During the September Millennium Summit in New York, Chinese leader Jiang Zemin had an interview with the famous media personality Mike Wallace. Jiang's answer to one of the interview questions was rather provoking. Mr. Wallace asked Jiang why China had blocked certain Internet sites, including the BBC (British Broadcasting Service) and The Washington Post's sites. Jiang said, "We hope people will learn a lot of useful things from the Internet. However, sometimes there is also unhealthy material - especially pornography on the Internet - which does great harm to our youngsters." These words should be enough for Jiang Zemin feel ashamed in the eyes of people who have a little common sense. It is well known that the BBC is the authoritative British media source, and The Washington Post is also a top ranked newspaper in United States. They all have the same level of prestige as People's Daily in China, with the clear differentiation that these two newspapers report news accurately rather than fabricating rumors like the People's Daily. One would wonder whether Jiang Zemin was really ignorant or just pretended to be so, as he equated pornography to the BBC and The Washington Post. When Wallace pointed out that the BBC and The Washington Post sites do not carry pornography, Jiang said, "They might be banned because of some the their political news reports. We need to be selective. We hope to restrict as much as possible information not conducive to China's development." These words have clearly exposed the nature of Jiang Zemin. To state it clearly, he only wishes to report, to the greatest extent, that news which is favorable to him. Otherwise, he would either block the news or fabricate rumors to distort the truth. The methods he used to deal with Falun Gong are a typical example. Since Jiang ordered the ban of Falun Gong, all media outlets in China were ordered to broadcast one-sided propaganda attacking Falun Gong. Unfortunately, the propaganda is all groundless lies without any proof. Fearing that people would come to know the truth, Jiang had to block all web sites that carry truthful reports about Falun Gong, and destroy and burn Falun Gong books, audio and video materials. The people who committed these acts are the same people who have completely forgotten their often-stated phrase: "The eyes of the people are perceptive." If these horrible stories were really true, why not let people read Falun Gong books and find out all about them instead of forcing people to listen to one-sided opinions. The "anti-Falun Gong" article published by The People's Daily, was published many days after the photos of Chinese policemen and hired ruffians beating Falun Gong practitioners at Tiananmen Square on Chinese National Day (October 1st,) were published by the Associated Press reporters. Meanwhile, I think it is still worthwhile to clarify the true facts about Falun Gong to all kind-hearted people, so that honest people won't be deceived by Jiang's lies. The first sentence of the People's Daily article was a lie. It claimed: "Falun Gong...since the very beginning, had not stopped making trouble and creating disturbance." It really made me puzzled as I read it. Since Falun Gong came to public in China in 1992, it has always been well received by the public with its principles of teaching people to be good and its miraculous effects on healing and fitness. Meanwhile, it had received praise from many governments, including the Chinese government itself, media and non-governmental organizations. For example, Master Li Hongzhi had received a thank-you letter from the Chinese Ministry of Public Security. In 1998, a Shanghai TV station and other media in Mainland China also positively reported on Falun Gong in 1998. Trusting the opinion of the government, many people began to practice Falun Gong seeing those government reports. If "Falun Gong had not stopped making trouble and creating disturbance since the very beginning," how could there be so many positive reports about Falun Gong before Jiang ordered the crackdown in 1999? Why has there been so many peaceful and determined practitioners facing the brutal persecution in the past year or so? Then the article blamed Falun Gong for "undermining public stability and creating chaos" which is completely misleading the public. Let me draw an analogy. One of my relatives's handbag was stolen while she was having a meal, and thus, she lost a lot of money and some pieces of identification. Afterwards, some people who heard the story blamed her for being careless and not watching her handbag more closely. Let's think about this. Should we blame the thief for committing the bad deed or should we blame the person for being careless? Then how could the government say Falun Gong was undermining public stability when the citizens came out to report the truth after their propaganda machine had fabricated so many rumors about Falun Gong? If the media, in the first place, had reported the true facts of the situation, would anyone have resorted to these kinds of appeals? If those few vile beings had not utilized their power to sever the means of livelihood from Falun Gong believers, and even including their family members, would those practitioners be forced to put their lives on line to rectify the reputation of Falun Gong? As a matter of fact, the founder of Falun Gong, Mr. Li Hongzhi, requires practitioners in his books "not to fight back when they are beaten or sworn at." It is not that Jiang didn't know this. In a speech to Chinese officials, Jiang said,
This shows that Jiang understood the behavior of Falun Gong practitioners. He just wanted to persecute good people in order to satisfy his addiction to demonstrate the saying, "Those who submit will prosper. Those who resist shall perish." Persecuting Falun Gong has caused many citizens to lose their homes, become detained or sent to labor camps, lose their jobs, even losing their lives as a result of brutal torture. How could he trump up a countercharge blaming Falun Gong of undermining the public stability? I believe there are Falun Gong practitioners around every person in Mainland China. You could ask them why they wanted to go to Tiananmen Square and they would give you one answer: They hope to have a just and fair report about Falun Gong, withdraw the arrest order of Teacher Li Hongzhi; release all arrested practitioners, be allowed to publish Falun Gong books, and have the right to be cultivate their hearts and to become good people. Are these political requests? How could these kind people, with no political agenda and shunning violent means, undermine the public stability? Jiang Zemin's so called "political rule" is to persecute anyone with the charge of "undermining the public stability" if he thinks that person might challenge his position. A person as addicted to power as he is would think everyone else is like him. In fact, the founder of Falun Gong stated a long time ago, "Not everyone takes power to be so important. Isn't there a saying in mankind that 'everyone has his own will'?" (Some Thoughts of Mine, by Li Hongzhi) Falun Gong practitioners have repeatedly expressed to the government that they will not get involved in politics. Then why does someone have to accuse Falun Gong being of "political?" Jiang Zemin himself made a mistake by persecuting Falun Gong and has received criticism from many foreign governments. Yet, he turned around to blame Falun Gong. It is just like when a thief is caught by the police, he accuses both the policeman and the victim for trying to frame him, instead of taking personal responsibility for his crime. The commentary of the Xinhua News Agency also claims, "Those stubborn Falun Gong believers who made trouble in Tiananmen Square on National Day acted the same way, wore the same uniform and appeared at the same time." This really sounds like a joke. There were numerous uniformed and plain-clothed policemen in Tiananmen Square on October 1st, and it is not an overstatement to say that there was a policeman every few feet away. If Falun Gong practitioners really "wore the same uniform," the police would arrest them long before they got to Tiananmen Square. I don't know if it was Xinhua News Agency trying to blame those policemen for not doing their job well or deliberately making things up. Even a child would not believe it when something is so obviously overstated. The commentary also reported on the Falun Gong activities overseas, which seems to be a major improvement for a tightly controlled newspaper in Mainland China. However, it merely said, "when Chinese embassies and consulates held receptions and flag raising ceremonies, there would be from five or six up to several dozen Falun Gong members 'protesting' outside, spreading materials and delivering appeal letters." Unfortunately, this was an understatement. Why not mention the incident where the Chinese ambassador in U.S. was an hour late getting to the reception hall via kitchen due to the fear of meeting Falun Gong practitioners who came to appeal peacefully? If he did not feel guilty, he should have made a strong argument and backed up with evidence. Falun Gong practitioners waited peacefully and handed out materials explaining the true facts about Falun Gong to the guests, without making any noise or damaging any property. So how can that be labeled "protesting"? If it can be labeled that way, shouldn't we also consider it "protesting" when Jiang Zemin hand-delivered anti-Falun Gong materials to President Clinton and the leaders of other countries at the APEC meeting last year? In addition, while Jiang Zemin was handing out propaganda, was he telling the other countries "not to interfere with China's internal affairs," or hoping the leaders of other countries would support his crackdown? In reality, those leaders of developed countries who promote democracy have consistently condemned Jiang Zemin's brutal crackdown. The People's Daily's article also specifically mentioned that the U.N. Human Right's Committee discussed the resolution proposed by U.S. to condemn China for its Human Rights records on April 13, of last year (which did not pass due to lack of support from countries whose financial ties to China were threatened). We all know that Jiang Zemin had always tried to establish his legacy by depriving the needs of the people. When tens of millions of people lost their jobs, countless children were unable to obtain education and needed help, Jiang however spent over a hundred billion holding a Grand Troops Review on National Day last year in order to establish his "core leadership" image. This year, he again spent 120 million dollars to buy for himself a presidential jet. On the other hand, internationally, he uses the approach of buying support from other countries with financial deals. However, with the escalation of China's human rights violations, fewer and fewer countries are willing to support China. May be China itself has also felt it is losing face with only a handful of supporters remaining. I also heard something interesting that when a Chinese leader came to attend the Millennium Summit in New York, the Chinese Embassy paid $30 to each person who wanted to greet his arrival. However, the People's Daily article blames Falun Gong for "having to spend money to hire unemployed people, elderly and youngsters to promote Dafa." We all know that Falun Gong activities are always free of charge, and all books, audio and video materials are downloadable for free from the Internet. The cost associated of promoting Dafa is covered by the voluntary contributions of practitioners. There are indeed many retired people and young children promoting Dafa. They are true practitioners and their effort has enabled Falun Gong to be spread to over 40 countries and gain numerous awards from many governments. They like to voluntarily tell the people in the world about the benefits they have gained from the practice. Who really needs to "spend money hiring people?" I will not expose the lies, one by one, as fabricated by the People's Daily. There has been no sign of "improvement" in its way of deliberately misrepresenting the truth and revising right and wrong. For those who really want to know the truth about Falun Gong, it is recommended to read the objective reports by the BBC and The Washington Post and find out the truth behind the Chinese government's crackdown on Falun Gong. To my surprise, the People's Daily article was entitled, "Going Against the Historical Trend Is Bound to Fail." It seems that people in the Central Propaganda Committee also know this principle. I also want return this sentence back to Central Propaganda Committee -- Going Against the Historical Trend Is Bound to Fail. This rumor-fabricating machine should come to a halt."By comparison, other Qigong organizations may not be so easy to settle. It perhaps would cause violent unrest, even assassination, poisonous gas, explosion and such kinds of terrorist activities, which will bring us tremendous difficulty and will undermine the stability of the society. Thus, it will achieve the effect of the punishment. But Falun Gong stresses 'Zhen, Shan, Ren (Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance)'. We can go all the way to attack it. In the future, we can effectively use the experience of slandering Falun Gong on other Qigong organizations."