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 May 21st, 2002
I’m
Susan Mitchell.
In
this week's update from China…
·
The number of Falun Gong practitioners
verified to have died while in detention is 415. However, reliable sources
inside China put the actual death count at more than 1,700. One government
source advised that 40 were killed in April alone.
Our top story this week:
·
China's Propaganda Minister is
served with a class-action law suit for his role in the persecution of Falun
Gong
Some of the other stories we're following:
·
Over 3000 Muslims attend a Falun
Gong convention in Jakarta, Indonesia and 2000 Practitioners attend the Annual
Experience Sharing Conference of Canada held in Toronto
·
Falun Dafa wins the hearts of
parade spectators at the Hiroshima, Japan May Flower Festival
·
Prison sentences for Chongqing
practitioners who tapped into the local cable TV network,
·
Details of another death in
custody, and…
·
more beautiful, unexplained lights
in the sky!
China’s Propaganda Minister is
Served with a U.S. Class-Action Lawsuit for his part in the Persecution of
Falun Gong:
·
The Falun Dafa Information Center reports that Ding Guangen,
Propaganda Minister of China, who is also a Politburo Member and Deputy Chief
of the "6-10" Office, was served with a class-action law suit filed
May 16, 2002 in a U.S. District Court. He is charged for his role in overseeing
and executing severe human rights abuses against Falun Gong practitioners in China
and overseas.
·
Terry Marsh, an attorney assisting with the case said,
"As the Propaganda Minister of China, Ding is directly responsible for the
deadly propaganda, fabrication and lies to grossly distort Falun Gong’s
teachings and slander its founder and students with the purpose of bending
public opinion to support the government’s persecution of Falun Gong."
·
Ms. Marsh continued: "As the Deputy Chief of the
"6-10" Office — an office established by Jiang Zemin specifically to
carry out the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners — Ding has directly
aided in the murder, torture and hate of Falun Gong practitioners all across
China and in propaganda campaigns overseas."
Over 3000
Islamic People from Jakarta, Indonesia Attend Falun Gong Introduction Convention
and Learn Falun Gong Exercises
·
On May 12, 2002, the Indonesia Falun Dafa Association was
invited to attend the Falun Gong Introduction Convention sponsored by
Indonesian Islam Pesantren Assiddiqiyah.
·
The Islamic Presbyter said to everyone that Falun Gong is
the righteous Fa, or Law and Principles of the Universe.
·
In his opening speech, he told the audience that the purpose
of inviting the Indonesia Falun Dafa Association was to introduce Falun Dafa to
them because the Indonesian people carry so much Karma.
·
Most people in the middle and lower classes there are very
poor. How happy they would be, he said, and how many medical expenses they
would save if they practiced Falun Gong and had their health, mind and heart
nature (Xinxing, in Chinese) improved, and if they were to quit smoking and
abusing drugs.
·
He said that it was mentioned in their scriptures that one
had to go to ancient China if he wanted to pursue profound principles, but now
they don't have to go to China because the profound principle is precisely
Falun Gong right in front of them!
·
More than 3000 Islamic people started learning the exercises
right on spot and listened intently to the introduction of the principles.
·
The presbyter mentioned several times that he hoped Falun
Gong could become the bridge of union for the Chinese and Indonesian nations.
·
While Falun Dafa practitioners around the world celebrated
the tenth anniversary of Falun Dafa's introduction to the public, it was
announced that the Argentine Falun Dafa Association has been founded.
·
FGMtv extends congratulations to the new Argentine Falun
Dafa Association and wishes the practitioners there every success in their
study and practice.
·
The practitioners sent an account to Clear Wisdom Web site
saying that Hiroshima in May is an ocean of flowers. People who have
experienced the sufferings of war cherish the peace they now have.
·
The May Flower Festival, hosted jointly by the China
Broadcast Bureau and the City of Hiroshima, welcomed 1.4 million visitors. The
theme of the festival was "Share life's magnificence and the dignity of
peaceful coexistence."
·
Midway down Peace Boulevard was a stage with broadcasting
equipment, introducing the different parade groups to the spectators. The local
TV station, NHK TV, broadcast the entire scene live.
·
When the beautiful Falun Dafa parade group approached the
broadcasting stage, the female M.C. announced in a kind and lively tone,
"Now passing before us are Falun Gong practitioners in beautiful dresses.
Oh, beautiful heavenly girls are present.
·
Behind them is a beautiful float with three Chinese Characters,
'Zhen-Shan-Ren', 'Zhen' means truthfulness, 'Shan' means compassion, and 'Ren'
means tolerance. That means, to be a good person one must be in accord with the
principles of 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance'.
·
Falun Gong is an advanced Qigong practice for obtaining
excellent health and is widespread in many countries around the world. ... Each
week, there is a 2-hour free lesson at Peace Park. Everybody, please go and
learn!"
·
This, from the NHK-TV announcer! Falun Gong is persecuted in
China, but greatly appreciated in other countries.
·
The 610 office in Yueyang Chengling Paper
Factory has deprived retired people of financial resources by stopping pension
payments, sent several dozen practitioners to the detention center, held others
illegally in a private prison, and searched the homes of Falun Gong
practitioners.
·
In addition, they fined practitioners as much as
ten thousand Yuan and no less than a thousand Yuan, which would be two months'
income for an average urban worker in China.
The
founder of Falun Gong writes about world catastrophes that have been avoided.
·
Many of you will remember seeing the
satellite photograph released by NASA of the earth shrouded in a cloud
formation that looked like a devil. Mr. Li Hongzhi, founder of Falun Dafa, has
said that it was the manifestation of the evil elements that existed at that
time.
·
On May 19th, Mr. Li, sent a
message of greeting to those attending the Experience Sharing Conference of
Canada in Toronto.
·
Entitled "The Blessings of
Dafa", he advised that during the ten years that he has taught Dafa,
"even predestined events in this world have been greatly changed. The
catastrophe of the comet has passed, the third Great War has been averted and the
risk in 1999 from the establishment, stasis, degeneration and destruction of
Heaven and Earth will no longer recur."
The
Large Leshan Buddha Statue in Sichuan Province Emits a dazzling light,
witnessed by Thousands of People
·
Chengdu Daily Newspaper reported on May 7, 2002 that at 9:43
a.m. on May 6, after a day of heavy rain, a colorful ring of light appeared in
the cloudy sky above the Leshan Buddha Statue.
·
The ring had a diameter of approximately 300 meters with an
interior red ring and an exterior purple ring. The color of the ring was
sometimes clear and sometimes blurry, and circled the Buddha Statue while
emitting colorful beams of light. The tourists around the Buddha Statue were
very excited and eagerly watched this miraculous scene.
·
At 11 o'clock, the ring started to emit a dazzling light.
Such a magnificent sight impressed the tourists who had come from all over the
world and prompted many people to press both of their hands together and close
their eyes to pray.
·
Around noon the Buddha light disappeared. The scene lasted
for more than three hours.
·
It has been reported that in mid
March, ten police in Shulan City held Sun Jianhua, aged 34, for seven days and
nights, without food, water, or sleep.
·
He survived the extreme cold even
though he was wearing only thin clothes.
·
However, the experience had been so
tortuous that he collapsed after the police left, and died two hours later.
·
The Associated Press reported on May 19th, that
Xinhua state media said that four Falun Gong practitioners have been sentenced
to prison terms for tapping into a cable television network and broadcasting
information about the banned group.
·
The four Falun Gong practitioners were sentenced Friday, May
17th by the Chongqing No.1 Intermediate People's Court.
·
Jin Wei drew the longest sentence of 16 years. Li Xiangdong
was sentenced to 15 years, and two others, Shu Jianqiu and Li Wei, were given
prison terms of nine and seven years, respectively.
·
A fifth practitioner involved in the broadcast, Liu Chunshu,
has died of illness, the report said without giving details.
·
When those details come to light through the efforts of
practitioners who witnessed the events, we can be fairly certain they will say
that Mr. Liu was tortured to death by the authorities.
Colored circle
of light surrounds the sun in Beijing:
·
Last week, we reported on a beautiful circle of colored
light surrounding the sun in the Lichen District of Beijing.
·
Today, we have a photograph taken at the Shilin (or
"stone forest") Scenic Area in Kunming City of Yunnan Province at
around 12:30 p.m. on May 14 2002
·
Eyewitnesses say the ring looked bigger than a soccer field.
Its position was just above "Ashima," a rock named after an ancient
legendary lady who died fighting an evil landlord.
·
Many visitors saw this phenomenon which lasted about half an
hour and then faded away.
And
just when we thought that science had figured it all out… the universe presents
us with another beautiful puzzle!
·
The Chongqing Morning Newspaper
reported that on May 15, 2002 at approximately 8:30 a.m., a mirage of a city
appeared in the air above Chongqing City.
It lasted about 20 minutes and then disappeared in the fog.
·
One Eyewitness described it as a "floating city"
above the city, while another said it was like a "traditional Chinese
landscape painting."