News and Events from Around the World
Falun Gong Practitioners' Righteous Action in China
The People Awaken to the Truth
Falun Gong Practitioners' Personal Experiences
News and Events from Around the World
Dressed in Yellow in Manhattan's Union Square
Since August 2004, on almost every weekend, people have seen a cheerful, middle-aged woman dressed in a yellow T-shirt distributing flyers and introducing Falun Gong to passers-by in Union Square, in New York City's Manhattan. Sometimes she carries a display board showing pictures of how Falun Gong practitioners are being persecuted in China. The woman is Ms. Li, a pharmaceutical technician from central Ohio. Like the one hundred-plus other Falun Gong practitioners from America's Midwest, she has spent most of her weekends on the streets of Manhattan. Most often she can be found at the busy gathering place, Union Square.
Situated in the center of Manhattan, at the intersection of 14th Street and Broadway, Union Square Park area is one of the places most-loved by the people of Manhattan. At this location you will find gourmet restaurants, antique shops, bookstores, shops selling all kinds of electronics items, and theaters offering a variety of films and plays. Also, there are first-class medical centers, universities, and design schools. This area is known as the "Creative Corridor" of New York, with more than a thousand photographers, architects, publishers, graphic arts designers, countless Internet companies, government offices, and advertising companies. Union Square possesses the historical significance of being the location where many non-mainstream organizations go to advocate for their causes.
Compared with some of the other groups on the square who are deliberately provocative and loudly proclaim their agenda, Falun Gong practitioners have established themselves as peaceful and well-behaved people. Practitioners quietly distribute flyers that introduce the practice of Falun Gong to passers-by, and patiently clarify the facts about the persecution of practitioners in China to those who want to know more about the situation.
Last Saturday, Ms. Li met a Native American who was living in New York. She told this person about the Falun Gong practitioners in China being beaten and sent to forced labor camps by the Chinese police. This daughter of a former Native American Tribal leader immediately took a stack of flyers from Ms. Li and said, "Let me assist you in distributing these!"
Rose, a high school teacher from Ohio, was teaching a group of tourists the five sets of Falun Gong exercises. Among them was a woman from Peru who excitedly said, "I have found it! I have found it!" She then told Rose about a dream she had. One night, about two weeks ago, she dreamt that her niece told her she was ill and needed to practice the "five sets of exercises." The woman thought for some time but could not understand what the five sets of exercises were. The next day, she phoned her niece to discover that her niece was seriously ill. She asked her niece what "five sets of exercises" meant but her niece did not know either. A few days after she arrived in New York, as she was walking along 42nd Street, a Falun Gong practitioner handed her a Falun Gong newspaper and said to her in limited English, "five sets of exercises." The lady was amazed and delighted; amazed that such a miracle had happened, and delighted because she had finally found the five sets of exercises that she had heard about in her dream.
Some Westerners were surprised to see fellow westerners wearing yellow T-shirts handing out flyers alongside the Chinese practitioners. Professor Lucia of Ohio State University has met people who have asked her in astonishment, "Why are there Caucasian Falun Gong practitioners?" Lucia was very happy to have the opportunity to tell people about how practicing Falun Gong had healed the back pain that had plagued her for many years, and how Falun Gong has fundamentally changed her. Not only has the practice spread all over the world and people outside of China been practicing Falun Gong for some time, but the persecution of Falun Gong by the Jiang administration has also been revealed to the rest of the world, including how it affects every nation worldwide.
Practitioners have experienced the intense heat of summer and the pleasant coolness of the autumn in Union Square. The people in Manhattan have become used to seeing Falun Gong practitioners in their yellow T-shirts, clarifying the truth. After seeing practitioners many times, receiving flyers, and having many conversations with them, the beauty of Falun Gong and the horrible persecution of practitioners in China have been conveyed to the people of Manhattan. They in turn are passing this information on to the rest of the world.
Auckland, New Zealand: Falun Gong Practitioners Jointly File a Lawsuit against Jiang Zemin
New Zealand Falun Gong practitioners report: On October 26, 2004, New Zealand Human Rights barrister Chris Lawrence, representing 11 Falun Gong practitioners, filed a civil lawsuit in the Auckland High Court in New Zealand, to accuse chief culprits in the persecution of Falun Gong, Jiang Zemin and his accomplices, of arresting and physically abusing the plaintiffs when they went to China to visit relatives or paid visits for other purposes. The charges include genocide, torture, illegal arrest and others.
After delivering the lawsuit, the plaintiffs held a press conference outside the court. Barrister Mr. Chris Lawrence arrived in the rain to speak to reporters and supporters, and answered many questions raised by the media. New Zealand national TV1 and TV3 conducted special interviews, and aired them on the prime time news that night.
While being interviewed, Mr. Lawrence expressed that he accepted this lawsuit because it is his responsibility as a barrister, and also because he hates torture. His long-term experience as a Human Rights barrister made him realize the importance of this case in terms of safeguarding human rights. Regarding the persecution Falun Gong practitioners have suffered in China, he believes it "has violated the basic laws of the civilized society, and is an offense to the International Law." He believed the lawsuit would play a partial role in urging the international community to establish responsibility for such events.
Falun Gong practitioners from Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan lined up solemnly and in good order despite a heavy rain outside the Auckland High Court, building a human "Great Wall of Courage," to support this just action with their strong righteous thoughts.
Letter from WOIPFG to All Levels of Chinese Officials Regarding Jiang's Stepping Down
Regarding Jiang Zemin's stepping down, the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) wrote an open letter to Chinese officials at all levels calling for an end to the persecution and punishment for the murderers. The letter follows:
End the Persecution, Punish the Murderers
In China, the persecution of 100 million innocent Falun Gong practitioners has lasted for more than 5 years. Now that Jiang has stepped down, this national catastrophe should be immediately stopped. The persecution of Falun Gong has caused the deaths of more than 1000 innocent people from beatings and torture, has utilized vast resources and affected almost all of the people in China. All the murderers who initiated and participated in the persecution should also be punished.
This cruel and irrational persecution was entirely based on the personal will of Jiang Zemin. It is illegal and unrighteous, and it was never the will of the people.
Jiang Zemin disregarded the opposition of several fellow Politburo members and went ahead with the persecution of Falun Gong on his personal whim in July 1999. He went on to establish the "610 Office," an extra-judicial organization charged with carrying out and directing the illegal persecution of Falun Gong.
As the persecution unfolded in subsequent years, Jiang continued to abuse his authority and ordered escalations of the persecution many times. Jiang took advantage of his dictatorial authority, wielded his despotic power, misappropriated the country's resources and forced the entire nation to be involved in his genocidal campaign against 100 million of their countrymen. And it continues even to this day. (For more details, see the "Special Report on Jiang Zemin's Crime of Genocide in the Persecution of Falun Gong" at: http://www.zhuichaguoji.org/en/ )
Now that Jiang has retired from the highest positions of authority in China, he is no longer able to manipulate the entire state apparatus to his personal will. With Chinese and international awareness of the facts behind the persecution of Falun Gong steadily increasing, Jiang will not be able to sustain the persecution much longer, but for the time being, he still uses his personal chain of command to maintain the persecution.
According to the WOIPFG investigative report, Jiang directly commands and controls the people that he personally appointed, and just about every government department employs some of his appointees. He controls them, and they use their authority to further deceive the nation and the people, mistakenly creating the impression that the persecution is carried out in the name of the country, when in fact it is carried out as Jiang's personal will. Cases of practitioners being tortured to death are still appearing everywhere. WOIPFG has registered the names of those who, by following Jiang Zemin's orders to continue the persecution, are responsible for the killings. WOIPFG collects information from investigators in China and reliable sources at all levels of the Chinese government.
The Stories of Practitioners Clarifying the Truth in Manhattan
"Millions of Good People Have Lost Their Human Rights, We Should Help Them"
One morning, when we were setting up the anti-torture exhibition at Liberty Plaza on Broadway, a young man hurriedly came up to me and said, "I'm working at a supermarket. I've seen your anti-torture exhibition and read the literature. You are very good people. Unfortunately, millions of good people in China have lost their happiness and lots of people have experienced the cruel torture. It is terrible. I told my friends that we should help them. But some of them thought that this was other people's business." The young man continued, "People can't just live for money. We should also help other good people who have lost their human rights. Could I take more materials? I have many customers and friends. I can put those materials at my work place so that they can read them." We immediately gave him a stack of folded newsletters and leaflets. He put them into his bag. In the end, he shed tears and said, "Take care of yourselves!"
"I Will Bring this Wonderful Practice to Palestine"
One Sunday morning, we went to Central Park and held a group practice. A woman and her lovely young daughter came by. She said that she wanted to learn the exercises. She told me that she first learned about Falun Gong a few years ago. She is going to Palestine in two months and she wanted to learn all five sets of exercises so that she can teach people in Palestine. She said the people in Palestine endure a great amount of hardship.
I taught her exercises One through Four, and she learned them very carefully. I told her that she could come to our anti-torture exhibition sites to continue to learn the exercises. Yesterday, she came again and learned the fifth set of exercises.
A Person Who Lost Both His Hands Asked a Practitioner to Sign the Petition for Him
Last Saturday, several practitioners formed a team: One held the informational poster, one distributed flyers and another one collected petition signatures. We went to a busy street and handed out the flyers on the pavement. In our righteous and peaceful field, many people not only accepted the materials but also signed the petition in support of Falun Gong. At that point, a disabled person came over to us in a wheelchair. I handed the truth-clarification material to him. He was very happy to accept it. Then I asked him whether he would like to sign the petition calling for an end of the persecution. He smiled and said, "See, I don't have hands." Then he said, "You could sign it for me." He told me his name and I wrote his it down on the petition. I expressed my sincere gratitude to him. He kept saying, "Persecution is wrong!"
A Chinese Woman: "We All Know About This. We All Talk About this Issue."
I met a Chinese woman. She carefully watched the live torture reenactment. I walked over to her and handed her a flyer. She immediately said, "We all know about this and we all talk about this issue." I then informed her how Jiang initiated the suppression of Falun Gong and how he is currently being sued in more than 10 countries in the world. I also introduced the wide spread of Falun Dafa. She listened attentively and kept nodding her head. In the end, I asked her if she wanted to sign the petition to support us. She hesitated for a while and then signed her name. I thanked her for her support and expressed my wish that she would talk more about Falun Gong with her Chinese friends. She said that she would.
New York State Assembly Member: "I Write to Condemn the Vicious Acts of Violence Perpetrated Against the Practitioners of Falun Gong."
On September 15, 2004, New York State Assembly Member N. Nick Perry wrote to the Falun Dafa Buddha Association in Easter USA to condemn the vicious acts of violence perpetrated against the practitioners of Falun Gong in China. The following is the text of the letter from Assembly Member N. Nick Perry.
The Assembly
State of New York
Albany
Falun Dafa Buddha Association in Easter USA
Brooklyn, NY
September 15, 2004
I write to condemn the vicious acts of violence perpetrated against the practitioners of Falun Gong. The rights of people to practice their beliefs, within the confines of the law, must be respected worldwide, and such acts of intimidation by others who refuse to respect the human rights to freedom of expression must be strongly repudiated.
The dignity of mankind can be maintained, despite our varying opinion and beliefs, when we learn to tolerate and appreciate different views.
I extend my sincerest sympathy to the victims of this crime and to their families as they try to come to groups with these senseless acts of aggression against freedom.
Sincerely,
N. Nick Perry
Member of Assembly
US Congressman Condemns the Hate Crime Committed Against the Australian Falun Gong Practitioners Visiting South Africa
On September 6, 2004, US Congressman Anthony D. Weiner wrote to Falun Gong practitioner to condemn the acts of violence perpetrated against Falun Gong practitioners. The following is the text of the letter from Congressman Weiner.
Congress of the Untied States
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515-3209
September 6, 2004
Thank you for contacting me regarding the tragedy which befell the Australian Falun Gong practitioners visiting South Africa. I share your sense of horror.
You are right to condemn acts of violence perpetrated against individuals for their religious beliefs. I have consistently supported efforts in Congress to make those who commit "hate crimes" eligible for more severe punishment. And I have repeatedly demanded that the Chinese government relent in their persecution of those who practice Falun Gong. You can be sure I will continue to work hard on these issues in the future.
Again, thank you for contacting me. Please do not hesitate to be in touch in the future on this or any other issue of concern.
Sincerely,
Anthony D. Weiner
Member of Congress
U.S. Congressman Frank Pallone: "I Remain Committed to the Task of Making Falun Gong Safe to Practice in Any Country in the World."
CONGRESSMAN FRANK PALLONE, JR.
EXTENSION OF REMARKS
H. CON. RES 304
OCTOBER 4, 2004
I would like to express my support for H.Con.Res 304, a resolution honoring the tradition and practice of Falun Gong. As a cosponsor of this resolution, I urge my colleagues to vote yes on this important piece of legislation.
H.Con.Res 304 calls on the Chinese Government to stop interfering with the religious and political rights of individuals in the United States to practice Falun Gong. The Chinese Government has gone so far as to spread falsehoods about Falun Gong and to harass, detain, abuse and imprison Falun Gong practitioners. The practitioners are simply exercising their legitimate rights to freedom of religion and expression, and the actions of the Chinese Government conflict with international standards of freedom and human rights and must end immediately.
I have an admiration for the practitioners and adherents of Falun Gong and I am invested in the movement both in the United States and abroad. I remain committed to the task of making Falun Gong safe to practice in any country in the world. The members of Falun Gong are opposed by a Chinese government that unjustly views them as dissenters. This view is entirely without merit. In reality, Falun Gong is an inherently peaceful, apolitical movement that stresses nonviolence and meditation. Since Falun Gong was outlawed in 1999, hundreds of nonviolent practitioners have been arrested, tortured, libeled, and detained without charge or proof of any wrongdoing.
Sadly, the unwarranted and unprovoked aggression against Falun Gong has not ceased, nor is it limited to China. There have been unprovoked attacks in the United States and Falun Gong members have been subjected to a humiliating and denigrating blacklist.
One incident that I found particularly offensive took place in June 2003. Falun Gong members were attacked and beaten while holding a nonviolent protest in New York City. In an effort to end the discrimination that confronts Falun Gong practitioners, I wrote a letter to the Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau requesting an investigation of this case. I hope that justice prevails in this case.
With passage of H.Con.Res.304, we can send a strong signal condemning China's human rights abuses and we can take one step closer to ensuring Falun Gong members the freedom of religion and assembly guaranteed to them by law.
Tanzania Human Rights Organization Passes a Resolution of Support for Bringing Jiang Zemin to Justice
A renowned human rights organization in Tanzania passed a resolution condemning Chinese ex-president Jiang Zemin's human rights violations against Falun Gong practitioners, and supporting bringing Jiang to justice.
The Resolution of The University of Dar es Salaam Human Rights Association
UDSM-Human Rights, Making Human Rights Reality
The resolution of the University of Dar es Salaam Human Rights Association (UDSM-Human Rights) against the persecution of Falun Gong (Falun Dafa) practitioners in China:
Whereas, Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) is a traditional practice of body and mind based on the universal principle of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance," and is commended for its devotion to public service , and commitment to improving health in mind, body and spirit;
Whereas, the rights to life, liberty and security of person is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) as per Article 3;
Whereas, it is provided under Article 5 of the UDHR that no one shall be subjected to torture, or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
Knowing, that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion as per article 18(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) of 1966;
Noting, that Article 18(1) of the hereinabove referred instrument stipulates that no one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom to have or adopt a religion or belief of his choice;
Recognizing, that each state has the obligation under Article 4 of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984) to ensure all acts are offences under its criminal law;
Whereas, the long time persecution of Falun Dafa in China violates severely the international human rights law;
BE IT RESOLVED that the University of Dar es Salaam Human Rights (herein referred to as UDSM-HUMAN RIGHTS) and the University members (the Undersigned) support efforts to bring JIANG ZEMIN to the court of justice (for his crimes of torture and crime against humanity);
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to Dr.Kofi Annan-Secretary General of the United Nations; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (the United Republic of Tanzania); The Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania; and the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva-Switzerland.
THE PEOPLE WHOSE SIGNATURES APPEAR BELOW CONDEMN IN THE STRONGEST TERMS THE PERSECUTION OF THE FALUN DAFA AND EXPRESS THEIR STRONG SUPPORT TO ALL THE LEGAL PROCEDURES TAKEN TO BRING THE PERPETRATORS TO JUSTICE.
Twenty-Six Additional Cases of Falun Gong Practitioners Who Died as a Result of Torture in China Are Verified in September
In September, 26 cases of Falun Gong practitioners tortured to death were verified through civilian channels, of those 12 were killed in 2004, including one practitioner who was killed in September, 2004.
The twenty-six deaths occurred in thirteen provinces and municipalities directly under the control of the Central Government. There were six in Hebei Province, six in Liaoning Province, two in Hubei Province, two in Shanxi Province, two in Shandong Province, and one in each of the following places: Beijing, Anhui Province, Jilin Province, Sichuan Province, Guangdong Province, Heilongjiang Province, Jiangsu Province, and Jiangxi Province. Among the practitioners who died as a result of torture were factory workers, housewives, government employees, and retired workers, owners of private companies, farmers, taxi drivers, and others.
The oldest practitioner was 78-year-old Wang Qirong from Jilin City, Jilin Province, while the youngest was a woman Falun Gong practitioner from Sichuan Province, who was about 30 years old, and whose name is still unknown. Fifteen deaths were of senior citizen Falun Gong practitioners whose ages were over 50, which accounts for 57% of the total deaths reported in September. Eleven women practitioners were killed, which accounts for 44% of the death toll.
The practitioners whose deaths were reported in September had experienced both severe physical torture and mental torment. Their homes were ransacked, and many of them were abducted and subjected to extortion. They were subjected to all kinds of brutal beating and torture, as well as coercive brainwashing, being sent to forced labor camps, detention centers, and brainwashing centers, and otherwise abused and grossly mistreated at the hands of the local police and persons from the "610 Office" who tried to force them to give up their Falun Dafa faith in Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance.
Latest Death by Torture Case: Mr. Guan Xuehe from Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province, China
Mr. Guan Xuehe was a 50 year old ironsmith from Group Seven, Zhongxin Village, Bude Town, Renhe District, Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province. In November 2000, he was sentenced to one and half years of forced labor and "re-education" by Renhe District Police Department.
On February 15, 2003, Guan Xuehe was again arrested for distributing Dafa truth-clarification materials and sent to Tongde Police Station where he was beaten badly. The people involved in his arrest included: Zhang Youfu from Tongde Police Station, Chen Hu (a security guard from Bude Town), Yang Kai, Cui Fuli, Zhang Hongtai, Zhou Lurong and Song Qi'an (all of whom are from Renhe District Police Department).
On February 16, 2003, Guan Xuehe was sent to a detention center. That same night, he was transferred to another detention center. At the end of March 2003, he was sentenced to three years of forced labor. Before he was taken to the labor camp, he was brutally beaten by police at the detention center. The beating was so brutal that he could not even stand up.
While being detained in the Forth Brigade of Xinhua Labor Camp in Mianyang City, Sichuan Province, Guan Xuehe was often brutally beaten. Under the tremendous physical and mental persecution, he developed lung cancer around July 2004. The labor camp drew blood from him every other day in the name of "doing some tests on him." About half a month later, the camp authorities sent him home, fearing that he might die in the camp. After he returned home, at 8:00 on the morning of October 4, 2004, Guan Xuehe died in Chengdu City Hospital.
China: Ms. Li Xuewei Is Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison after Four Years of Persecution
Ms. Li Xuewei lived in Japan for seven years. In February 2000, when she went to visit her relatives in China, she was arrested for having a Falun Dafa in Japan newspaper with her. The Chinese authorities illegally detained and threatened her. They revoked her passport, thus preventing her from returning to Japan with her husband. After suffering four years of persecution, she was illegally sentenced to seven years in prison on September 21, 2004.
During this period, Ms. Li's relatives and friends were suffering severe stress because of her situation. Her husband, who was heavily in debt, overcame many difficulties to travel to China to help his wife. However, there are no laws and no justice system to protect Falun Gong or its practitioners in China. No attorneys have the courage to represent her case. Jiang's state terrorism overrules the country's constitution and has become the "law" in persecuting Falun Gong.
Ms. Li's daughter turns six years old this year. Longing for her mother's return, she often cries quietly because she doesn't want others to hear her. She keeps saying, "When my mom is back, we'll go to Japan with my dad. We'll never be apart again."
Ms. Li is thirty-five, and worked as a kindergarten teacher. Her husband found a job in Japan in 1990, so Ms. Li joined him there in 1993. In 1996, Ms. Li suddenly contracted a serious case of pulmonary tuberculosis and was coughing up blood. The medical examination indicated that her lung was perforated; therefore she went to China for medical treatment. Although she tried hard to find an effective treatment, the disease was not cured. However, she miraculously recovered after practicing Falun Gong, and returned to Japan.
In February 2000, Ms. Li went to China to participate in the Spring Festival
with her relatives. Policeman Liu Jie took her to the Huancui District Police
Department in Weihai City because she had a Falun Dafa in Japan newspaper
in her possession. The police
then confiscated her passport. She returned the next day to get her passport,
when the police arrested her and illegally jailed her for 15 days. Afterward, a
stranger and Long Lin, an agent from the Weihai City National Security Bureau,
came to her home and threatened her. They said that only under one condition
would they let her return to Japan: "You must work for the Chinese
Intelligence Agency as a spy."
Ms. Li righteously rejected their demand, "Falun Dafa has no secrets. It is impossible for me to work for you. I would rather remain here than work for you as a spy."
Ms. Li tried to get her passport back, but the authorities refused. Ms. Li moved to Changchun City and later returned by train to Weihai City to try again to retrieve her passport. The police then claimed they had transferred the case to the Jilin Provincial Police Department. When Ms. Li went there, she was told that they had revoked her passport, thus preventing Ms. Li from returning to Japan. In addition, her two-year-old daughter's passport was automatically revoked because she couldn't apply for a visa to Japan. As a result, the family has been torn apart.
Upon hearing the bad news, Li Xuewei's husband was worried sick about his wife and daughter. He became exhausted and bitter from the pressure and his business went bankrupt. He had to resort to physical labor to repay a debt, which is equivalent to hundreds of thousands of yuan. The family were to have become permanent Japanese residents soon, but they have been torn apart by the Chinese authorities.
With no judicial authorities to hear her appeal, on August 1, 2001, Li Xuewei went to the Tiananmen Square Appeals Office to personally appeal her situation. She was detained, but was finally released because of the efforts of many friends.
Li Xuewei was again arrested at 6 p.m. on November 17, 2003, as she was taking several Falun Dafa books and some blank CDs to fellow practitioner Huang Yuxing, a pharmacist at the Second Institute of Jilin University. Five police officers were lying in wait from the National Security Detachment of the Changchun City Police Department, the Nanguan District Police Department and the Quan'an Police Station. They took Ms. Li to the basement of a building in Jingyuantan, a secret place far from downtown, used for torturing Falun Gong practitioners.
The perpetrators lit only a candle to create an atmosphere of fear. It was very cold, so the police wore overcoats, but Ms. Li had on only light autumn clothing. They tortured Ms. Li in two-hour shifts. They beat, kicked and hung her up by her handcuffed hands. They then attempted to suffocate her with smoke and a plastic bag. To intensify the torture, the police punched her stomach while holding a plastic bag over her head. In addition, the police forced her to do "flying airplane" (a particularly painful position) and to stay that way for hours on end. The major abusers were from the National Security detachment of the city police department. Policeman Ma from the Nanguan District Department was also very vicious. He inserted bottles under her handcuffs to further tighten them around her wrists.
On August 20, 2004, after being illegally detained for nine months, Li Xuewei was sentenced in court, but the case was returned to the prosecutor's office for an unknown reason. However, on September 21, the court sentenced her to seven years in prison. Insisting on her innocence, Ms. Li filed an appeal.
Facing his wife's desperate situation and worried about his daughter, Li Xuewei's husband had to return to Japan alone. The three members of the family must now live in three different places.
China: Eyewitness Account of Torture at the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp
I am an eyewitness to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners carried out by the guards and collaborators (1) at Masanjia Forced Labor Camp. Qi Fuying, the guard in the third team of the second division, organized several collaborators to act as hatchet men to persecute steadfast Falun Gong practitioners. They often tied the practitioners up to torture them. Jiang Chunxiang from Dandong City, Li Qiuling, Zhu Yanling from Jinzhou City, Mao Hongxia from Benxi City, Zhao Lerong from Dalian City, Wang Deping from Anshan City and Wang Shuyun, the guard from Jinzhou City Forced Labor Camp, were all collaborators influenced by Jiang's lies.
Li Qiuling tried to "brainwash" an older practitioner and did not allow her to go to the toilet. As a result, she urinated on the floor and was forced to clean it up using her underwear. Li Qiuling tried to brainwash practitioner Bei Ying. Li smashed Bei Ying's head into a metal heater, causing it to bleed.
Guard Qi Fuying told the collaborators to tie up practitioners Zheng Juxiang and Mi Yanli. They were tied up for about 15 to 16 hours, with urine and feces in their underwear. This led to their legs festering. In addition, collaborator Jiang Chunxiang applied iodine to Zheng Juxaing's legs.
Because Wang Ling from Tieling firmly believed in Falun Gong, guard Qi Fuying moved Wang Ling to a small cell at the number four building for 10 days. In the cell, her hands were locked onto the "Tiger Bench." Because she was stretched to the limit, she felt great pain in her stomach. It was very cold between November and December, and the windows in front and back were left open. The cold metal of the Tiger Bench permeated Wang Ling's entire body, making her extremely cold. When Wang Ling was released from the small cell ten days later, she was on the verge of death. (After seven days in that cell, one's skin would usually start peeling off the whole body.) Wang Ling was placed in a warm room to recover. Three days later, her face, hands and feet all swelled up. Wang Ling was later transferred to another forced labor camp, as the authorities were afraid of this brutal persecution being exposed.
In the second division of the camp, there are several buildings close to the east gate. South of the gate, there were more than a dozen rooms. The first floor is where practitioners are tortured. The floor was labeled, "SARS Isolation Section." The north side of the building is a reception area. Therefore, the building was also called the sham building.
The labor camp conducted the most evil persecution against practitioners between November and December of 2003. Every day a busload of policemen from elsewhere arrived at the camp to help with the persecution. They took practitioners into the sham building and tortured them using various torture methods. Some practitioners were tied up, some were hung up and some were beaten until they became unconscious.
One day in October 2003, the camp forced the practitioners to harvest corn in a field. Zheng Juxiang suffered from a prolapsed rectum, which bled whenever her pants brushed her anus. Qi Fuying told collaborator Jiang Chunxiang to drag Zheng Juxiang from the third floor to the field. Zheng Juxiang was in such pain that she gave a blood-curdling scream. The sound upset Zhang Shohue, a practitioner from Qiyuan Dohutuen. She grabbed Zheng Juxiang and pulled her away from Jiang Chunxiang, which saved Zheng Juxiang from having to do labor. During the whole incident, Qi Fuying remained behind the scene.
This is what I have witnessed of the persecution in the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp. More cases of persecution were carried out, but they have been hidden from practitioners.
Violent Acts at Gaoyang Forced Labor Camp: Using Poisonous Snakes, Lizards and Five-Clawed Electric Batons
Ms. Wang Chunmei, about 50, is a resident of Hezhuangzhi Village of Zunhua in Tangshan City, Hebei Province. Because Wang Chunmei persisted in practicing Falun Gong, being shocked with an electric baton in Gaoyang Forced Labor Camp became a regular treatment for her. Everyday she had to face this cruel torture. The guards rolled copper wires around her wrists, enabling the electric current to pass through her whole body. On one occasion, she lost consciousness during one of these torture sessions. When she regained consciousness she found blood around the edges of her fingers and experienced a heart-piercing pain in her hands. She discovered that the guards had used needles to jab the undersides of her fingers. She lost consciousness again while the guards were torturing her session. After they revived her, she felt a hot and tingling sensation on her face and mouth. She realized that they had sprayed spicy ground pepper on her.
In the Gaoyang Forced Labor Camp, the guards did many horrible things. They placed a thick wooden stick on top of both of her thighs. Then the guard Zang Haili stood on the stick and rolled it around on her thighs. Her thighs turned black and blue and swelled so badly that she had difficulty standing up. The guards also handcuffed her out in a remote area and three times twisted a poisonous snake around her neck. Each time she grabbed it and threw it down. They also placed a lizard on her. Then they used the electric baton to shock the lizard and chase it over her body until the lizard was dead. Then they shamelessly said, "We're shocking the lizard not you."
Wang Chunmei went on a hunger strike to protest this persecution. She requested that the persecution cease. Instead, the police used five-clawed electric batons to shock her one after the other and then force-fed her. If she refused to eat, they kept shocking her with the electric baton.
Time Out New York Reports on How Falun Gong Wins Local Hearts
Time out New York is a magazine about life and leisure in New York. In its issue published on October 7, 2004, an article entitled, "What's up with that?" written by Katerine Pushkar introduced a new scene appeared in recent months on the streets in New York City.
As millions of New Yorkers, she also noticed that Falun Gong practitioners seemed to be everywhere. What's up with that?
Katerine wrote, "If it seems like you're practically tripping over peaceful, yellow-shirted demonstrators, that's because Falun Gong (or Falun Dafa) practitioners have descended on New York en masse in the past month. They're here for the same reason anyone else is here -- for the bright (Klieg) lights of the big city." "New York is the media capital of the world," volunteer spokesperson Gail Rachlin explains. "We felt that coming here would have a big impact."
Katerine noticed that Falun Gong, a traditional Chinese meditation and exercise practice based on truth, compassion and tolerance, has been banned as a threat by China's Communist government since 1999, its followers reportedly tortured. She said in her article, "The recent Republican convention -- and its international news lens -- offered an easy spotlight. Falun Gong disciples demonstrated during the RNC."
Rachlin told her, "It had such a positive impact, people said, 'Why don't we stay?'" The awareness campaign has drawn supporters from all over the world to city sidewalks and parks, where they meditate and display gruesome posters documenting abuse by Chinese authorities.
Lifelong New Yorker Rachlin remains hopeful of their success. "If you can win the hearts of New Yorkers," she says, "you can win the hearts of anyone."
Vancouver Sun: Activists Caught in
China's Web
Wang Yuzhi's hands tightened into fists, her gentle facial features hardened, and tears welled in her eyes as she described nine months of detention and torture in China.
The Falun Gong practitioner, now living in Vancouver, clearly understands the terrible price of lost privacy when Chinese government authorities monitor Internet and private e-mail communications.
She had become one of the cyber dissidents imprisoned in China, the country Reporters Without Borders described this year as "the world's biggest prison for cyber dissidents."
China not only boasts almost 80 million Internet users, it is also responsible for jailing more cyber dissidents than all other countries combined.
It has jailed 60 of the 68 cyber dissidents worldwide for what it considers improper Internet communications.
Wang, 49, was jailed in June 2001 when Chinese officials arrested her for the third time after a reward had been posted for her arrest when she continued pro-Falun Gong activities.
Wang said she was arrested attempting to withdraw money from the bank after authorities narrowed down her location through monitoring Internet communications.
In jail she was subjected to brutal force feeding, with tubes being forced through her nose and her mouth. Coarse cornmeal in cold water was pushed into her body.
Her face became a bloody, infected mess of wounds. She thought she might go blind.
"I did not know whether I would be alive or dead, but I really have a strong will to live,"
Wang said through an interpreter who translated her Mandarin into English in an interview.
"The pain was even worse than giving birth," Wang said of the forced feeding that brutalized her body, bashed out her teeth and, on some occasions, almost suffocated her.
Reporters Without Borders' Canadian president Tanya Churchmuch said the Chinese have a system of monitoring and censoring news which is much more subtle than a country such as Cuba, where only a select core of the population are permitted Internet access.
"They do things which are a lot less obvious. They have hundreds of thousands of sites which are blocked, different subject matter, like the Falun Gong.
"Say somebody tries to log on (to a banned site), all it will do is redirect you saying something like: 'Server down. Website not found.'
"It seems much more innocuous. It does not actually say: 'You are not allowed to see this site.'"
Many of those caught in China's cyber monitoring do not consider themselves dissidents.
"Much of it is young people or even students asking questions about Tiananmen Square or talking about anything to do with any kind of liberties, religious freedoms or anything like that who get traced back and they are ultimately arrested."
The Paris-based international reporters' organization's hopes that the Internet would aid pro-democracy, human-rights and religious groups in China have been damaged.
"Initial hopes that the Internet would develop into an unfettered media and help liberalize China have been dashed," an online report stated.
"Many Chinese Internet users are very inventive and have the technical know-how to evade Beijing's censorship. But the reinforcement of filtering measures since the start of 2004 has made it much harder to access independent information.
"At the same time, exiled dissidents are becoming more active and effective."
[...]
Jack He, a Vancouver software programmer, is one of those quietly involved in the cyber battle.
"I understand the situation in China. I know how they block the Internet. I know how people are trying to help people in China to break the blockage," he said before acknowledging he was active in aiding the flow of information.
"I know how they use the Internet to persecute Falun Gong practitioners," he said.
He was wary about saying anything too specific out of fear he would jeopardize efforts to assist the flow of information in and out of China, or bring more unwanted attention from the Chinese government down on Falun Gong [practitioners], of which he is one.
He said he did not want to reveal details of how he and people like him are aiding dissidents in penetrating the so-called golden shield that China has been constructing since 1998.
The golden shield has become more sophisticated as cyber dissidents search for ways to beat the system, according to a paper entitled Breaking Through the Golden Shield, written by He.
Censorship began by merely blocking Internet protocol addresses, preventing web surfers from accessing pages the Chinese government decided should be off limits.
But when dissidents began using overseas Internet protocol addresses to access banned pages they found a way around the censors for a time.
Media websites such as CNN, the BBC, Voice of America, and Falun Gong are among the hundreds of thousands of blocked pages.
Chinese censors responded with detection systems that could detect such proxy pages by recognizing offensive content within the pages.
The same principle was applied to e-mail, He wrote in his report.
Keyword filtering of e-mail servers was required by the state. Similarly, discussion forums were ordered to install filter systems to block key words relating to pornography, religion, politics and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
Internet cafes in China are also required to examine government identification cards before someone is permitted to access the Internet.
Surveillance software approved by police is installed and sometimes computer screens are monitored, according to He's article.
University of Toronto associate professor Ron Deibert is director of the Citizen Lab at the University's Munk Centre for International Studies, which, along with the Berkman Centre for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, has researched the extent of China's censorship and how it can be defeated.
Deibert and his colleagues ran tests that demonstrated the popular Google search engine had been manipulated by the Chinese so that searches done within China do not find pages offensive to the Chinese censors.
"We can tell a lot about what they do not want people to know," Deibert said of the testing.
The Citizen Lab also played a part in assisting human-rights organizations in establishing proxy computers to defeat the blocking by the Chinese.
Deibert says that someone doing work in China as he does in Toronto would be jailed.
He said the abilities of the Chinese authorities to detect attempts to circumvent their blocking and monitoring have become much more sophisticated.
"China stands alone among countries worldwide with the money that is put into this and the matrix which is in place," he said.
"There are people that I work with that have been in grave danger doing this stuff, so we have to take very seriously their security."
He said they have seen their research result in positive outcomes for the organizations with which Citizen Lab works, but said it would be dangerous to reveal the details.
"I just cannot get into the specifics of it, because it would disclose the methods which we are using," he said.
Another organization assisting Chinese cyber dissidents is Dynamic Internet Technology Inc., a U.S. company headed by Bill Xia, a former Chinese national.
Xia also established a proxy network so people accessing the Internet in China could visit banned websites.
"We deliver software to users in China. With this client software they are going to find our network, connect to our network so that people can visit any website which they want," he said in a telephone interview.
(Xia was so concerned about his personal security that he insisted his location be described only as the east coast of the U.S.)
He said the software they have made available to hundreds of thousands of Chinese Internet users is so easy to operate it can be installed by double clicking.
He said encryption systems in the software would allow a person in China to evade censors and access a Falun Gong web- site.
Xia, who also practises Falun Gong, said he travelled to the U.S. to complete his education and was amazed when he learned of all the information which had been denied to people within China about their own country.
Now, Chinese people use his technology to learn about subjects forbidden by the Chinese government.
"There are many stories which China tried to keep under control," he said. He said the government kept a tight lid on how bad the SARS epidemic was in China and how dangerous it was to its citizens.
"At the beginning the government was saying it was not dangerous at all and almost nobody died [saying] 'It's fine you do not have to take any precautions.'."
Dynamic Internet Technology has provided assistance to Voice of America, Radio Free Asia and Human Rights in China, Xia said.
New York-based Human Rights in China executive director Sharon Hom said assistance from organizations such as Dynamic Internet Technology has been vital for her organization.
As well as lobbying for more than 2,000 individual dissidents within China, Human Rights in China has documented examples of prisoner mistreatment, and brought it to the attention of the UN and other international bodies.
They are also using technology supplied by organizations such as DIT to provide access to information for pro-democracy and human-rights advocates in China.
People who have assisted the organization from within China have often paid a high personal price.
"They are in prison. They are suffering repression. They are under heavy surveillance or they are losing jobs," she said.
"On the other hand, despite very high costs, people are trying."
While academics, human-rights advocates, and some corporations attempt to assist the flow of information to and from China, Wang Yuzhi recounts her tale of torture as many times as it is necessary.
"Every time she recalls this experience it's very painful, but she is still willing because here in this society people do not really realize what is going on over there," the interpreter explained for Wang.
[...]
Radio Free Asia: Rights Group Says Falun Gong Mother and Baby Died in Labor Camp
2004.10.15
HONG KONG--A follower of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement and her eight-month-old son have died in a Chinese labor camp after traveling to Beijing to petition the central government about their plight, a U.S.-based rights group has reported.
"Persecuting children on the basis of their or their parents' beliefs is a fundamental violation of the rights of the child."
Liu Qing, Human Rights in China
Wang Lixuan and her son, Meng Hao, from the eastern province of Shandong, were detained Oct. 22, 2000, while traveling to Beijing, the New York-based Human Rights in China (HRIC) said in a statement.
"The mother and baby both died at the Tuanhe Forced Labor Dispatch Division in Beijing on Nov. 7, 2000. The coroner's exam determined that Wang Lixuan's neck and fingers were broken, her skull was fractured, and she had a needle stuck in her lower back," the statement said.
Five documented deaths
"Her baby, Meng Hao, was found to have deep bruises on his ankles and head and blood in his nose. It is believed that little Meng Hao had been hung upside down by his ankles," the group said.
It said at least five children of Falun Gong followers had died as a result of official persecution of their parents, while many more had been left in straitened circumstances after parents were detained or sentenced for their beliefs.
It quoted the Global Mission to Rescue Persecuted Falun Gong Practitioners as saying that some under-age Falun Gong practitioners had been sentenced to re-education through labor and been forced to submit to brainwashing.
Others had become orphans or have lost the care of their parents, and also lost their rights to education and other social services and basic human rights, it said.
Nationwide crackdown
"Persecuting children on the basis of their or their parents' beliefs is a fundamental violation of the rights of the child under international law," HRIC president Liu Qing said in the statement.
"The Chinese government should [ensure] that no child is subjected to torture, detention, or loss of basic human rights because of the religious beliefs of themselves or their parents," Liu said.
Human rights groups estimate that hundreds of Falun Gong followers have been jailed and tens of thousands sent to labor camps without trial since then.
China banned Falun Gong in July 1999, after the group staged a massive silent protest outside the main leadership compound in Beijing.
The official Chinese media have consistently [slandered and demonized Falun Gong to justify the inhumane persecution]
Followers describe Falun Gong as a set of mostly age-old practices aimed at self-improvement through physical exercises and spiritual beliefs. The movement claims tens of millions of followers in China, and millions more in other countries.
Campbelltown Macarthur Advertiser (Sydney, Australia): Residents sign petition opposing persecution
October 13, 2004
An international fight against persecution has gained support from the people
of Macarthur.
A petition calling for the Federal Government to protect the safety and basic
rights of Australian Falun Dafa practitioners has been signed by 2000 residents.
Falun Dafa -- also known as Falun Gong -- is a Chinese practice of self-improvement and exercise with the guiding principles of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance.
The practice was banned in China in 1999 by the former president Jiang Zemin, and practitioners say there has been a campaign of persecution and torture ever since.
The petition was started after Sydney man David Liang, 42, was shot in both
feet after he and eight other Australians arrived in South Africa to file a law
suit against visiting Chinese officials.
The petition calls for the Federal Government to realize that there is
increasing violence against Australian citizens and to understand that these
attacks are acts of terrorism.
Stacey Wang of Ingleburn said many Macarthur people supported the Falun Dafa cause.
"Australians, Chinese and Vietnamese all practice in the local area," Ms Wang said.
"Most of them practiced before the persecution and know that Falun Dafa is very good and very helpful." Ms Wang said Chinese practitioners living in Macarthur had been black-listed by the Chinese government and had had trouble getting visas and renewing passports.
Zoran Bulic of Ingleburn, a practitioner for two years, said Falun Dafa offered health and psychological benefits.
"It's a very simple practice but a very powerful one," Mr. Bulic said, "it teaches people how to be good."
Ms Wang said the petition was a way of bringing David Liang's plight to the
Macarthur region.
"We would like to let everyone know about the terrorism and the evil nature of the persecution," she said.
"Even outside China, we deeply feel the persecution and we want to stand up and say no to the evil."
Ms Wang said Macarthur residents were quick to show concern about the issue.
"The people agree that the Government should do something about
it," she said.
The petition will be sent to Federal Opposition Leader and Werriwa MP Mark
Latham and to Macarthur MP Pat Farmer.
Falun Gong Practitioners' Righteous Action in China
Hundreds of Thousands Truth-Clarifying Stickers Publicly Posted in Liaoning Province during the National Day Holidays
By a Falun Gong practitioner in Liaoning Province, China
For the October 1st National Day holidays, we designed a letter-sized flyer with an adhesive backing listing the evildoers' names and their crimes as publicized by the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong.
We distributed or posted several hundred thousand of these flyers in cities and different areas in Liaoning Province, which greatly shocked and exposed the evildoers. Before that, we had made and posted a large number of similar stickers. This exposure revealed the criminals and their crimes to their relatives, neighbors, colleagues, family members and people around them. They were very scared and dared not raise their heads among their local relatives and acquaintances.
Some were transferred to other jobs because of the exposure. Some could not be promoted. Some of the culprits went to see Falun Gong practitioners, saying that they would never persecute Falun Gong again.
On the whole, these flyers greatly shocked the evildoers, who came to realize the consequences of persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. Since then, they haven't dared to persecute Falun Gong practitioners arbitrarily. A great change has occurred in the situation in those areas.
Righteous Thoughts and Actions Stop the Police from Extorting Money from a Practitioner's Family
I am a 47-year-old woman from Funing County of Qinhuangdao. I used to be sick all the time, suffering from neurasthenia, nephritis and other illnesses. I took medicine 365 days a year.
On February 26, 1999, I started to practice Falun Gong. Since then, I have been practicing the exercises and strictly following the universal principles of "Truth-Compassion-Tolerance." Not long after beginning the practice, all my physical suffering was gone. I used to be very weak and only weighed 99 pounds. Now I have completely changed: my weight has increased to 162 pounds, and I can do all kinds of work. I've been very healthy during the five years that I have I practiced Falun Gong. From the bottom of my heart, I feel so grateful to Teacher and Falun Gong for giving me health and a happy family.
On January 13, 2002, because I was distributing flyers clarifying the truth about Falun Gong and the persecution in a market, I was illegally taken to a police substation. The director and six policemen from the substation were involved in the arrest. They went to search my home as well, but did not find anything. At around 9:00 p.m., police officer Yang handcuffed me and forced me to sit on a stool until 8:00 a.m. the next morning. When they removed the handcuffs, my hands had two deep bruised lines on them. Later, I was sent to Funing Detention Center, where I was detained for fifteen days.
My husband is an honest and kind man. During my detention, aside from expenses regarding accommodation and photos, the police substation extorted money from him three times: 2,000 yuan the first time, 1,000 yuan the second time and 1,000 yuan the third time. The money was given to Officer Yang every time, without witnesses or any legal procedures. Each time, he asked my husband to go to the police substation in the evening.
At 3:00 p.m. the day after my release, Yang again broke into my home, this time alone. He threatened and swore at my husband, asking for some sauces (worth over 30 yuan). Then he demanded 500 yuan. At the time, I thought of Teacher's words, "suffocate the evil." So I ran out and phoned the director of the police substation. I also shouted loudly in front of my house, "Come and see! This policeman broke into someone's home without justification and extorted money from honest people. Tell me which item in the law allows you to do so? Who asked you to do so?" A lot of people gathered around. Soon, Pan Weixing, Assistant Director of the police substation came to my home with five policemen. They persuaded me to let them enter the house and they took Yang away. They looked very panicked and frightened. After that, I exposed the wicked behavior of the police substation to the people living in the vicinity of the substation. The director of the police substation declared that he would get his revenge on me.
I told them that I did not have any hatred for them, and that I only hoped that they would not aid the persecutors and maltreat good people.
After that, the leaders of the police substation and Officer Yang came to my home, apologizing for what they did. They also returned 3,500 yuan. But they still kept 100 yuan as a "deposit."
The People Awaken to the Truth
Middle School Classmates Work Together to Clarify the Truth about Falun Gong
In Northern China, one middle school student and all three of his family members practice Falun Gong. He always explains the truth about Falun Dafa and introduces the teachings to his classmates. He encourages his mother, saying, "Don't be afraid, just try your best and Teacher will help you!" He also informed his mother, "If we keep a righteous mind, all of my classmates will help me."
One day, their teacher in class asked who was practicing Falun Gong. He raised his hand bravely and slowly, one by one, his fellow students also raised their hands. Once, when he obtained some printed materials explaining the truth about Falun Gong, his classmates had a friendly competition with each other to distribute the materials. While hanging Falun Dafa banners, they also competed with each other to see who had hung the banner highest in a tree and who had hung it in the most aesthetically pleasing way.
Some students also tried to follow the example of grownups who had gone to unfurl Falun Gong banners on Tiananmen Square. They unfurled banners in the hallways of the school and shouted, "Falun Dafa is good!"
Falun Gong Practitioners' Personal Experiences
A Doctor in Taiwan: Falun Gong Cured My Eye Disease
My name is Lai Jiandeng and I am 53 years old. I am a medical doctor, an ear-nose-throat specialist, and I started practicing Falun Gong in March 1997. I have suffered from illnesses throughout my whole life. I fought other people for self-interests, and my health declined by the year. In the past decade I hit rock bottom and almost lost the desire to live. That was the time I found Falun Dafa. From then on, my life changed completely.
I study Western medicine and have a certain understanding of the treatment and recuperation process of certain diseases. When I was young, I suffered from various conditions. In the years right before I practiced Falun Gong, I was afflicted with a stomach ulcer, stomach bleeding, a stiff back, inflammation of the eye, dizziness and sciatic nerve pain. These problems took turns attacking me. Treatments could only suppress them temporarily and could not prevent them from recurring.
It was the day before Tomb Sweep Day and the beginning of a long holiday when the eye inflammation first came on. My eyes were red for two days, and all of a sudden my eyeballs suppurated from inside. They swelled up and were extremely painful. I could barely open my eyes and when I did, I couldn't see anything. Pus had filled my eyes and it was as if someone had plastered my eyes over. I cannot describe the intense fear I had of losing my sight, because the next thing that would usually happen was my eyeballs would fester and I would lose my sight. I immediately went to an eye doctor, who injected medication directly into my eyelids. The injections are usually administered into the muscle, under the skin or into blood vessels, but I was injected directly in my eyelids and in the tissue around the eyeballs. Sometimes I had shots twice a day. The condition subsided after about two weeks.
That was only the beginning of a nightmare. The disease came back every spring. The injections only suppressed the surface symptoms and could not treat the underlying causes. Each relapse would last a month or so and I had to get injections around my eyes, otherwise it would be difficult to control the symptoms. I received prednisolone in large doses [a derivative of prednisone, a steroid treatment].
After more than a decade, I was extremely afraid of this disease, because over time I could develop kidney problems even if I didn't lose my sight, and I could end up living on dialysis. This disease was also accompanied by ankylosing spondylitis [chronic inflammation of the spine], and my spine started to hurt more than 20 years ago. After I had a car accident over ten years ago, my back hurt terribly on top of other complications that already existed. In the winter my spine hurt when I moved, when I lay still, when I rolled over and when I got out of bed. When I sat in a car, I could not tolerate the slightest jarring. I had to push myself up with my hands to alleviate the pain, and it also hurt when the car accelerated. My spine would hurt so much that I would well up in tears when the car would go over a pothole or came to a sudden stop. I was scared to death of going out in a car. Even when I walked at home, I could not walk steadily due to my back pain, and the pain was there no matter what position I was in.
My mother was on her deathbed when I first saw Falun Dafa books, so I didn't have the desire to read them then. Since I never obtained a good cultivation method in any of the different religions, I assumed Falun Dafa was the same as the others, so I didn't pay much attention. After my mother's funeral I picked up the book Falun Gong, I suddenly realized that this was different from all the religious books I had read, so I read it until 3:00 a.m.
The next day, I continued to read Zhuan Falun and other Falun Dafa books. It's hard to describe my feelings, but it was far deeper than anything I had experienced before. When I read religious books, I felt that I had just crawled out of the soil and saw the sun for the first time, and I felt the world was wonderfully huge; with further understanding, I felt I had climbed up on a building and when I look down, I felt my former understandings were trivial. But when I read Falun Dafa books, all those feelings and knowledge became insignificant in comparison, and I felt like I was looking down from the universe. The difference was tremendous and I was truly happy. I realized that Falun Dafa was what I had always sought after, even though I had no idea that I was after it.
The next summer, my stomach ulcer pain began to subside and then disappeared. The unbearable pain in my spine was also reduced a year later. The inflammation of my eyes came back several times. I did the meditation exercise since I could not do the other exercises involving movement. Eventually the dizziness went away.
The majority of my illnesses are history. I am now healthier than I have ever been. I have truly experienced something profound and supernatural. I devoted myself to religion for decades but was never free from illnesses. As a doctor I know about illnesses and it's easy for me to obtain medication. I took pills in great quantities, but the pain was still there. Now I understand that only cultivation can help a person become truly and completely healthy.
Falun Dafa has given me guidance in life. It helped me to reduce hatred, conflicts, and other bad feelings. I am able to see my shortcomings, and through cherishing the chance to practice Falun Dafa, I will diligently improve myself.
Because I Practice Falun Gong, I No Longer Use Large Quantities of Medication
My name is Tian Meiyun and I live in Taipei.
In late November 1997, I received a phone call from a friend who told me about Falun Dafa. When I read the book Zhuan Falun the words, "A person should return to his original, true self--that's actually the true purpose of being human," moved me. Falun Dafa is different from anything I had studied before. When I realized that the purpose of being human is to return to one's original, true self, my mind cleared up and I cried with joy for having found the truth. I immediately registered for a nine-day Falun Gong class held in Huangpu-xincun.
I had been sickly since childhood. My husband said to me, "You are taking medication 300 days out of the year." I suffered from migraines, a syndrome where I kept seeing flying objects, arrhythmia, nervous imbalance, twisting of the vertebrae, chronicle pelvic infection, a uterine tumor, hydrocele and kidney disease. Neither Eastern nor Western medicine could help me, and I lost confidence in both. I also practiced many types of qigong but my condition didn't improve. I felt hopeless and helpless, and that life was meaningless. In the first month after I started practicing Falun Gong, I read only a few pages of Zhuan Falun every day because my eyes were still sore. However, my body started to change. I had previously suffered from frequent migraines. Now my head had a worse reaction and I even vomited. But, after vomiting, my head no longer hurt! I also experienced great changes in my urinary system. I knew Master was purifying my body for me and I should persist in studying Falun Gong, no matter how uncomfortable I felt. I read the Falun Gong books attentively and did the exercises. On the fifth day I felt as if I was reborn. When I opened my eyes in the morning, I felt that the world was beautiful and my body was very light. I straightened my back and was very happy. I also discarded several drawers full of medication because I no longer needed them.
My relationship with my husband changed from being antagonistic to one that was harmonious and caring. Three years ago my husband had taken on a project, and unexpectedly we went bankrupt overnight. I felt as if my world suddenly came apart. I was angry and bitter that my husband took on a project in a field in which he was not an expert. We stopped talking to each other and lived like strangers. After studying Falun Gong, I tried to walk a mile in my husband's shoes and realized that he was trying his best to provide for his family.
If I didn't have this experience, I may not have truly understood the joy and changes after studying Falun Gong. It enabled me to face sharp criticism in a tolerant manner and to face difficult situations with broad-mindedness and forgiveness. I discovered that I was often stubbornly blaming other people in the past. I used to be aggressive and overbearing, but because of Falun Gong practice, I changed my attitude and have become warm and considerate. As a result, I am now a better wife and mother. My anger and bitterness also disappeared.