Contact Gail Rachlin at Rachlin Management and Media Group: 212 501-8080
MURDER FOR MEDITATING: ANOTHER FALUN GONG DEATH IN CHINA
Hunger-Striking Falungong Member Killed By Force-Feeding
HONG KONG, Feb 22, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) A hunger-striking member of the Falungong spiritual group died from serious injuries sustained when Chinese police tried to force-feed him, a rights group said Tuesday. Liu Xugo, a 29-year-old factory engineer, died from lung injuries caused when police forced a feeding tube down his throat, said the Information Centre of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China.
The Hong Kong-based rights group said Liu started the hunger strike just before the February 5 Spring Festival while detained at a "re-education through labor" camp in Jining, Shandong province. A statement faxed to AFP said he was taken to hospital in the town the following week and "brutally" force-fed, causing injuries to the trachea and lungs from which he died on February 11. "He was force-fed in a very brutal manner and after his lungs were severely damaged the hospital did not take the necessary measures to cure him," it said, adding that his death was confirmed by hospital employees. The hospital declined to comment to AFP on the report, while the detention Center said it was false.áá
CALTECH SAYS "NO WAY" TO MORE BEIJING BULLYING IN THE USA
(Falun Gong Website) On the morning of Feb. 18, Ramanuj Basu, Audience Services Manager of Caltech Public Events Office, received a call from Liu Wansheng, who introduced himself as a consular in the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles. "I am representing the Chinese government," Liu said. He asked Ram to cancel a seminar event by Caltech Falun Club scheduled on the morning of Feb. 20 in Baxter Auditorium of Caltech in Pasadena, California. Liu said: "Falun Gong is illegal in China". "I really wanted to tell them that this is an American University." Ram said, but he calmed himself down and told the caller that this issue should be handled by the Office of the vice president for student affairs of Caltech. The vice president for student affairs of Caltech, Professor Brennen, was surprised to hear the request from the Chinese government. Before that, in his email response to the invitation to the seminar, he told John Li, the president of Caltech Falun Club, "Let me assure you and the Caltech community that Caltech has no intention of taking any action to interfere with the lawful activities of the Caltech Falun Gong Club. Moreover we remain committed to the free exchange of information throughout the world." The president of Caltech, Nobel Prize laureate in Biology, David Baltimore, also told John Li on February 15 in his email response to the invitation, "I certainly support your right to practice your faith". Several months ago, Caltech also rejected China's request to remove the Caltech Falun Club website.
UNBELIEVABLE BUT TRUE: WHEN YOU TRAVEL TO CHINA THESE DAYS, BRING CURSES
Citizens in Beijing are required to curse Falun Gong
[Beijing, February 18, 2000]á Beijing government officials are demanding tourists in Zhongnanhai, Tiananmen and Qianmen etc. to curse Falun Dafa and its founder. Critics say: such behavior of these uniformed state employees is tarnishing the image of the state.
REPRESSION ROUND UP AND RUMOR MILL: Speaking to the Beijing People's Congress, Mayor Liu Qi proclaimed three "political victories" last year, Agence France-Presse reports. They were: the crackdown on Falun Gong, "protesting the US-NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade; and opposing the "two states" theory of Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui A regional newspaper in China claimed that 98.7% of local practitioners had given up Falun Gong after being "educated". There was no evidence cited.áá
Mother of a Ph.D. student thrown in a Mental Hospital á
Wang Yong-sheng, a Ph.D. student of Physics Department of Houston University reports that her mother Han Ji-zhen, a Falun Gong practitioner in Nan-jing City, is now being detained in a mental hospital although she is perfectly normal.á She writes "In the hospital, she was forced to take injections and medicines, which made her lose her strength and feel terrible." A report from Jinan, Shangdong Province notes that a local policemen is now in a mental Institution for practicing Falun Gong
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WHAT IS FALUN DAFA / FALUN GONG?
Falun Dafa (or Falun Gong) is what Chinese tradition calls a "cultivation practice".á Falun Gong helps improve health and overall mental and physical wellness through a series of high-level easy to do exercises and meditations. A person's practice deepens as they study the universal laws/principles based on Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. Millions of practitioners have reported dramatically improved health and a deepened spiritual awareness.á All Falun Dafa activities are free of charge.
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HOT TIP TO JOURNALISTS: LEAD TO INVESTIGATE
Still unconfirmed e-mail reports from China indicate that China is building concentration type camps in China's Western Desert to house detained Falun Gong practitioners.á The reports say that that these camps can hold up to tens of thousands of people.á
Please call us for background on the spiritual practice and the crisis in China.á Contact Gail Rachlin at Rachlin Management & Media Group: 212 501-8080.á Also visit http://www.falundafa.org.á News stories and reports from China at http://www.minghui.ca.