Falun Gong is freely practised in 40 countries around the world, but relentlessly persecuted in China. The peaceful courage of practitioners there has shocked their oppressors and moved the people of the world. While China continues to block all information, FGMTV brings you the stories you may not hear anywhere else.

Hello, and welcome to FGMTV on November 13^th, 2001.

I’m Susan Mitchell.

Some of our stories this week:

§ Hong Kong authorities resort to violence against Falun Gong practitioners while they were conducting a legal and peaceful demonstration

§ Practitioners introduce Falun Dafa to Greenland

§ a Canadian university student walks 130 km from St. Catherines to Toronto to urge university students to join in and help rescue Falun Gong practitioners persecuted in China

§ A local Chinese newspaper in Montreal is sued by Canadian practitioners after publishing an article slandering Falun Dafa.

In this week's update from China:

§ The number of Falun Gong practitioners verified to have died while in detention is 308 as of today, although government sources in China say that the actual number exceeds one thousand.

§ Why do the banners in Tiananmen Square say "Falun Gong is Good?

§ News of the truth of the persecution broadcast in Tiananmen Square during October 1^st holiday

§ Falun Dafa practitioners in China are becoming more and more creative in their efforts to counter their government's slanderous propaganda.

§ Remembering the Beijing Falun Dafa Press Conference on October 28, 1999

§ UN Human Rights Commissioner visits Beijing

§ Short stories of retribution suffered by authorities who committed crimes against practitioners

and finally

Russian media are so anxious to report the truth of Falun Gong that they arrive at Ms. Zhang Cuiying's painting exhibition the day before the press conference and an hour before the exhibition itself opens!

Danish Practitioners go to Greenland

Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark, and is about 50 times the size of Denmark. It has a population of about 50,000 most of whom are Eskimos. Nuuk, the capital city, is only 300 Km from the North Pole.

Between October 17 and 26, four practitioners from Denmark traveled to Nuuk, to introduce Falun Dafa to the people there. Here are excerpts from their diaries:

October 18 was a bright sunny day and the good weather lasted for eight days. It seemed the early winter weather had been turned back for a little while. The good weather brought good conditions for us to spread Falun Dafa in the streets. It lasted until we left Greenland.

On October 18, we first went to the biggest activity center -- the Culture Exhibition Center. Even though we did not make an appointment, the Director of the Center welcomed us and offered two days of exhibition space. He also promised to put out posters in the Center and contact media and broadcast activity information through the local radio station on our behalf. What a smooth start! We at once contacted another practitioner who was still back in Denmark to have him bring photographs to display. In the meanwhile we also visited the media to arrange interviews.

The photo exhibition started in the afternoon of October 18. Our exhibition was composed of two main themes: The history of how Falun Dafa spread in China, and the truth of Jiang Zemin's persecution against it. When the Center opened its doors, many people came to look at the pictures and talked to practitioners. Almost everyone signed the appeal letters.

We started to do an exercise demonstration. Before the end of the first exercise, many people lined up in front of us and started to follow our movements, so we started to teach them the exercises immediately.

At that moment, a reporter from a TV station came and started videotaping. The report in the event news made us known to residents. We were welcomed on the street all the time from that point on. The two-day photo exhibition and exercise teaching were a huge success. We decided to extend the exhibition two more days and the director of the Center offered free space to us.

Lovely children gathered around us all the time. Maybe because of their pure hearts connecting to their true nature, they were the most enthusiastic group and followed us everywhere to practice with us. They remembered the exercises and we have become good friends. On the last day of the exhibition we gave our exercise music tape to the children. Only after they took down our contact information did they reluctantly leave.

Christine Loftus, a 21-year-old student at Brock University successfully completed a 5-day, 130 km walk from St. Catharines to Toronto on Monday, November 12^th. Christine's walk was part of the Global SOS effort to urgently rescue the Falun Gong practitioners persecuted in China. She carried with her a letter from the Brock University Students' Union that encourages students from other universities to join in the global SOS effort.

On her way, Christine met with Mayor Ray Konkle from the Town of Lincoln, who came out in the rain to give her his heartfelt support.

On Friday, the President of Hamilton's McMaster University Student Union was so touched by her efforts that he immediately sat down and wrote a personal letter of support.

Liz Majic, Equity Commissioner from the University of Toronto Students' Administrative Council said, "I think Christin's initiative is a fantastaic demonstration of student involvement, and leadership... a great way to raise awareness around this issue."

The U of T SAC has voted to campaign for the rights of Falun Gong practitioners and expressed its will in a recent letter to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien.

On arriving in Toronto Monday, November 12^th, Christine walked through Chinatown, and then delivered letters to

University of Toronto Students' Administrative Council,

Mayor Mel Lastman, and

Ryerson University Student's Administrative Council

Publishers of a local Montreal Chinese newspaper have found themselves in the middle of a lawsuit after publishing an article slandering Falun Dafa. The writer of the article posed as a Falun Gong practitioner but the article was very clearly the work of a person being motivated by the Chinese government since it repeated their propaganda and slandered the founder of Falun Gong. Falun Dafa practitioners across Canada acted immediately in obtaining legal counsel to sue the publishers and order an immediate retraction and apology.

Moving now to Thailand and Benjasiri Park in Bangkok

On the full moon of the 12th month of theThai calendar, Thailand celebrates the festival of Loy Kra Thong which took place this year, on October 31^st. Practitioners from Bankok went to Benjasiri Park during the holiday celebration to demonstrate the exercises and distribute fliers. There were many tourists from all over the world during the celebration, including a German woman who had learned about Falun Gong in her home country. She happily joined the Thai practitioners in doing the exercises.

And now, in this week's update from China:

On October 26, 2001, Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Ju Yajun of Heilonjiang Province in northeast China died after a series of brutal forced-feedings during which the Changlinzi labor camp warden injected him with an unknown substance.

Ju's death brings the count of known deaths from police brutality to 39 in the Heilongjiang province alone. The victims' range in age from 17 to 65. Government sources inside China estimate that only one third or fewer of the deaths are reported. 308 Falun Gong practitioners are verified to have died due to brutality in custody since Chinese president Jiang Zemin began the persecution in July, 1999.

In Chinese culture, it is commonly accepted in thought and practice that bad people should die. For the first few years after Falun Gong was introduced to the public, the government of China used its vast propaganda machine to encourage everyone to practice Falun Gong. Amongst the many benefits, practitioners were saving the country billions of dollars in health care. When a government survey concluded in 1998 that the number of practitioners exceeded membership in the Communist Party, President Jiang Zemin instituted the current crackdown. Since July of 1999, the Government of China has flooded the country with lies and false information. The intent? To make everyone in the country believe that Falun Gong is bad and to raise no objections when authorities torture practitioners to death..

And so, Falun Gong practitioners often shout out "Falun Gong is Good" and hold up banners in Tiananmen Square that say "Falun Gong is Good". Practitioners are publishing the truth of the persecution and details of deaths in custody – information that is not allowed to be known through state-controlled media. This truth-clarifying information is distributed through flyers, CDs, television programs such as this one, and also, as in the following account, hanging banners in conspicuous places to help their fellow countrymen know the truth, that Falun Gong is indeed, very good:

Over the October 1st National Day holiday period some practitioners in Beijing risked their lives by putting up 30 six-meter banners and 6 loudspeakers to broadcast the true story of Falun Gong. Four banners and two loudspeakers were erected near Tiananmen Square, with one of the speakers placed at the base of the flagpole. These achievements are quite significant, considering that so many plain clothes police are constantly patrolling the area

Remembering the Beijing Falun Dafa Press Conference on October 28, 1999

On October 28^th two years ago, some Falun Dafa practitioners from Beijing and other places successfully held a "China Falun Dafa Press Conference" in Moon River Holiday Village, Tongzhou District, Beijing. Knowing they would be arrested and tortured, they stepped forward bravely during the time when the world was believing the Chinese propaganda that slandered Falun Dafa. The interntional news media, including Hong Kong media, reported positively on the practice and the event, exposing the brutal persecution.

Those practitioners who organized and participated in the press conference were all arrested and detained shortly afterwards. Two have since died of torture, but their bravery inspired millions of practitioners in China to have the courage to uphold their beliefs.

State-owned media in China are boasting that Falun Gong is being wiped out, whereas FGMTV is receiving reports that in one area of China alone, at least 3,000 more people have come to learn Falun Gong since the crackdown began, including whole families, and that Zhuan Falun, the main book of Falun Gong teachings is in great demand.

We believe that good will be rewarded and bad deeds will be punished. Here are a few stories we received this week about people who suffered after commiting crimes against Falun Gong practitioners in China:

Vice Chief Zheng Huoping, of the police department of Shenqiu County, Henan Province, was in charge of detention centers there. He committed acts of persecution against Dafa practitioners many times. On October 28, on the way to Leihe, he was hit by a vehicle and died. The other four people in the same car with him were unharmed.

Former secretary Yang Jingcheng, of Yi County's Politics and Law Committee of Jinzhou City, actively persecuted Dafa practitioners. Recently he died suddenly of a brain hemorrhage.

A 40-year-old self-employed electric utility repairman who lives at No. 83 Wenming Road of Wuchang District in Wuhan City, assisted the police in arresting a practitioner whose only "crime" was to have distributed literature telling the truth of the persecution against Falun Gong. The repairman's motive in helping the police was to get reward money of 2000 Yuan. Several days later, he felt uncomfortable and went to the hospital for an examination. He was diagnosed with cancer and died a few weeks later in mid October of 2001.

and our final story this week takes place in St. Petersburg in Russia:

In last week's news, we reported that artist and Falun Gong practitioner Zhang Cuiying held a successful exhibit of her paintings in Germany. This week, we have a few photographs from her exhibition in St. Petersburg where the paintings were hung in the National Artists Association building. The exhibition also included posters of the persecution being suffered by practitioners in China.

Local Russian practitioners had generated such enthusiasm for the exhibition that reporters from 5 TV and 3 radio stations arrived one hour before the scheduled start time of the exhibition and one whole day before the press conference!

Ms. Zhang conducted many interviews and answered questions about her experience of torture and solitary confinement in a Chinese labour camp.

Within two hours, the interviews and video footage were being broadcast on air. Chinese Embassy officials in Russia have been diligently spreading their lies about Falun Gong. It is significant that the Russian media are anxious to tell their citizens the other side of the story.

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