Falun
Gong is freely practiced in more than 50 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 February 5th, 2002.
I’m
Susan Mitchell.
Our
top story this week:
·
During meetings of the World Economic Forum at the Waldorf
Astoria in New York, hundreds of Falun Dafa practitioners meditate peacefully
outside the hotel to protest inhuman treatment of their fellow practitioners in
China
And
some of our other stories:
·
Over 1,300 Chinese and Western Falun Gong practitioners from
the US, Canada, Taiwan, Sweden, Britain, Germany, Australia, Hong Kong and
other places attend an experience-sharing conference in New York.
·
Montreal's Les Presses Chinoise violates the court order
issued by a Quebec Superior Court Judge by publishing a special 12-page
supplement specifically to defame Falun Gong
·
In Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russian practitioners of Falun
Gong appeal peacefully outside the Chinese Embassy and then do an exhibition of
the exercises in Red Square
·
Pink lotuses in winter! Falun Dafa practitioners participate
in the St. Paul's Minnesota Winter Carnival parade
·
Exercises in the snow in Skopje, Macedonia
In this week's
update from China:
·
Canadians aren't the only ones digging out from snow storms!
The heaviest snowfall in 30 years strikes the south of Xinjian autonomous
region.
·
The sad story of Wang Jingguo, a young award-winning teacher
who was tortured to death for refusing to give up his belief and practice of
Falun Gong
·
and… practitioners proclaim Falun Dafa Day in many cities
across China
and finally…
A
short interview with Ukrainian Kirovski District Police Inspector, Mikhael
Marcheladze from Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine
·
While some held noisy parades, Falun Dafa practitioners
conducted a quiet news conference in front of the Waldorf Astoria hotel where
the World Economic Forum was taking place.
·
Their purpose was to clarify the truth of the persecution in
China to the business community.
·
On January 31st, over 200 practitioners, all
wearing yellow Falun Dafa scarves, had been demonstrating the exercises and
sending forth righteous thoughts since the early morning.
·
At 11:30, approximately 30 different local and international
media attended the news conference and afterwards interviewed the speakers as
well as those who were doing the exercises.
·
One of the speakers, Mr. Tan Yongjie, in his first public
appearance in the US, told how he escaped from China after having his legs
branded in 13 places with a red-hot iron.
·
As the numbers of meditating practitioners increased, police
kindly extended the cordoned off area for them to sit safely without disturbing
either traffic or passers-by.
·
The 2002 Greater New York Area Falun Dafa Cultivation
Experience Sharing Conference was held in the Hilton Hotel on February 1, 2002.
Over 1,300 Chinese and Western Falun Gong practitioners from the US, Canada,
Taiwan, Sweden, Britain, Germany, Australia, Hong Kong and other places
attended the conference.
·
Falun Gong founder, Teacher Li Hongzhi sent a congratulatory
message encouraging all practitioners to "Walk your paths well."
·
The day long program of speeches, poetry and music also
included a reading of the resolution just passed in the New York State House of
Representatives. The new resolution condemns the Jiang Zemin regime's
persecution of Falun Gong in China and praises Falun Dafa and its founder and
Teacher, Li Hongzhi.
moving now
to Montreal in Canada…
·
On January 7th, Quebec Superior Court Judge
Reynald Fréchette upheld the decision of his colleague, prohibiting a
Montréal-based, Chinese-language newspaper, Les
Presses Chinoises, from publishing any materials defaming Falun Gong.
·
The judge mentioned that the fact that Falun Gong is
persecuted in China was a factor in his decision, and that the rights of
reputation of the Falun Gong practitioners superseded the issue of freedom of
the press.
·
The court order, first handed down by Justice Danielle
Grenier on December 10th, restrains the newspaper and the author, Ms. Bing He,
from publishing or distributing any materials which are unreasonable and
contrary to Canadian and Quebec law that attack Falun Gong, its founder, or its
practitioners.
·
FGMtv is sad to report that once again, those loyal to the
Jiang Zemin regime in China have shown their true colors. On Saturday, February
2nd, in direct violation of the Court Order, Les Presses Chinoise
published a special 12-page issue specifically to defame Falun Gong.
·
Many phrases used are copied directly from Chinese
propaganda.
·
It will be very interesting to see how the Quebec Superior
Court reacts to this newspaper's refusal to comply with Canadian law.
moving now
to Russia…
·
On January 27, 2002, Falun Dafa practitioners from St.
Petersburg and Moscow gathered and held a peaceful demonstration in front of
the Chinese Embassy. The practitioners unfurled banners reading, "Chinese
Government: Stop the Illegal Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners," and
"Stop Slandering Falun Gong in Russia." During the demonstration,
they also held photographs of those practitioners tortured to death in China by
Jiang Zemin's regime.
·
As in other countries, embassy staff refused to accept the
letter from the practitioners that was addressed to the President of China
·
Later in the day, the group went to Red Square – a
politically sensitive place in Moscow – to perform the exercises there.
Authorities allowed them to go ahead and do the exercises as well as videotape
them. This is a wonderful improvement in the general climate for Falun Dafa in
Russia.
·
The Russian practitioners assured us that it was not snowing
in Red Square when this photo was taken. As in so many other places, small
Falun – the law wheels of Falun Dafa – floated around the practitioners as they
exercised.
·
Saint Paul, the capital of Minnesota in the US, this year
celebrated its 116th Carnival Festival. The Carnival Parade has
always been an important part of the celebration and attracts about 50,000
people.
·
This year, Falun Dafa practitioners brought the beauty and
peace of the East with their colorful float decorated with large pink lotuses
and people in golden yellow outfits performing graceful exercises
Onlookers
applauded and praised the float as it moved along. Many raised their arms and
showed the V sign to express their support and encouragement.
During
the first week of January 2002, several practitioners from Canada, Sweden and
Austria, spent time in the snow-covered city of Skopje, Macedonia to introduce
Falun Dafa to the local people and inform them of the brutal persecution in
China.
Using
every opportunity to clarify the truth about Falun Dafa, they handed out flyers
to anyone they met--taxi drivers, police officers, store clerks or passers-by.
At
a Chinese restaurant on their last day, the Canadian practitioner handed the
Chinese waiter a Falun Dafa brochure and told him that she had learned to know
and appreciate Chinese culture through Falun Gong. He was surprised to hear
that and accepted the brochure. Then the restaurant owner appeared, looked at
the flyer and said, "Those three words, Truthfulness, Benevolence, and
Forbearance, are the most important thing on the whole flyer. If you don't have
those, you have nothing." He went on to say that "people need to hear
these principles." Then he asked for a small supply of flyers because, he
said, many employees of the Chinese Embassy come to eat at his restaurant.
And
in this week's update from China:
Canadians aren't the only ones digging out from winter snow storms:
·
Heavy snowfalls in the Hetian and Kashi areas have resulted
in property damage and deaths. According to Xinhua news agency in a January 25th
report, the heaviest snowfall in 30 years has struck the south of Xinjiang
region. Temperatures fell as low as minus 26ºC.
·
In Pishan, Moyu and Yutian, the three counties in the Hetian
area, the number of people affected by the snowstorm is reported at 3,527; the
number of cattle deaths is 1, 340, and houses are collapsing everywhere. In
Yecheng County, Kashi area, 4,000 cattle froze to death, and 12,000 more were
trapped in the snow. The losses caused by the snowstorm are estimated at
millions of Yuan, and the people in the affected areas face tremendous
difficulties because of the extreme weather.
·
In the community of spiritual cultivators, it is said that
so called 'natural' disasters are actually warnings to people and retribution
for bad deeds committed. For instance, the persecution in China of Falun Gong,
a righteous practice, is a persecution of goodness and innocence. Will Buddhas,
Taos and Gods allow it to go unpunished?
Falun
Dafa Days proclaimed by practitioners throughout China!
·
Inspired by practitioners from the City
of Changchun proclaiming December 22nd, 2001 Falun Dafa Day,
practitioners in many cities across China do the same thing to celebrate the
Spring Festival
A
Falun Gong artist has done this series of drawings to detail the story of one practitioner
from China:
1.
Twenty-nine year old Jingguo Wang began to practice Falun
Dafa in 1999.
1.
Because he was an outstanding history teacher at Nongfeng
Town High School in Shuangcheng City of Heilongjiang Province, every year he
won a prize for teaching.
2.
He also received awards for being a city and town role model
several times. One year, he won the second prize in the city's academic thesis
competition.
3.
When Jiang Zemin began to persecute Falun Gong on July 20,
1999, Jingguo experienced an extremely heavy heart. How could Falun Dafa, which
is so good, be slandered?
4.
In June of 2000, he decided to go to Beijing to appeal and
clarify the truth of Falun Dafa to authorities at the appeals office. However,
he was illegally detained for 19 days in Shungcheng City's Second Detention
Center.
5.
On November 8, 2000, in order once again to validate Falun
Dafa, Jingguo and his family went to Beijing to appeal but once again were
arrested and detained in Shungcheng City's Second Detention Center. At the end
of his 15 days' detention, the officials of Nongfeng Town said, "Feel free
to detain him for another month. It's even better if he can be sent to a labor
camp."
6.
On December 3, 2000, he was illegally transferred to a cell
for criminals who constantly tortured him. They forced him to sleep on the
cement floor for over 40 days and beat him every evening.
7.
One used a finger to poke at his eyeballs. Others kicked
Wang on his chest with their leather boots, making him unable to catch his
breath and suffer much pain.
8.
Another punched his face countless times. By then, his
heart, lungs and kidneys were deteriorating dramatically. Despite all this, the
prison guard encouraged the criminals to continue their atrocities.
9.
Even though Wang Jingguo was brutally beaten many times, he didn't
treat those ruffians with resentment or hatred. On the contrary, he still told
them of the principle that "Good is rewarded with good and evil is
punished," trying to raise their benevolence.
10.
When Wang was close to dying, the detention center – not
wanting to accept responsibility – extorted 2000 Yuan from his family, and
asked them to take him home. When his family tried to take him to Beijing for
medical treatment, they were prevented from doing so by Nongfeng town
officials. On May 23rd, 2001, Jingguo Wang, a righteous and kind
young man, died of his injuries.
and
finally… an interview from the
Ukraine:
An
Australian practitioner recently interviewed a Ukraine police inspector. Here
is what he had to say:
"My
name is Mikhail. I started practicing Falun Gong two years ago. Even though it
seemed coincidental, as soon as I started doing the exercises, I knew that this
practice was very good.
Here,
I want to express my sadness that the Chinese police do not know the truth of
Falun Dafa.
I
am a Ukraine policeman. I wear a police uniform, but Falun Dafa does not have
any uniforms. Our Teacher said that in Falun Dafa the most important thing is a
person's heart. Now there are so many people practicing Falun Dafa, including
Ukrainian policemen.
Like
practitioners in 50 other countries all over the world, we practice in parks
and hand out flyers. We want to let more people learn about Falun Dafa; we want
everyone to know about it. We are helping everyone to understand Dafa. When we
distribute materials, we communicate with people from our hearts. We also use
newspapers, TV and radio broadcasts to help people know the truth.
Almost
all of my friends know about Falun Dafa, and many of them also practice Dafa.
Falun
Gong brought peace and harmony to my life and family. I abandoned bad habits,
fear and dirty thoughts. Falun Gong brings peace and harmony to all people in
society. The principle of Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance makes me feel
fulfilled. Falun Dafa is wonderful!"
China's information blockade, revealing propaganda, and bringing you the truth of Falun Gong.