples are used to validate the Fa, and, whatever we do, we must think of the sentient beings waiting to be saved.
Now that you have chosen to apply for asylum, you should approach it with a sense of responsibility towards the sentient beings. Let's think about this: When Dafa is being persecuted in the human world, don't we, as Dafa particles, ask for help from other countries? If this country does not care and does not offer any help, what will its future be like? This will bring us immense losses. We represent Dafa in the human world, and we are playing such magnificent roles. We want to save sentient beings, and whether or not we can do it successfully depends on whether we can really have consideration for them, use our hearts to tell them of the goodness of Dafa, and let them support Dafa.
After she began her asylum application, a practitioner said that she felt that she had been connected with the destiny of that country and felt a great sense of responsibility. Every Dafa disciple should understand his or her own role correctly.
Therefore, how can we take it lightly and give up those sentient beings just because we don't want trouble? We should try our best to appeal and to regard this process as an opportunity to whole-heartedly clarify the facts.
With regard to clarifying the facts, there is another, unfortunate phenomenon among the practitioners applying for asylum. Some have not put their hearts into the effort, relying instead on other practitioners. With other people's help, a lot of materials have been collected and sent to immigration bureaux, but the practitioners themselves sometimes don't even know what information these materials contain. Aren't those applying for asylum supposed to be clarifying the facts to the government? Can it ever be right if they themselves don't know what to talk about?
When applying for asylum, one needs to go through an interview, in which the applicant is required to state his or her reasons for seeking asylum. If you can tell the Immigration Officers what Dafa is really about and describe the evil nature of Jiang's regime, aren't you validating Dafa to them and manifesting the spirit of Dafa through your action? Some practitioners cannot even name all five exercises during the interview, and others cannot explain the April 25th incident. Some of them cannot even remember what they themselves said in the statement they submitted to the Immigration Bureau. These things make the Immigration Officers believe you are a fake Falun Gong practitioner. Can this be a responsible attitude? How can we save sentient beings with such an attitude?
One practitioner saw his asylum application as a good opportunity to clarify the facts to the government, to save sentient beings, and took it very seriously from the very beginning. He prepared every document carefully and, during his interview, instead of just answering the Immigration Officer's questions, took complete control of the meeting, telling the officer what Dafa is, how Jiang Zemin has been persecuting Dafa, how his regime has been trying to extend the terror beyond the Chinese border, and why the persecution happened. He gave many examples of how evil Jiang's state terrorism has been and how genocide is being committed against a group of people whose only agenda is to cultivate according to the principle of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance." He told the officer that if the Chinese dictators were to be appeased and allowed to get away with their systematic anti-human policies of genocide, then the whole world would suffer the consequences sooner or later. The Immigration Officer took a great deal of interest in his testimony and said Falun Gong people's analyses were truly great. As a result, this practitioner's refugee status was granted soon afterwards. Therefore, every asylum applicant needs to be responsible in clarifying the facts. I suggest that other countries also organize all practitioners applying for asylum to study the Fa together, share their thinking about the asylum issue, and discuss how better to clarify the facts.
We must also look within ourselves. When a state persists, we need to search our own hearts to see whether we have some loopholes in our xinxing that have been taken advantage of by the old forces. I know that some practitioners whose applications take a long time to ratify complain about the government. This isn't the right thing to do, because it's looking externally for reasons that won't have any real effects. It is understandable that before the application is ratified, practitioners may suffer painful feelings of uncertainty, because we all have human attachments left within ourselves. Since we are Fa-rectification Dafa disciples, however, I think that we should maintain our righteous thoughts. No matter how hard it is, we should not consider ourselves and should keep in mind Dafa and the sentient beings.
Of course, we should not be attached to the results, whether or not the immigration bureau will grant us legal status. Master said in Zhuan Falun, "it is an attachment if you think too much about them. Aren't you attached to a pursuit if you think too much about it?" Master also said, "Get rid of any attachment you have, and don't think about anything. Just do everything a Dafa disciple should do, and everything will be covered." ("Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference")
Instead, we need to calm down and study the Fa every day, because studying the Fa well is a guarantee for maintaining powerful righteous thoughts and doing Dafa work effectively and efficiently. Master said, "When you do well in the Fa-rectification, I can see that it's always because you are able to understand the Fa from the Fa; and when you do somewhat poorly, I can see that it's because you aren't making a priority of Fa-study and you aren't able to understand the Fa from the Fa." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston")
Master said, "To do well is to not walk down the path arranged by the old forces." ("Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. Fa Conference, 2002") On this sensitive issue of asylum application, we must do well and walk down a righteous path. Because "This Great Fa of the cosmos is to leave for sentient beings at different levels in different periods of history a reference for when problems occur in different periods at different levels, and is to leave for beings ways of handling all kinds of situations that occur at different times in history." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2001 Canada Fa Conference")
Because of my personal limitations and the fact that some of the specifics described above are related only to my own country, the above personal sharing is just for your kind reference, and I welcome anyone to point out anything in it that is not in compliance with the Fa principles. I hope we could use our wisdom, which has come from our cultivation in the Great Fa, to save more sentient beings.
(Clearwisdom.net)
When practitioners have different opinions, they easily lead to contradictions. From my point of view, that is because we don't put ourselves into the others' position and think about their view.
When you point out a practitioner's weakness, from which angle is your state of mind? Do you want the practitioner to accept your idea and do the same, or do you just kindly point out the weakness and let the practitioner improve for him or herself according to the Fa? If it's the former, it will be hard to achieve any good results. It may even worsen the situation.
When we overstress ourselves, even though we feel that our suggestion is correct and we are being responsible for fellow practitioners, it is often the case that we fail to look within ourselves and our hearts are moved by the conflicts. As a result, we can't coordinate well on the Dafa work, which is just what the evil wanted. Only when we really put ourselves in other practitioners' position, think about things from their point of view without the attachment to self and try to find faults of ourselves more, do we leave no loopholes for the old forces to take advantage of.
When others point out our weakness, we should check to see if every thought of ours meets the standard of different levels of the Fa. When fellow practitioners point out our weaknesses, it is usually to remind us to correct our mistakes. It is not that they have personal prejudice against us.
Perhaps the other practitioner only saw one point of the issue and didn't see the whole picture or unilaterally comprehend the issue. If this is the case we should still treat each other properly. We should always try to correct ourselves, to make everything perfect and indestructible and to improve as a whole.
This is to remind fellow practitioners that when we encounter conflicts, we should try to look at the problem from different angles and find out the essence of the issues, and not be confused by the superficial part.
This only my personal point of view. Please kindly correct my mistakes.
2/7/2003
(Clearwisdom.net)
From time to time we all had noticed that some practitioners tended to complain about things during our group discussions. I have also experienced such conditions myself. Therefore I would like to take this opportunity to share my understanding of the attachment to "complaining."
Since I was an assistant at our practice site, I often spent a lot of time and effort working on Fa promotion and local organizational issues at the expense of my Fa study. Towards the end of my third year of practicing cultivation, I started to notice that I often got into arguments with my fellow practitioners on issues waiting to be resolved, and I often insisted that my point of view was correct. After a while, I also noticed that some other practitioners also had similar experiences. Whenever we had conflicting opinions at our practice site, some practitioners tended to hastily seek solutions to problems by looking externally. For example, they would call practitioners in another city and ask for help to resolve conflicts, complaining that others were failing to look within. They would wonder why no one wanted to discuss with them, or why others didn't understand their point of view. We must realize that other practitioners cannot serve as "conflict moderators" for us in helping to resolve the problems we come across during our cultivation. How could we ever enlighten to the Fa and raise our levels in cultivation if this was the case?
I realized that Teacher has already taught us in the Fa that we must enlighten to things ourselves in our cultivation and not look externally. We must devote large amounts of time to Fa study and treat Fa study seriously since all the answers to our questions are within the Fa. Cultivation means always raising one's own Xinxing (mind nature), conducting oneself with the high standard of a practitioner, and never deliberately seeking out the shortcomings of fellow practitioners.
The manifestation of the argumentative mind is largely caused by the attachment of fame and the attachment of wanting others to listen to and adopt our own ideas. We are Dafa practitioners and our energy field of compassion should radiate in all directions. People should be happy to be around to us and Dafa under the influence of such a compassionate energy field. If our compassion is replaced with "complaining about others," then the opposite will occur and people will not enjoy being near us. Teacher said in the Fa Lecture at the Conference in Singapore: "I'll definitely point them out to you. All of your attachments will be exposed for you. Even if I myself don't point them out to you, I'll have others do so."
I realized that "complaining" is a deeply hidden attachment. Those evil forces that had escaped from the cosmic space cleansed by the Fa-rectification are using this attachment to interfere with Fa-rectification.
Once I noticed such a state of mind in myself, I felt I was no longer qualified to promote the Fa of "Truth, Compassion, Forbearance" because I was unable to demonstrate the compassion that all Dafa practitioners should possess. I felt my unfriendly attitude could only push people away from Dafa so I voluntarily resigned from the position of assistant so that I could devote more time to Fa study, raise my Xinxing and purify myself.
I feel that there are many different ways to get rid of our attachments through Fa study. We can study the Fa in a group at our practice sites, or can study the Fa by ourselves on a daily basis. What's most important to realize is that only by studying the Fa well can we get rid of our attachments. Back then it was not only I who had "complaints" about other practitioners; several other veteran practitioners at our practice site also had "complaints" as well. Thus it became impossible for us to work together to eradicate our attachments since we did not even have a common language. So I left the practice site temporarily and practiced by myself. This way I could only complain to myself. Since I could not complain to others, I had more time to study the Fa. This way the problem was gradually resolved after a while.
The only way to resolve the problem was to intensify Fa study. Regardless if I was at home or at work, I would study the Fa whenever I had time. Each day I would study 2 --3 chapters of Zhuan Falun, and some days I would study 4 chapters. After two months, I noticed that I had become more compassionate. I no longer had the urge to insist on my own opinions and it became much simpler when I tried to convey my own ideas with others. Half a year later, I noticed that whenever I tried to talk to my fellow practitioners, there was one thought that came first, "Do not force your ideas upon others; let them decide what to do based on their own understanding and enlightenment level." Thus after a whole year of intensified Fa study, compassion replaced enmity. Now I feel that I am again fit to promote the Fa to others.
I decided to share my own experience in this regard because I noticed that some of the practitioners who first demonstrated such attachments to "complaint" have still not made improvements and have not elevated their levels in this regard. Even though they work hard in clarifying the truth and promoting the Fa, they spend very little time studying the Fa. This has caused them to linger in the same cultivation level for a long time without being able to see this attachment, which can only cause damage to Dafa. I have realized that how much a practitioner does is not as important as having the heart of "Truth, Compassion, Forbearance" when he does it. Furthermore, whether we have learned how to look inwards throughout our cultivation, whether we rid ourselves of our attachments of "complaint" as well as our impatience with fellow practitioners and our arrogance, selfishness and tendency to argue as soon as possible is also very important.
I hope my own experience can be of help to those practitioners who have exhibited this similar attachment to complaining. On the other hand, I believe that we must never forget one important point: all practitioners have their own levels of enlightenment and Xinxing. We all hope other practitioners can enlighten as quickly as possible and improve, so sometimes we try to force them to understand and want them to understand what we have enlightened to. This is exactly the excuse used by the attachment to complaining. We often like to force other practitioners to enlighten to what we think is correct, but perhaps others would need some time to enlighten the way we did because of their karma and other attachments.
Personally, I believe that whenever we discover that we do not meet the requirement of "Truth, Compassion, Forbearance," we must be sure not to let our human sentimentality get in the way and not seek externally. The causes of conflicts (though the old forces also interfere with us) are right here within us. Teacher has constantly imparted to us that we must learn to look within. So whenever we encounter conflicts amongst ourselves, we must really settle down and study the Fa, and seriously strive to fill our hearts and surroundings with the radiance of compassion, even if we have to temporarily drop some of the tasks at hand.
(Clearwisdom.net)
My mother turned 79 years old this year. She traveled from China to Australia by herself just before the New Year. Even though she was fatigued from traveling, she earnestly asked me for the book Zhuan Falun [the main text of Falun Dafa] the day after she arrived here. I brought out the large print version of Zhuan Falun that I had expressly prepared for her to read. She started to read it very eagerly. I scarcely interrupted her as she sat at the table reading it so attentively with her reading glasses from morning until night. I only offered to help her if she came across any Chinese characters that she did not understand.
Several days later, I found that she had started to read the book a second time. I was very surprised since I had never explained to her that Zhuan Falun was meant to be read over and over. I asked her if she could understand it. She answered calmly that the book was written in modern Chinese, so of course she was able to understand; and when I asked her if she could read all of the characters, she said that she could. My mother had no formal education; she took care of her family her entire life. I had never seen her read a book before. She only recognized a few common words. I never expected that she could actually have finished reading the entire book within a week. I couldn't believe that she actually was able to read the entire book, so I asked her if she would like to study the book with me, reading aloud. She agreed. We began to study the Fa [law and principles written in Zhuan Falun] together regularly for some time. There were only a few characters that she could not recognize. Her reading speed was slower than mine and sometimes her pronunciation differed because of the Chinese dialect that she spoke, but after we read together for some time I became confident that she could read and understand the book well.
Within a period of five weeks, she had read Zhuan Falun four times. Since she read very slowly, to keep this pace, she had to start reading almost right after she opened her eyes in the morning until nighttime. During this time she rarely asked me to show her around the neighborhood. Sometimes we would go to libraries to read newspapers. She would only look at a few pages and then she would not want to read anymore as she felt it was better go home to read the Dafa books. Mother would say that she was old and that her memory wasn't so good anymore, so she had to be very diligent in studying. She would read aloud Hong Yin, the book of poems written by Teacher Li Hongzhi, many times in a single day and to reinforce her memory, she would even copy the poems down by hand.
While I felt very happy for her when I saw her studiously reading and transcribing and diligently cultivating, I also felt ashamed of myself. My own mother was doing better than me in cultivation. One morning at 5am, I got up and asked her if she would like to get out of bed. Since it was still quite early, she said she would not so I went back to sleep. But later, I suddenly woke up to find my mother quietly reading aloud; it was then 7am. I asked her why she did not remind me to get up to practice the exercises, since it was already a bit late. My mother put her book down immediately and started to walk out of the door. I felt very ashamed as I watched her walk out the door. Mother had been studying for nearly two hours. She must have been very thirsty, but she went straight outside to practice the exercises without drinking a bit of water to soothe her throat, yet here I was already critcizing her. When I had woke up earlier and did not see her get up, I went back to sleep again. In the meantime, Mother was studying the Fa while she was waiting for me to get up. I was falling far behind her in terms of being diligent.
I did not expect my mother to start out being so diligent in studying the Fa, for her path in obtaining the Fa was rocky. A few years ago when I first began practicing Falun Dafa, Mother was not against it; but after the persecution started, Mother began to worry about me. She became most fearful after Jiang's regime fabricated the "Tiananmen Self-immolation Incident" to defame Falun Gong. During that time, whenever I phoned home, she would always persuade me to give up practicing Falun Gong, telling me that the crackdown in China was terrible and that those self-immolators were horrible. She believed the rhetoric and lies that Jiang's regime of scoundrels put out and was afraid that I would be like those people. Being completely deceived by the propaganda, she even dared to ask me if I would ever kill her and my father.
When I tried to clarify the truth about Falun Gong to her, she would refuse to listen. Once when I was on a long-distance call with her, I suddenly heard some static noises in the phone line. Only after a long while did I hear my mother say that she could not hear me. I immediately realized that our phone conversations were being monitored by Jiang's regime. I hung up right away. Even over the phone, I could sense that my family was being enveloped by this huge net of terror. At that time, my father was sick in bed. Mother did not tell me about his condition even when he was near death, for fear that I would be arrested if I went back home. It was painful for me to deal with these memories a long time afterwards.
Since Mother was so afraid of and opposed to Falun Gong, I no longer mentioned anything about it. But later on, it was one of my relatives who changed her perception. I had clarified the truth to this relative of mine who understood immediately and relayed her understanding to my mother. My mother was willing to listen to this relative. Gradually, she changed her attitude towards Falun Gong. Later on, this relative started to read Zhuan Falun and was also willing to try the exercises. Through the relative's positive influence, Mother finally started to read Zhuan Falun. But under such terrible persecution, they could not openly practice Falun Gong. Mother told me over the phone that if she was reading it and if someone noticed and ask her why she would read such a book, she would tell them that she was trying to learn the Chinese characters. She did not even dare tell her own relatives that she was reading Zhuan Falun. So you can see the atomosphere of terror that was created by the Jiang regime's persecution of Falun Gong.
After she was issued a visa to go to Australia, I suggested that she come as soon as possible so that she could openly practice Falun Gong. When she arrived, she told me that before she left, a family member had a big quarrel with her. Looking back at it now, she understands that it was just interference. It is not easy to obtain the Fa. After she finished reading Zhuan Falun for the fourth time, I prepared all of Teacher's other lectures for her to read. She was able to comprehend when Teacher talked about the structure of the cosmos and other scientific topics. I told her that every day she should read Zhuan Falun, along with all of Teacher's other lectures taught around the world. Soon, she started to read one lecture of Zhuan Falun a day and complete one book of Teacher's other lectures.
As she studied the Fa more and more, her enlightenment quality gradually improved. Right in the very beginning when she started to study the Fa, she experienced interference. As soon as she started to read, she would get tired and sleepy. At first, she felt that it was strange, because when she was in China, she never got drowsy. She realized quickly that this was interference stopping her from studying the Fa so she took the initiative to find ways to overcome it such as by reading while standing instead of sitting or doing some daily chores and then coming back to continue reading.
Mother told me that prior to her departure, she stayed with some relatives. She suffered from diarrhea all day long. The relatives were so scared that they were going to call the airline to cancel the trip, but Mother insisted on not making any change to her itinerary. She said that it was really peculiar that although her diarrhea was severe, as soon as she got on the plane, everything was fine. Sometimes when we talked about family conflicts, she would demonstrate a high level of xinxing [mind nature, moral character]
Mother's enlightenment quality was also manifested in her diligence in practicing the exercises. When she first arrived here, I only let her read the books so that she could learn about Dafa in depth as soon as possible. I only taught her how to do the exercises a little bit at a time. She has just started to regularly practice the exercises about two weeks ago. Her movements were not that accurate, but she is making rapid progress. Every morning at 5:30am, we would go to a small park to practice the exercises using the two-hour tape. On the first two days, she could only do the sitting meditation for 40 to 50 minutes, but on the third day, she was able to sit for the entire hour. She told me once that before she does the meditation, she resolves that she would sit until the music stops. From then on, she always sat for the whole hour. She did not have the long transition period that I had. I was so touched when I saw her trembling from the excruciating pain in her legs, which she endured all the way to the end. More recently she has said that she feels itchy all over just as if ants were crawling on her skin. I told her that it was the elimination of karma that it came out like ants crawling. She was able to endure it all the way to the end. For someone her age, this is not something easy to accomplish right in the beginning.
Once, right after the sitting meditation, she told me that she felt hot as she unbuttoned her overcoat. It was windy that morning and I was feeling cold even with my overcoat on. I asked her how she got hot and she told me that it started when she conjoined her hands. Hot currents frequently ran through her whole body. She was even sweating. I told her that I believed it was Teacher doing guanding (pouring energy from the top of the head) for her. I would hear her saying similar things later on.
Another time when I was talking with her, I noticed that she was beginning to close her eyes. I asked her if she felt sleepy, but she said she wasn't. She explained that she wanted to try to see if she could see some scenes while not sitting in meditation. I asked her about what kind of scenes she saw. She told me that as soon as she closed her eyes, she would see some flowers that looked like apricots, blooming slowly. I said that her celestial eye was opening. She said every time she closed her eyes, she would see red or yellow colors. I asked her if she had seen these things before, but she told me that she had not paid attention to such things before. Later, when I would ask her again what she had seen, she would say less and less.
Not too long after Mother came here, I started to teach her how to send forth righteous thoughts. She could not memorize the formulas, so I would recite them once first. In the beginning, she did not understand what this was all about, but later, she started to comprehend and was very diligent about it. Whenever it was about time to send righteous thoughts, she would stop what she was doing and start to get ready. Once it was right before the hour and I was still on the computer doing work. Mother was reluctant to interrupt me and she just waited uneasily for me. Finally, she could not wait any longer and told me that it was time. I curiously asked her what the matter was and she gestured with her hand that it was time to send righteous thoughts. Although I tried to send righteous thought on time, sometimes my mind was too noisy to calm down so I would let her do it alone by herself. She would then quietly sit there sending forth righteous thoughts. Under her positive influence, I eventually also took the initiative to send forth righteous thoughts on time.
Teacher said that Fa-rectification disciples should do the three things well. Mother was doing two things very well: studying the Fa and sending righteous thoughts. As to clarifying the truth about Falun Gong to the public, she is just starting. We would go to Chinatown and to community centers to hongfa [introduce Falun Dafa] and she has been very happy to give out truth-clarifying materials. There were still family members in China who were against Dafa. When Mother called home, she would validate Dafa using her own personal perspective. Mother is diligently reading all of Teacher's books in sequential order and is almost done. When she fully understands the significance of a "Fa-rectification disciple", I believe that she will do even better in clarifying truth and helping save people.
This is my mother's story -- a story of a nearly 80-year-old woman who obtained the Fa. Under her positive influence, I, being a not-so-diligent veteran practitioner, have also started to study the Fa, do the exercises and send righteous thoughts more diligently than before. I write this to share with everyone and I hope it will be helpful to my fellow practitioners so that we can diligently strive forward and make progress together as a whole.
February 14, 2003
(Clearwisdom.net)
I am a taxi driver who began practicing Falun Dafa in 1997. Although I progressed very slowly in the beginning, our compassionate Teacher pointed out things to me over and over again, and gradually I became a true Dafa disciple. As a taxi driver I often go out of town and have been saved from several dangerous traffic accidents. The following is one of my experiences.
One day in January of 2003, I was in a hurry and driving very fast. The unpaved road was very slippery with heavy snow from a few days before. Because of heavy fog, I didn't see that there was a trailer in front of me until the last minute. To the left side of the road was a deep and icy trench and to the right side of the road was a row of tall trees. No matter which direction I went--straight ahead, to the left or to the right, the consequence seemed horrible. At this moment, it dawned on me that I am a Falun Dafa practitioner. I cried out "Teacher!" With this word, my steering wheel suddenly turned left. My front wheels and left rear wheel drove into the trench while the right rear wheel was still on the road. My car came to a complete halt! The front of my car was only inches away from a light pole!
I knew from past driving experience that it was incredible for my car to come to a stop under such severe driving conditions. The ditch was so deep and slippery. If my car had fallen in, the consequences would have been fatal. I managed to get out of my car and find several people to help me. With much effort we got the car out. Others told me they couldn't imagine how I was able to stop the car. If Teacher hadn't protected me at every moment, the consequence of this accident would have been worse than anything one could imagine.
This is only one of the many times during my cultivation when I was saved from harm. The list would be too long if I wrote out one by one every time I have been protected from danger. If we don't do our best and don't do the three things well that Teacher has asked us to do, or we don't help Teach with Fa-rectification, how can we be worthy of what Teacher has done for us!
(Clearwisdom.net)
Jane Dai is an Australian-Chinese widow and mother to her almost 3 year-old daughter. Jane Dai's husband was tortured to death in China in 2001 because he practiced Falun Gong and had appealed to the Chinese government to stop killing and persecuting innocent people. Jane Dai visited Bangkok for three days in January to help more people learn about the severe persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.
A few days before the arrival of Ms. Dai, a practitioner from Bangkok faxed out a press release to over 40 Western news agencies in Bangkok. Another practitioner made follow up calls to make appointments. Many of the reporters expressed their concern and support. Some of them also gave us contact information for other reporters that might be interested. Over the three days of Ms. Dai's visit, we went to talk with and give information packages to as many reporters as possible.
We had the understanding that just talking to media even 10 minutes would help them a lot to understand the situation with Falun Gong and the persecution. We went with the heart of only wanting to let them meet Jane Dai and learn the true situation of Falun Gong and the persecution in China.
During these three days we got two long interviews each day, with equal attention from both the Western and Thai media.
One Thai-British reporter from a large international agency did a long interview. He knew hardly anything about Falun Gong before the interview, so he had many questions about the practice as well as to Jane Dai about her story. He took time to meet with Jane Dai with just a short notice and although he was very pressed for time.
A Swedish radiobroadcasting reporter interviewed Jane. His one-hour program, which came out very well, was broadcast all over Sweden one day later.
One reporter did an interview from an Asian broadcasting corporation. He had been interested in learning more about Falun Gong for a long time.
Another reporter from the Finnish central news agency did an interview. He had not reported on Falun Gong prior to this interview. His article was to be sent out to all Finnish media.
There were other reporters that were interested to meet Jane Dai, but couldn't because at that time they were doing some work outside Thailand. However, one reporter from a Thai newspaper was able to conduct a long interview with Jane, which helped her to understand the situation better and also learn the truth about the persecution.
These three days were very precious to us. We have learned a lot from Jane Dai's compassion to all beings, her endurance and great devotion to help the people in China.
Bangkok has many international media agencies and this was a good chance for them to meet with Jane Dai. By now she has already visited 24 countries. She has unselfishly devoted all her time to travel around the world to let more people know about the tremendous suffering of Falun Gong practitioners in China.
Miss Jane Dai and her daughter Fadu, who is now almost three years old, work very well as a team. Fadu follows her mother everywhere. Jane Dai and her little daughter touch the hearts of all the people they meet. Whoever hears her story will certainly be able to understand the true picture of Falun Gong and the persecution in China.
(Clearwisdom.net) The two-day-long Global Falun Gong Practitioner Rescue Experience Sharing Conference was held on March 1 and March 2 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston. Over 300 practitioners from Canada, Washington DC, New York, New Jersey, New England area and other areas attended the conference.
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Practitioner reads a letter from Massachusetts Congressman to China's ambassador Yang Jiechi |
Over 300 practitioners attended the conference |
At the conference, practitioners shared their understandings from different angles on topics such as rescuing family members, reducing persecution, denying the arrangement of old forces, comprehensively clarifying the truth and saving sentient beings. Through clarifying the truth to government and media, telephone calls to China, and the rescue family members car tour, practitioners walk to all corners of the world to expose Jiang regime's brutal persecution of Falun Gong.
A letter from Massachusetts Congressman Michael Capuano to China's Ambassador Yang Jiechi was read at conference strongly requesting the Chinese government immediately release American citizen Charles Li. The Congressman also expressed that he would continue to make unremitting efforts to rescue Falun Gong practitioners persecuted in China.
Practitioners at the conference increased their understanding of the fact that Dafa practitioners are one body. Every rescue of a practitioner is a big shock to the evil force. The large-scale rescue effort has just begun. Our goal is to let each practitioner detained walk out of jails with dignity and join the Fa rectification process. The Dafa whole body is indestructible.
(Clearwisdom.net) In order to raise awareness and let more people help rescue Dr. Charles Li, and to further explain the persecution facts to the US government, media and public, Falun Gong practitioners in Texas carried out a two-day car tour with the theme of "Urgent Rescue Dr. Charles Li".
Five groups of practitioners from different cities in Texas simultaneously started their car tours along five different routes. During the two-day car tour, they visited more than 20 cities in Texas. They invited local media and conducted press conference in front the City Hall of each city they visited. They introduced the incident of the wrongful arrest of US citizen Dr. Charles Li in China simply because of his belief in "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance". Practitioners also collected petition signatures to rescue Charles Li. Practitioners who could not join the car tour also supported the event in different ways including sending forth righteous thoughts.
During the whole process, practitioners also conducted group Fa-study and experience sharing. We cooperated with each other and used our pure hearts and righteous thoughts to participate in the event. From this activity, we deeply realized the importance that Dafa disciples improve together and form an integral entity. We also experienced that it is important to purify our thoughts, maintain strong righteous thoughts, and do it without pursuit. In fact, no matter what we do, no matter what forms we apply, our purpose is to clarify the truth and offer salvation to sentient beings.
We explained to the media and the public that the arrest of Charles Li once again demonstrated the Chinese government's persecution of Falun Gong has been extended to overseas. They have already started persecuting foreign citizens. If we do not work together to stop this suppression, more good people will be persecuted tomorrow. This is closely linked to each one of us. At the same time, we also explained, the Texas car tour is part of the global rescue campaign. Falun Gong practitioners and supporters from other states of the America and other countries are also applying different approaches to urgently rescue Dr. Charles Li.
1. Making concerted effort to prepare
Since Dr. Charles Li (Charles Li) was wrongfully arrested in China, practitioners in Texas exchanged their understandings from the perspective of the Fa, and started the rescue campaign with different approaches. We will not cease our effort until Dr. Li is freed.
During a group discussion the week before the car tour, some practitioners proposed to carry out the event. We all thought that was a good idea. Then the issue was discussed at group Fa-studies in other cities. We achieved common understandings. Within two days, we cooperated with each other, encouraged each other and supported each other to do the preparations. Some practitioners contacted government officials and media, some made posters and banners, some arranged the car tour routes.
2. Five routes, one body
The car tour embarked along five routes. Practitioners from different cities participated the event.
(1) East route was set off from Houston, and passed by Beaumont, Victoria, Corpus Christi and other cities. At 10 am on February 22, we held a press conference in front of the Houston City Hall. CNN Texas branch--News Station Channel 24 and other media attended the conference. The reporter came early and asked many questions. The reporter also videotaped the scene of practitioners' group exercises.
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| Houston | Beaumont | Beaumont |
At 2 pm on February 22 (Saturday), we carried out a press conference outside the Beaumont City Hall. When a practitioner contacted the local media on Friday (February 21), TV station ABC-12 showed interest in the event and immediately interviewed the practitioner. On Saturday, another TV station (KBTV-4) attended our conference and covered the story in their evening news. These two TV stations' reports allowed local people to learn the facts that US citizen, Dr. Charles Li is unreasonably imprisoned because he practices Falun Gong. As a result, when practitioners collected petition signatures, many local residents said that they learned the news from the TV reports and that it was absolutely wrong for the Chinese government to do so. One after another, people signed the petition to immediately release Charles Li.
On Monday, when practitioners phoned the TV station, the staff hoped that we would inform them updated news about Charles Li. They also repeatedly emphasized, "Keep in touch! Keep in touch!"
We held a press conference at 10 am on Sunday, February 23, at Victoria in front of the City Hall.
At 3 pm on Sunday, we conducted a press conference in front of the Corpus Christi City Hall. Although our conference schedule changed from 2 pm to 3 pm, two media still came at 2 pm. Fortunately, we arrived there one hour ahead of schedule. Reporters carefully asked many questions and satisfactorily left after one-hour interview. Then two TV stations came at 3 pm to attend the conference. So practitioners had sufficient time to present the persecution facts to the reporters. One of the reporters said, "All media in Corpus Christi showed up today!"
(2). West route set off from San Antonio. Practitioners passed by San Angelo, Midland, Odessa and El Paso. Wherever they visited, they received warm response from American people and media. People all condemned Jiang regime's senseless persecution of Falun Gong practitioners including Dr. Charles Li.
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| San Angelo | El Paso |
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| Midland | Midland |
Major media from different areas all paid great attention to this rescue activity. San Angelo branch of CBS TV station and a major newspaper reported the event. Local ABC and NBC in Midland area also sent reporters to conduct interviews. Practitioners were also interviewed by the local ABC TV station in El Paso. Practitioners introduced the details about the arrest of Charles Li and the persecution encountered by Falun Gong practitioners. Two western practitioners pointed out during the interviews that Jiang's regime used the arrest of Charles Li to test the American people and government's tolerance to its evil deeds. They called upon their countrymen to firmly oppose this behavior and stand out to help rescue Charles Li.
(3) South route embarked from Houston. Practitioners traveled through San Antonio, Brownsville, McAllen and Laredo, with a journey of more than 1,000 miles. Wherever they went, they talked with media and the American people, who were all shocked to learn of the Jiang regime's brutal persecution suffered by local Falun Gong practitioners, their family members and Dr. Charles Li.
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| McAllen | McAllen |
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| Laredo | Laredo | Brownsville |
Major media from the cities we visited all paid attention to Dr. Charles Li's plight and this rescue event. A TV station from San Antonio and local NBC from Laredo and other newspapers carried out extensive interviews. Practitioners introduced details about the unlawful arrest of Charles Li and used their own experiences and plight to illustrate the cruel persecution of Falun Gong in China. The newspapers covered the story on their front pages on the next day.
(4) The north route set off from Dallas. The practitioners visited four cities including Abliene, Lubbock, Amarillo and Wichita Falls.
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| Abliene | Amarillo |
Many local media covered our event. In Lubbock, for example, almost all local media including 3 TV stations and major newspapers showed up. After the press conference, they interviewed practitioners and particularly asked the details about Charles Li's situation. An American citizen's wrongful arrest shocked the American media. Many reporters asked us what they could do to support us. They said that they would put the address of Rescue Charles Li website on their TV news program.
(5) Mid-Texas route. Practitioners started from Houston and passed by Dallas, Waco, Temple, Austin and Bryan. We conducted press conferences in each city. Chinese newspaper, World Journal and other English media including TV stations, newspapers interviewed us. One after another, people signed the petition to support. All media carried out careful interviews. They not only asked about the arrest of Charles Li, but also inquired information about the overall persecution of Falun Gong in China. They also interviewed a practitioner who encountered the persecution when he went back to China to visit his family.
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| Austin | Bryan | Bryan |
The most watched TV station in Austin had never interviewed us before, but they attended the press conference this time and carried out a detailed interview.
A TV station in Bryan asked us to come back on Monday to have an interview.
3. Voice of justice
Many media came to interview this car tour rescue event. Reporters were deeply moved by practitioners' effort and expressed their willingness of help. One reporter said that if Charles Li is not released soon, he will go to China to conduct detailed investigation and report.
This rescue activity actually began two days before the car tour set off. When a practitioner went to a sign shop to order banners, the shop owner was very shocked by the arrest of Charles Li and immediately expressed that she would write to his representative to appeal for rescuing Charles. When the practitioner went to pick up the banners, this kind shop owner said that she wrote the letter already and her shop assistants would also write to their representatives. She said to the practitioner with profound significance, "The banners will last a long time, but I hope you won't have to use them for long."
During the trip, practitioners distributed flyers and explained the facts to people at restaurants, gas stations they passed by and received warm responses. A young man was astonished and said, "Is he (who was arrested) American citizen?" In a small restaurant, a family was about to leave after finishing their meal, a 4 or 5 --year-old boy turned around and said, "I want one (flyer)". In our trip, the banners on our vehicles drew lots of attention.
Some people said, "He should be released, for he did not violate any law, he is arrested just because of his belief and the American government should do something regarding this issue."
Some said, "I hate that this occurred. I think that they [Chinese government] should free him."
Some said, "This persecution is just live virus, it is spreading. Everyone of us should stand up to stop it."
Some said, "It is really inconceivable that the Chinese government does such
a thing.
Some said, "We will write to our Congressmen and urge them to get Charles back."
Voice of justice closely followed and media and public all showed their kind thoughts.
4. Cultivation experience: Improve as one body
This rescue action also provided us an opportunity to further clear the evil factors in other dimensions and strengthen our righteous thoughts. Practitioners cooperated with each other. When encountering difficulties, we encouraged each other and formed an integral entity. A western practitioner conquered much hardship and carried her two children to finish the 2-day journey. The two children helped practitioners to hold banners along the trip. When she was interviewed, her 10-year-old daughter held Charles Li's photo. The scene was quite touching.
During this car tour, practitioners deeply felt the importance of righteous thoughts, that is, maintain righteous thoughts at every moment, otherwise, the evil will have opportunities to take advantage. When we reached San Angelo, two TV stations did not show up. We then drove to visit them. When we arrived at the first TV station, the news editor did not know about Falun Dafa and had some doubts and concerns. Practitioners thus clarified the truth to her. She changed a little bit but still wanted to report it to her supervisor before making any decisions. After leaving there, practitioners realized that they did not have strong enough righteous thoughts and therefore handled it as if doing a job. On their way to another TV station, practitioners adjust their mindset and seriously sent forth righteous thoughts in front of the TV station. As a result, they accidentally met a reporter and the interview was quite successful.
In El Paso, two TV stations confirmed with us that they would come to our press conference. When arrived at the City Hall, we sent forth righteous thoughts and practiced exercises after setting up banners. A reporter from local NBC TV station called us on their way here that they would be here in a moment. At that point, practitioners started slacking off, and did not continue to send forth righteous thoughts. A few minutes later, the reporter's vehicle drove on the street in front of us and left. When we contacted the TV station, we were informed that a big incident just occurred in the city and the reporter had to go there. Our slacking off in just a few minutes gave the evil factors chance to take the advantage. Practitioners felt very regretful, and further realized the seriousness of cultivation in the Fa-rectification period. Our strong righteous thoughts should not be let up.
Concluding remarks:
This car tour received great support from many media and the American people. During the event, we let more people know about the severe situation of the persecution of Falun Gong in China. Meanwhile, while taking part in this event, Texas practitioners formed an integral entity.
Although the car tour concluded, we will continue our effort till Dr. Charles Li is released.
(Clearwisdom.net) On March 1st, 2003, we went to Iowa City to collect signatures for the"Rescue Charles Li" campaign. Though the weather was cold, wet and even snowed a bit from time to time, we collected over 200 signatures in 4 hours. People stopped to read our bulletin board, display boards and carefully listened to our introduction of how Mr. Charles Li is being persecuted in China.
As a result of the activity, more and more people came to understand Falun Gong and expressed their anger and concern about Charles Li's experiences in China. People told us:
"Falun Gong is good for China."
"We are happy to see that Falun Gong is getting stronger."
"You are doing such a good deed in the cold weather. Your effort is valuable. Hold on!" "They (who persecuted Charles) are evil."
"I know the situation of Falun Gong being persecuted in China."
Some of them signed our petition as soon as they heard that it was about Falun Gong being persecuted in China. One handicapped senior gentleman sitting on the wheelchair signed his name and then pressed his hands together to greet to us. One young man signed his name and then said in relief, "I feel I have done a great thing." More people smiled to us and thanked us for helping to rescue Charles Li.
During the activity, we played the music that a Dafa practitioner composed for the rescue campaign. We witnessed the strength of righteous force seeing so many people stop to sign their names in the snowy weather.
(Clearwisdom.net)
News from Germany:
A Chinese lady, who is currently studying in Germany was detained by the local police station of Wuhan City when she went back to China to visit her parents for Chinese New Year 2003. According to our information, this Chinese student's name is Lin Wenrong. She graduated from Wuhan Music College, and then went to Germany for further study in early 2002.
Ms. Lin arrived at her parents' home on January 17 2003, and was scheduled to return to Germany in mid-February. However, she has not returned. According to the people who know her, Ms. Lin is a Falun Gong practitioner. Soon after she arrived at Wuhan, she was taken into custody by local police before Chinese New Year for no reason, and has been detained ever since. It is unclear where she is detained. Following Ms. Nancy Chen of Australia, and Dr. Charles Li of the United States, Ms. Lin is the third overseas Falun Gong practitioner arrested in China this year. Under the diplomatic endeavors of the Australian government, Nancy was released unconditionally in early February.
Our information source reported that an internal document circulating in the Committee of Politics and Legislature of Wuhan City and the Chinese Public Security Bureau stated, "Everyone in Wuhan City who has practiced Falun Gong should be registered and asked to write a "Statement of Repentance"." Those who do not deliver the statement will be sent to a brainwashing unit for forced reform. Wenrong's friends in Germany have initiated an emergency rescue action. The German Minister of Foreign Affairs and related international human rights associations have been notified of her case.
According to reports from BBC news and Voice of America, a lawsuit was filed in the Federal District Court in the US on the first day of Jiang's visit to Chicago on October 22 2002. The lawsuit was file by persecuted Falun Gong practitioners and their relatives, bringing Jiang Zemin up on charges of genocide. The lawyer representing the plaintiffs went to Jiang's hotel in person, and passed the appropriate documents to Jiang via his guards. International media has reported on this lawsuit. Under persistent enquiries from reporters, a spokesperson from the Chinese State Council [...] finally admitted that the lawsuit had been received.
In addition to Jiang Zemin, there are 9 other Chinese officials accused by Falun Gong practitioners in other international courts. [...] News that international courts have summoned Jiang Zemin and other Chinese officials is being blocked from entering China by the Chinese authorities.
In Jiang's absence, the US Federal District Court held a hearing on January 13 of this year to take the plaintiff's statement. The court is scheduled to resume on March 13.
According to our information, an international organization named "World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong" was established in the US on January 20 2003. The spokesperson for the organization vowed, "to conduct a thorough investigation no matter how far or how long it will take." After its establishment, the organization has begun a systematic investigation of all sorts of crimes committed against Falun Gong. The scope of investigation covers organizations (including the "610" Office), news media and individuals directly or indirectly involved in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and their family members. The organization has commented that they have investigators with a great sense of justice from various fields, such as media, law and academia. They will also look into the overseas properties held by those individuals who persecuted Falun Gong. The results will be publicized to society when available. In compliance with established practices, which have been applied to Nazi war criminals, the sources of the properties will be verified, frozen or confiscated for indemnification.
Thank you very much for listening. [...]
http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200303/10707.html
(Clearwisdom.net)
Reported in Chinese by the Central News Agency
February 28, 2003 Special Dispatch
The Canadian Parliament debated a motion proposed by Member of Parliament Mr. Scott Reid, which was passed unanimously on October 24, 2002. Since the House of Commons and Senate accepted the motion in October 2002, this Bill has had a positive effect. It was instrumental in the release of three Canadian residents' family members in China who had been sent to forced labor camps for practicing Falun Gong. The Bill also helped to improve the labor camp conditions of other arrested practitioners and to secure the successful rescue of a practitioner who was about to be sent to prison in China.
The Bill proposed by Member of Parliament Mr. Reid was thought to be an important element in the safe release of these Falun Dafa practitioners. The Bill mentioned that the House of Commons and Senate is of the opinion that during the APEC meeting, the Canadian Prime Minister should make special mention to Jiang Zemin regarding the Falun Gong issue - that thirteen Falun Gong practitioners who are relatives of Canadian residents are still being detained in China. The Bill also stated that the Prime Minister should further emphasize that if these people are allowed to join their families in Canada, the Canadian government is willing to strengthen existing business relationships with China.
The Canadian Parliament accepted this Bill, which was one of the ideas proposed by Members of Parliament from different parties to release innocent practitioners. Unfortunately, right now many practitioners who are family members of Canadian residents are still being detained in jails or detention centers or labor camps in China.
Mr. Reid emphasized that we must continue to exert pressure, until every one of these practitioners are released and can join their families in Canada.
A former performer in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival faces being deported to China next week after having her asylum application refused.
Lin Lili arrived in the United Kingdom two years ago and last year took part in the Fan Dancers procession during the Edinburgh Festival parade. She was also due to participate in a similar parade this April but despite being seven weeks pregnant she is currently being held at Manchester Airport and is due to be deported on 7 March.
Human rights authorities fear for her life once she returns to China because she is a follower of Falun Gong, banned by state authorities. They argue that there have been 578 cases of death in detention with thousands of practitioners being held in labour camps.
Her husband, Jinfei Zhang said she had been the victim of a bureaucratic mistake as she was not informed in time about her application for asylum being rejected and did not have a chance to appeal.
"I am extremely worried about what will happen to her if she is deported back to China," he said. "We fear for her safety and life if she is to return to China. Her involvements with human rights activities in the UK against persecution in China are, no doubt, well known to the staff of the Chinese embassy in London."
[...]
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=254312003
(Clearwisdom.net)
Hong Kong's Chinese-language Apple Daily reported on February 24:
In a sea of opposing voices, the Legislative Council will read out its "State Security Draft Regulations" for the enactment of Article 23 on February 25. The Human Rights Alignment, comprised of 43 nongovernmental organizations, will hold a candlelight vigil on the evening of February 24 to protest the HK government's forceful enactment of Article 23, disregarding the will of the people.
A number of democratic members in the Legislative Council gathered in the street in Central Hong Kong. They were calling on citizens to participate in the anti-Article 23 candlelight vigil that was held that evening in Charter Garden to protest the sham of "public consultation," saying that the government is making themselves an enemy of the people by rushing into the enactment of Article 23. At the event, apart from satirical performances against Article 23, representatives from law, education, labor, religion, press, culture and the science sectors were also to give speeches on stage.
February 28, 2003
On February 11, I attended an information session at the University of Guelph on Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa), a [Buddha school] spiritual practice.
I was expecting a light evening where I would learn a few gentle exercises and perhaps receive some instruction on meditation, but what I got instead was insight into persecution unprecedented since the holocaust.
It was my impression that the Chinese government was coming around in terms of human rights. I've been hearing next to nothing in the media on the terrible conditions in China, and they were beginning to seem less and less like the red menace and more and more like our friendly Communist allies to the east.
I mean, trade with them is expanding, and we're even giving them the next Olympics. Their human rights policies have to have improved, right?
Wrong. Falun Gong, a peaceful philosophy based primarily on health-improving exercises and the basic principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance was originally accepted and even encouraged by the Chinese government. But since 1999, around the same time that Falun Dafa practitioners started outnumbering Communist Party members, the Chinese government has decided that Falun Dafa is now such [a popular] practice that it must be eradicated, no matter how high the death toll.
Chinese Falun Gong practitioners now face the worst kind of persecution. Practicing in China is treated as a crime of the highest degree resulting in arrest and torture, (often resulting in death.) But this is not a problem that simply ends at the Chinese border. Globalization has ensured that the long arm of the Chinese government affects the freedom of Canadian citizens as well.
During the information session, I noticed that while there were many in attendance of Southeast Asian descent, none took on the role of presenting. Afterwards, one of the Falun Gong practitioners explained to me that the reason for this was that it is common practice for Chinese government informants to attend Falun Gong events with the intent of identifying practitioners who have relatives living in China.
They will persecute relatives of those practitioners who dare to practice Falun Gong, even outside of China.
I am extremely proud to be Canadian, and I have always believed that along with my citizenship came the unquestionable right to exercise my religious freedom. I was disgusted to find that there are still thousands of Canadian citizens who are not free to practice their religion of choice for fear that their families will be tortured and killed.
I am disgusted that Canada promises a long list of freedoms and rights, yet when the most basic of those rights is attacked, we offer trade and open arms to the attacker.
Tyler Senyshyn
Guelph, Ontario
March 3, 2003
 Ming Zeng, a Falun Gong practitioner, is working to help free those imprisoned in her native China for practicing the meditation and exercises. |
A Katy woman has joined a national effort to help free Chinese nationals, including members of her family, imprisoned for practicing a form of spritual enlightenment.
Ming Zeng, a geophysicist, is one of more than 100 million people worldwide who practice Falun Gong-- a method of enhancing the body, mind and spirit through exercise, meditation and teachings that are rooted in ancient Chinese culture.
According to the journal Compassion, the practice began in China a decade ago and was met with staggering popularity.
A 1998 survey done by the Chinese government revealed between 70 and 100 million Chinese citizens were practicing the craft, just six years after it was first offered.
By 1999, according to Compassion, Falun Gong was being practiced in more than 40 countries.
Later that year, however, the Chinese government banned the practice, fearing Falun Gong was influencing Chinese citizens more than Communism.
News reports have documented the thousands of arrests and hundreds of deaths of Falun Gong practioners, at the hands of Chinese officials. Among those arrested and tortured have been Zeng's sister and her 70-year-old mother.
"She (mother) has been arrested twice and is being illegally detained," Zeng said.
Zeng said her mother began practicing Falun Gong in 1996 and during that time suffered from overall poor health. "She always taken medicine, stayed in hospital, but it didn't work well," Zeng said.
After a few months of the exercises, Zeng said her mother's condition improved. "She became healthy and happy. My mother benefited from Falun Gong so much," she said.
In May 1999, according Zeng, her mother was arrested, detained and asked to renounce Falun Gong. "She was physically abused; cursed and threatened by the police," Zeng said.
Zeng's sister, Qin, has been arrested four times for practicing Falun Gong. During her incarceration, according to Zeng, she has been denied sleep and forced to attend what Zeng described as "brainwashing classes" in an attempt to keep her from Falun Gong. "They were subject to many forms of mental torture. They were forced to read and listen to slanderous anti-Falun Gong propaganda," she said.
Zeng has written to members of Congress, included Gene Green, hoping for support and help to free her family members and others.
Green, in a Jan. 23, 2003 letter, said he opposed granting China normal trade relations status, in part, because the Chinese government refuses to increase religious and individual freedoms.
"Unfortunately, the Chinese communist leadership views any organized group movement as a threat to state security. I support the practitioners of Falun Gong to publicly demonstrate their beliefs and I strongly opposed the efforts of the Chinese government to surpress this peaceful organization," Green said.
Zeng is part of a group of Houston-area Falun Gong practitioners working to end the persecution in China. Together, the group keep state and federal authorities, as well as the media, informed on the status of those imprisoned.
She goes about her work with a great deal of hope. "My mother and sister are just one case of the Falun Gong practitioner. I ask more kind-hearted people to help me and rescue my mother and sister," she said.
http://www.katytimes.com/
February 24, 2003
(Clearwisdom.net)
[Anshan City, Liaoning Province] Dafa Practitioners Arrested and Shot
Police recently shot Mr. Xu Zhaobin, a 38-year-old practitioner from Likaipu Village, Shoushan Township, Liaoyang County, Liaoyang City, Liaoning Province. In 2001, he and his wife had to leave their home in order to avoid illegal arrest. In October 2002, Xu Zhaobin was arrested in Kangping County, Liaoning Province and his whereabouts is unknown. On March 19, 2002, police from Anshan City arrested Xu Zhaobin's wife, name unknown, and her whereabouts is also unknown. Two other practitioners, Mr. Shen Hailong and Mr. Wei, were arrested and charged with broadcasting a Falun Gong truth-clarifying video through Anshan City's cable TV system. Shen Hailong was arrested in Liaoyang City in April 2002. Their whereabouts are still unknown.
In addition, Dafa practitioner Mr. Fu Liang from Liaoning Province is now illegally detained at the Dabei Prison. He has been sentenced to eight years of imprisonment. Dafa practitioner Ms. Fu Yan, who lives in Dashiqiao City, Liaoning Province, was arrested in Beijing and now is illegally detained at the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp.
[Sichuan Province] Solemn Declarations from Dafa Practitioners Detained at the Deyang Prison
We Dafa practitioners who are illegally detained at Sichuan Province's Deyang Prison strongly condemn and protest the events that occurred on January 9 when the head of the No. 5 Division of this prison, together with criminal inmates, brutally beat Dafa practitioner Liang Junhua. We also severely condemn and protest all mistreatment and the inhumane persecution against Dafa practitioners in this prison and the crimes the perpetrators have committed against Dafa.
Due to high pressure, or from deception by hypocrisy, some of us wrote the "Three Statements," but none of us has ever given up the practice and cultivation of Dafa. All practitioners who had written the "Three Statements" have recanted it by means of a written statement, oral statement, or other ways. Now all those who have written the "Three Statements" once again solemnly declare on Minghui (Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net) that the "Three Statements" we wrote are totally null and void. We Dafa practitioners, persecuted at the Deyang Prison, will closely follow Master's Fa-rectification progress, take the Fa as teacher, and strive forward vigorously together until the Fa rectification comes to the human world.
Editor's note: "Three Statements" are documents coerced under extreme pressure, torture and brainwashing, designed by Chinese authorities to ensure that detained Falun Gong practitioners be appropriately brain-washed. The statements consist of a letter of repentance, a guarantee to never again practice Falun Gong, and a list containing names and addresses of all family, friends and acquaintances of the detainee who practices Falun Gong. This system was concocted by the "610 Office."
[Signed] All Dafa practitioners illegally detained at the Deyang Prison
January 2003
[Huludao City, Liaoning Province] Persecution of Dafa Practitioner Ms. Gu Changqin Who is in Critical Condition at Shenyang City's Dabei Female Prison
Ms. Gu Changqin, from Huludao City, Liaoning Province, is illegally detained at Shenyang City's Dabei Prison. Because of inhumane persecution, she is extremely emaciatiated and very weak. Gu Changqin's daughter, her only relative, is only 17 years old and cannot afford to take care of her mother.
Shenyang City's Dabei Female Prison telephone no. 86-24-88905055
[Tianjin] Illegal Sentencing of Dafa Practitioners in Tianjin University of Commerce
Ms. Min Xiaomei, Mr. Li Zhi, and Mr. Shen Changzhi, three lecturers at Tianjin's University of Commerce, graduated from the Graduate School of Northeastern Normal University. In December 2002, they were taken away and in all likelihood were illegally detained at a forced labor camp in Tianjin City.
Liu Fuzhi, office number:
86-22-26667621
Fax: 86-22-26669670, Email:á keyanchu@public.tpt.tj.cn
Contact: Ma Chen
[Quanzhou City, Fujian Province] Arrest of Several Dafa Practitioners
About ten days before the Chinese New Year, using the excuse "to guarantee the security of the People's Congress and the Political Consultation Conference," personnel from the Quanzhou City Police Department in Fujian Province, along with its precinct police departments and "610 Office" [An agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems] in Huian County, Jingjiang County, Shishi County, and others, illegally arrested several Dafa practitioners. Ms. Li Qin, Ms. Yu Baoying, Ms. Chen Junjuan, and Mr. Chang and his father were detained. They are presently being held at a prison and suffering brutal torture. Persons from Quanzhou City's "610 Office" and Police Department are preparing to illegally sentence these Dafa practitioners, or send them to a forced labor camp.
[Huludao City, Liaoning Province] Arrest of Practitioner Zheng Hongguo from Shaheying Township
On the evening of February 19, 2003, in collusion with police from Shaheying Township's Police Precinct in Lianshan District, Huludao City, police from Lianshan District's Police Department forcibly arrested Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Zheng Hongguo, from Shaheying Township, on the street.
Around midnight, over a dozen policemen broke into practitioner Mr. Li Kai's home in Gangtun Town, Lianshan District, pulled Mr. Li out of bed, and took him away. During the night of January 20th, after suffering all kinds of torturous indignities, Mr. Li Kai was sent to Huludao City's Detention Center.
The same people also collaborated with police from Gangtun Town's Police Precinct and took a 67-year-old female Dafa practitioner to Shaheying Township's Police Precinct at 3:00 a.m. She has now been released.
[Fushun City, Liaoning Province] Dafa Practitioner Ms. Liu Chunmei Suffers Excruciating Torture at the Wujiabao Forced Labor Camp
On January 3, 2002, Ms. Liu Chunmei traveled to Beijing to publicly declare that, "Falun Dafa is Good!" For that, she was subsequently sentenced to one year of forced labor. After staging an 18 day hunger strike at the Beijing Police Station and the Qingyuan Detention Center, she was sent to Fushun City's Wujiabao Forced Labor Camp.
Police there brutally beat practitioners and physically punish them at will. In order to protest the persecution, Dafa practitioner Liu Chunmei staged numerous hunger strikes. In March 2002, Ms. Liu started to vomit blood. Personnel at Fushun City's Forced Labor Camp called Liu's family and ordered them to send money for Ms.Liu to see a doctor. The physician's diagnosis at Fushun City's No.3 Hospital's was tuberculosis. Ms. Liu Chunmei talked to labor camp overseers Wu Wei and Chen Linghua, and asked to be bailed out for hospitalization. Wu Wei and Chen Linghua said, "We won't release you until you are transformed. We will release you as soon as you write the "Three Statements." Dafa practitioner Liu Chunmei answered firmly, "I won't be transformed, even if I have to die!" Wu Wei then locked Ms. Liu Chunmei in a damp solitary confinement, meant for three people, but holding six. Liu Chunmei and Ms. Qin Yuanhui slept on the cement floor. The police often go there to physically punish practitioners. If these practitioners send righteous thoughts or do the exercises, Chen Linghua arranges for a dozen guards to beat them up and shock them with electric batons.
Ms. Liu Chunmei has been vomiting blood for nearly a year and has a constant, low-grade fever. She is unable to go down stairs. As we are smuggling this piece of news out of the camp, Dafa practitioner Liu Chunmei is staging a hunger strike to protest the Jiang regime's persecution against Dafa practitioners.
[Fushun City, Liaoning Province] Dafa Practitioner Persecuted at Fushun City's Forced Labor Camp Sues Police for Their Crimes
This letter of appeal was written by a practitioner being held at Fushun City's Forced Labor Camp and was smuggled out with the help of many people. The paper was torn in several places where it had been folded. The characters where the paper was torn were unrecognizable, so we had to supplement the writing according to the context. We are now publishing this letter of appeal through Minghui and Clearwisdom.
Below is the content and format of the letter:
The lawless personnel who instigated others to beat up practitioners and those who beat up practitioners themselves include Wu Wei, Chen Linghua, Wang Jun, Lu Kai, Zhang Lei, and Wang Kai. Practitioners being persecuted most severely include Ms. Gao Juan, Ms. Xie Fangyun, Ms. Zhu Yulan, Ms. Li Li, and Mr. Zhang Chuanwen."
[Liangshan County, Shandong Province] "610 Office" and Police Personnel Arrest Dafa Practitioners and Ransack Their Homes
In the afternoon of February 13, 2003, persons from Liangshan County's "610 Office" broke into practitioner Ms. Xiumei's home and took her away, along with her husband, a non-practitioner. They also confiscated a CD-burner and some discs that were used to make truth-clarifying materials; total value around 10,000 Yuan [500 Yuan is the average monthly income for an urban worker in China.]. The whereabouts of the couple are unknown.
On January 27, 2003, some vicious police personnel broke into Dafa practitioner Ms. Wang Yuting's home, arrested her, and ransacked her home. Wang Yuting's whereabouts are now unknown.
Telephone number of Liangshan County's "610 Office": 86-537-7331835;
Telephone number of Zhang Zhiyong, the person in charge of the "610 Office:" 86-537-7331878.
[Wuhan City, Hubei Province] Arrest of Dafa Practitioners Zhang Jingyu and Yang Wenming from Shuanghuan Chemical Corporation
On February 18, 2003, local police station officials and personnel arrested Dafa Practitioners Ms. Zhang Jingyu and Mr. Yang Wenming from the Shuanghuan Chemical Corporation, their workplace, and sent them to Hubei Province's brainwashing center. As far as we know, the following people are directly responsible:
Wang Yuanyu: 86-712-3591089 (home)
Tu Xingwang: 86-712-3591833 (home)
Li Zhigao, Li Youfa, and Xia Heipi
[Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province] Cases of Persecution against Dafa Practitioners
During the 16th National Party Congress, people from the Court of Justice in the Xunyang and Lushan Districts in Jiujiang City illegally sentenced many practitioners to lengthy prison terms.
During the Spring Festival this year, officials intensified the persecution against practitioners. Jiujiang City's "610 Office" authorities threatened and ordered local officials from every work unit to make special requests of their employees. Those practitioners who were working outside the city and came back for family reunions during the Spring Festival were required to write a guarantee statement giving up their Falun Gong practice. In addition, each work unit was ordered to enforce surveillance of practitioners. For "important" practitioners, work units were forced to monitor them around the clock. Many practitioners are now protesting this illegal request. Practitioners are taking this opportunity to eliminate evil with righteous thoughts, clarify the facts to the public, and save sentient beings.
[Qingyuan County, Liaoning Province] Arrest of Four Practitioners
In January of 2003, during a period of 16 days, officials from Qingyuan County's "610 Office" arrested four practitioners.
On January 15, a taxi driver reported Ms. Gai Lijie and Ms. Yin Luhua to the police while they were hanging a Dafa truth-clarifying banner. Ms. Gai Lijie was sentenced to three years of forced labor and Ms.Yin Luhua was sentenced to two years of forced labor. After an eight-day detention, both were sent to the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp.
On January 26, Ms. Wang Xiuxia was arrested at the Hongtoushan Inspection Station while transporting a copying machine from Hongtoushan Town. Qingyuan Town's "610 Office" enforcers did not get any information from their interrogation, so they sent her to Fushun City's "610 Office." We have heard recently that Ms. Wang Xiuxia was on a hunger strike and is keeping silent (not speaking) to protest the inhumane interrogation.
On January 30, Ms. Wang Faxiang was reported to the police while she was giving Dafa truth-clarifying materials to other practitioners. Before she returned home her home was ransacked. To protest the persecution, Dafa practitioner Wang Faxiang went on a hunger strike after she arrived in the detention center. Her life is now in critical danger. Recently, locals from the "610 Office" sent her to Qingyuan County's Traditional Chinese Medical Center for emergency treatment.
[Zhengzhou City, Henan Province] Arrest of Practitioners Chen Guodong and Li Fengying
On February 13, 2003, practitioners Mr. Chen Guodong and Ms. Li Fengying were arrested while they were hanging Dafa truth-clarifying banners. They are now held at the 27th District's Detention Center. Chen Guodong, 70 years old, is a retired engineer from Zhengzhou City's Meiji Factory; Li Fengying is 50 years old. It is thought that the police are planning to send them to a forced labor camp.
Zhengzhou City 27 District Police Office: 86-371-8867000
[Liaoning Province] Another Round of Persecution against Falun Gong Practitioners
Using the excuse of the upcoming People's Congress and Political Consultation Conference, some unlawful officials from the Liaohe Oil Plant plotted to open a brainwashing class in Fushun City, Liaoning Province. They attempted to arrest and persecute determined Dafa practitioners. This area is one of the worst places for severe persecution against Dafa practitioners.
February 16, 2003
(Clearwisdom.net)
[Dabieshan City, Hubei Province] Practitioners Wish Our Benevolent and Great Master a Happy New Year! We Also Wish Practitioners All Over the World a Happy New Year!
Master, please do not worry. During this special time in history, all practitioners from Dabieshan, like other practitioners from all over the world, will do well the three things that we should be doing now. We will manage every step of the way during Fa rectification, follow Master closely, and will steadfastly cultivate Falun Dafa until the very end.
Heshi!
Hubei Province Dabieshan Practitioners
26 January 2003
[China] Persecution of Senior Engineer Xie Yiqiang Due to His Firm Belief in Falun Dafa
Falun Dafa practitioner Xie Yiqiang (male), born in 1964, is a senior engineer who worked in a health and safety testing department before he was arrested. He obtained Falun Dafa in 1996 and started to cultivate diligently in 1999. Both he and his mother practice Falun Dafa.
He was arrested in March of 2001 because he had spread truth clarification material about the "Tiananmen Square Self-Immolation." He was later illegally sentenced to three years in a forced labor camp. During his "detention" period, from March to October 2001, he was noted for his honorable act of reviving an inmate during a sudden heart attack. After he was sentenced to a labor camp, ulcers appeared on his body. When the labor camp wanted his work unit to cooperate and release him to receive treatment, his work unit refused.
He was later released in April of last year to receive treatment outside the labor camp. During the 16th Congress, due to the police wanting to re-arrest him, he was forced to leave his home to avoid arrest.
[Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province] Practitioner Wang Xiulan Sentenced to Three Years Hard Labor by the Changzhou City Tianning District Court
Wang Xiulan, a 56-year-old female practitioner, is from Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province. On the way to taking her grandson to kindergarten, she was unlawfully arrested. Later her house was searched and the police took her Falun Dafa banner and materials. She was later detained at the Changzhou Xilin Detention Centre for seven months during which time her relatives were not allowed to visit. On February 12, 2003, the Tianning District Court unlawfully sentenced her to three years of hard labor. Her family still has not been able to see her, and they are very worried. They are preparing to sue for her release.
Jiangsu Province Changzhou City Tianning District People's Court
Address: 7 Yongning North Road
Postcode: 213017
Telephone:
Court Officer's Office: 86-519-5304234
Office: 86-519-5305483
Politics Section: 86-519-5338007
Surveillance Section: 86-519-5300713
Criminal Court: 86-519-5306283
Civil Court: 86-519-5307215
Proceedings Court: 86-519-5300212
Court for placing cases on file for investigation and prosecution: 86-519-5326501
Jailing Court: 86-519-5316133
[Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province] Facts of the Persecution of Practitioner Ren Baogui
Global Mission to Rescue Persecuted Falun Gong Practitioners:
I am a 48-year-old male from Nanguan Village in Xuanhua District of Zhangjiakou City in Hebei Province. I want to sue Jiang Zemin and the 610 Office from all different levels for their persecution towards me.
On July 19, 2000, my wife and I went to Beijing to appeal and were unlawfully arrested by police. I was unlawfully detained at Xuanhua Detention Centre for 17 days and was later deported to Tangshan City Labor Camp for more than 20 months. My wife Guo Zhihua (46 years old) was also illegally detained at Xuanhua Detention Centre for 30 days. The Nanguan Village officials, under the direction of the 610 Office, forced me to pay back all loans from the government. They forcefully sold my 24 different-sized pigs at a loss of nearly 10,000 Yuan [Chinese currency, the monthly salary for an average Chinese urban worker is about 500 Yuan]. They also sold my donkey and my car. My family almost went bankrupt.
The reason I practice Falun Gong is to gain better health and become a better person. I have no other pursuits. Both my wife and I have benefited a lot from it. I went to Beijing to appeal, as is my right according to the law, and to speak a true word. Why did they detain and put me in a forced labor re-education camp? Is there law in China? Do people have freedom? I am reporting to you the persecution I endured inflicted by Jiang Zemin and the 610 Office. I want to see justice.
Ren Baogui
February 14, 2003
[Northeast China] During the 16th Congress, Truth Clarification Banner Is Posted On the Police Department Doorpost
A Falun Dafa practitioner from Northeast China heard inside information from the police department that "the National Security Bureau ordered that if the three types of people below were found during the 16th Congress putting up flyers or appealing, they can be shot to death on the spot: 1. Unemployed workers; 2. Transferred officers without a position; 3. Falun Gong practitioners.
On the night of the 16th Congress, this practitioner placed a poster that read, "It is no crime to cultivate Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. Release all Falun Gong practitioners" on the police department doorpost and outside a conference celebrating the 16th Congress. This practitioner also pasted a truth-clarification VCD on a police department's door. This strongly shook the evil.
(Clearwisdom.net) A "solemn declaration" is a person's public statement declaring to the world that whatever he or she has done or said under duress or deception that was against Falun Dafa is null and void. Most of these statements have come from Falun Dafa practitioners in China who wished to express regret that, in the face of physical torture and brainwashing, they had signed documents renouncing Dafa and guaranteeing not to practice again. Also, as more and more people in China learn the truth about how they have been deceived and lied to by the Jiang regime, many non-practitioners are also submitting "solemn declarations."
Here are some examples of the Solemn Declarations:
Please click here for more Solemn Declarations.
(Clearwisdom)
Policeman Dies in A Traffic Accident
Wang Shengying, a policeman in Jingtai County, Gansu Province, died in a traffic accident. His parents cultivated and benefited from Dafa. His mother once suffered from various illnesses, but had her health restored after cultivation. It should have been a blessing to Wang, but, instead, he persecuted Dafa practitioners. Incited by the Jiang regime, he defamed Dafa and Teacher several times to the face of his parents. He participated in arresting and beating Dafa practitioners after April of 2001, claiming that he was determined to eliminate Dafa in his local area. On July 21 in the Chinese lunar calendar last year, Wang suffered serious head injuries in an accident and died immediately.
We urge those deluded by the lies of the Jiang regime to stop persecuting Dafa practitioners.
Officials in Gucheng County, Hebei Province, Received Karmic Retribution As Punishment
Since July 20, 1999, when the Jiang regime started to persecute Falun Gong, the "610 Office" (an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems) and the police department of Gucheng County illegally detained 57 Falun Gong practitioners. Some of them have been detained as long as one year and nine months. 24 people were illegally sent to a labor camp, one was illegally sentenced and 200 were persecuted in brainwashing classes. The detained practitioners were harassed, beaten, electrically shocked, handcuffed and persecuted in other forms. Their family members were also denied visitation to their loved ones. The officials, police staff and wardens blackmailed the Dafa practitioners' relatives, extorting thousands to several tens of thousands Yuan from each family.
It is a heavenly law that good will be rewarded with good and evil with evil. Chen Wei, the former head of the detention center who was the most vicious in carrying out persecution, broke his leg in October 2000. Shortly after, his father, who was a deputy county magistrate, died of illness. In September 2002, a group of police staff, headed by Chen, was discharged from their post for being involved in a counterfeit money case. At present he is still without a job.
Qinghan Town is a place where the officials persecuted Dafa most severely. In January 2003, due to a conflict between the police and the local residents, the heads of the town were removed from office.
Examples of Retribution in Fushun City, Liaoning Province
Legal assistant Jin Xueming of Yushu Village, Xinbin County, Fushun City, led a team to give a performance to slander Dafa in other villages. As he prepared to return after the performance, he was shot dead.
Qu Shujun, a casual laborer, who was hired by the police department especially to do the work of tearing down Dafa slogans on the street, fell to the ground as he rode a bicycle in winter, 2001. Now he walks with a limp.
Policewoman Dismissed for Theft
Wang Shulan, a policewoman of the 4th team in Shiba Lihe Female Labor Camp in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, persecuted Dafa practitioners brutally. At the end of 2002, she was dismissed from her post for stealing public property.
Karmic retribution in Nanle County, Henan Province
A female farmer at a village of Sizhuang Town of the county often talked about Dafa badly and tore down Dafa materials she saw. Recently she suffered from a heavy disease, being swollen all over. Though her family spent a lot of money, she has not recuperated.
Example in Cheng'an County, Handan City, Hebei province
Policeman Wang Hei, of Beixiangyi Police Station, monitored, reported on and arrested Dafa practitioners several times. He participated in kidnapping 67 practitioners on August 31, 2002. In December last year, he had his arms and legs severely wounded when he fell from a motorcycle. So far he is still not out of bed.
Head of Police Station of Changtan Town, Liaozhong County, Shenyang City, Met Retribution
Zhao Changlin, head of police station of Changtan Town, Liaozhong County, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province persecuted Dafa and Dafa practitioners. Recently he was in a traffic accident and is still in hospital now.
Editors' Note: Each time we publish news of this nature, we do so with heavy hearts. These people started off serving the people, but under the intense pressure applied by the Jiang regime, they were pushed into persecuting Dafa disciples. In the process of destroying the lives of kind, law-abiding citizens, they have sealed their own fates and inevitably faced karmic retribution as punishment. If it weren't for Jiang's wicked orders, perhaps their fates would've been different.
(Clearwisdom.net)
Truth About Persecution
Police from the "610 Office" brainwashing class in Qiaokou District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province brutally tortured Dafa practitioners with beatings and other corporal punishment. Many practitioners were injured from the beatings. Among them were Xu, who was over 70 years of age, Cai, who is now blind from the beatings. Zeng Xianmei; Dai Guizhen, Xiao Yongqi and other female practitioners almost passed out from being beaten, and practitioner Yan Kejian became unconscious from torture and was sent to a hospital for emergency treatment. We have heard that he is a vegetative state.
I am a retiree in Suining City, Sichuan Province. In June 2000, I went to visit my relatives. On the way there, I read Dafa books on the train. As the result I was arrested, sent to the Renlong Police Station and detained in a dark and filthy room with lots of mosquitoes. The next day I was transferred to the Pengxi Detention Center and illegally detained for 34 days. The vicious guards extorted 2,000 Yuan from my family before they released me. On November 23, 2000, my home was ransacked and I was kidnapped and again illegally detained, this time for 11 days. During this time a daily fee of 20 Yuan was extorted from me. After I returned home, late at night, groups of police would often come to harass me.
Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Actions
My experience promoting the Fa during the Chinese New Year:
My whole family sent forth righteous thought regarding the evil old forces that would affect truth clarification during the Chinese New Year. We also prepared large "gift packages" of truth clarification materials. On Chinese New Year's, two of my mother's colleagues came to visit us. We told these two the true situation of the persecution of Falun Gong. In the evening, more than 20 people from my father's family gathered together. At the end of the feast, we gave truth clarification packages to each of the individual families, and they gladly accepted them. During the 15-day New Year's holiday we attended many similar gatherings. As we clarified the truth face-to-face, many people changed their opinion about Dafa.
The cultivation path of my wife and I:
I went by myself to Tiananmen to safeguard the Fa on July 22, 1999. In late December 2000, my wife also went to Beijing to safeguard the Fa and was illegally detained for nearly two months. From then on, my family was under the watch of police and people from our work units.
On March 19, 2002, my wife left home to avoid further persecution. On June 6, the police arrested me. I thought I should write to the Inspection Bureau to expose their crime if they didn't release me. I was innocent and they had no reason to arrest me. On September 5, they suddenly notified me that I could go home from jail. My son said, "That's strange, I spent nearly 10,000 Yuan but couldn't get you out, and I thought you must be going to a labor camp for sure. We all thought so." I knew in my heart that only by being determined with righteous thoughts from Dafa and rejecting the evil's arrangements would the evil refrain from persecuting us.
Be Diligent and Help Master to Rectify the Fa
After I had begun to practice Falun Dafa in 1996, countless supernatural phenomena made me firmly believe in Dafa. After July 20, 1999, I went to Beijing to assist Master to rectify the Fa on the New Year's Day of 2001. I felt very calm when I walked onto Tiananmen Square. When I stepped on the Jinshui Bridge, I took out a banner and shouted, "Restore Master's Reputation!" "Falun Dafa is good!" Several vicious police rushed toward me and yanked my hair as they beat and kicked me. I was sent to the Miyun County Detention Center. I held a hunger strike. I thought, "This is not the place for me to stay. I want to go out to study and rectify the Fa. Master, please help." On the eighth day of my hunger strike, I was released.
Practitioners Exchange Insights
In September 2002, I went to Beijing to visit my relatives. Because there were many people on the bus, I could not buy a ticket even when I was about to get off [People can buy bus tickets anytime before they get off. Often, the bus is so crowded that people cannot move at all]. I asked a fellow passenger to buy a ticket for me and gave him the money. One person said, "Forget it! Why do you want to pay for the ticket?" I said, "I practice Falun Gong and Master told us to be good people." I heard a voice say, "She practices Falun Gong, arrest her...!" At the same time, another person said, "Falun Gong practitioners are truly different. They are good people! She is so brave, she dares to say she practices Falun Gong, even in Beijing." I felt sad for the person who said I should be arrested. It's only normal to buy a ticket on a bus. Why would a person who buys a ticket instead of the person who doesn't be arrested? I don't know where Jiang is leading the Chinese people.
