Falun Gong is freely practiced in at lease 57 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 June 4^th, 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 417. Last December while the number of deaths confirmed by the Falun Dafa Information Center topped 300, government sources inside China revealed that the actual number was well over 1,600. More recently, other sources in China say the number could be 4,000 or even far greater. Information about human rights abuses in Mainland China is strongly controlled. Therefore it is very difficult and dangerous for people there to release that information to the outside world. Evidence suggests that news agencies and human rights organizations have barely scratched the surface of the tragedy that's really happening in China.

Our top story this week:

Reliable sources inside China warn that Jiang Zemin and Luo Gan are plotting a series of terrorist acts around Beijing to frame Falun Gong.

And some of our other stories:

· Cuiying Zhang's art exhibit in Boston is warmly received

· Published health benefits from practicing Falun Gong

· Floods in Hunan Province affect 20 million people

· In Seping, China, an 8-year-old child has to identify his mother's body after she is tortured to death because of practicing Falun Gong

and finally…

· A tale of two cities: very different reactions to Falun Gong in Changchun, China and Karlstad, Sweden.

Our top story: another plot to frame Falun Gong in Beijing…

· Outside China, people place great importance on third party validation of news reports. Because of the information blockade on all matters relating to Falun Gong in Mainland China, this validation is rarely possible, or takes weeks to obtain, by which time, the damage has been done.

· On June 1, 2002, the Falun Dafa Information Center in New York issued a release stating that Chinese leader Jiang Zemin and Luo Gan, head of the 610 Office, are planning to create a series of "horrifying incidents" around Beijing to frame Falun Gong.

· According to reliable sources in China who have accurately revealed similar plots over the past two years, the plans include explosions in some government offices and labour camps, and the "sacrifice" of some government officials and police staff.

· The intent is to use the incidents to incite the public's hatred toward Falun Gong, especially among government and police officials.

· The plan is to also use the incidents as an excuse to kill Falun Gong practitioners.

· On numerous occasions in the past, forewarnings from these same sources were followed by criminal incidents that state-run media blamed on Falun Gong.

· Adam Montenaro, a spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Information Center said that third party investigation has never been able to corroborate the so-called "evidence" against Falun Gong practitioners. However, those state media reports have been used to manipulate public opinion in China against Falun Gong and its principle of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance.

· "The truth," Mr. Montenaro said, "is that Jiang Zemin is just trying to serve his own personal agenda of mobilizing the country behind himself to strengthen his power base, including plotting horrific acts to demonize a peaceful spiritual practice."

And in other news…

· For three days beginning Tuesday, May 21^st, 2002, Ms. Cuiying Zhang, a Falun Gong practitioner from Sydney, Australia, exhibited her paintings in Boston.

· On the first day, the exhibit was held in the hall of the state Capitol building. Massachusetts State Representative Mr. Byron Rushing came and gave a welcome speech.

· On the following two days, the exhibition moved to the central hall of the main building of MIT, the famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

· Some visitors who came on the first day invited their friends to come the following days, saying that they haven't seen such a wonderful painting exhibition in Boston for a long time.

· In the past year, Ms. Zhang's serene paintings have been exhibited in more than 70 cities in over 20 countries. Her hope is that through her works, people can understand the peacefulness and harmony of Falun Gong and the strength of living one's life according to the universal principals of truth, compassion and forbearance.

· She took the opportunity in Boston to thank the American government and people for their support of Falun Gong. At the same time, she reminded the attendees of Jiang Zemin's ongoing illegal and inhuman persecution against practitioners in China.

· Major Boston media including the Boston Globe, Boston Metro and the World Journal covered the event.

Published health benefits from practising Falun Gong…

· Before Jiang Zemin began to persecute Falun Gong in China, hospital researchers in several cities conducted large scale surveys of the health benefits experienced by practitioners.

· One such survey titled The Falun Gong health effect survey of ten thousand cases in Beijing published on October 23, 1998, was signed by eleven researchers from the following Chinese government institutions: the China Union Medical University, The Chinese People's Police General Hospital, Beijing Hospital No.2, the Chinese Traditional Medicine Research Institute, and the Chinese People's Military General Hospital 304.

· The researchers collected 14,199 survey forms from people who practiced Falun Gong. 12,731 forms were deemed valid.
· 11,892 participants stated they had various diseases.
· Over one half, 6,962 reported they had fully recovered;
· Almost one quarter, 2,956 were well on the way to recovery and
· 1,876 had received some benefit.

· Only 107 said there had been no change in their health.

· The researchers concluded that the practice had saved the Chinese government millions of dollars in health care.

· These published statistics by Chinese government researchers sit in stark contrast to the propaganda published on Jiang Zemin's orders that say that 1600 people died because they practice Falun Gong!

· A couple of weeks ago, on May 19^th, a practitioner in Leicester, England, received an invitation to demonstrate and teach the exercises at a Holistic Health Day organized by the local Adult Education College

· Practitioners came from several cities to help, since experience has shown that people who come to health fairs are attracted by the exercises and love to ask questions about the practice

· The booth was so popular and the organizers were so pleased that they would not let the practitioners pay for the exhibition space!

Moving now to China…

Catastrophic flooding in Hunan Province:

· Reports from Beijing say that more than 20 million people have been hit by severe floods in the Chinese central province of Hunan, covering 14 Cities and 71 Counties.

· Some parts of the province have had 40 days of rain since the beginning of April, while other parts suffered tornadoes and hailstorms.

· Hunan Daily newspaper reported that 2,540,000 hectares of crops have been affected by the floods, and harvests in 590,000 hectares have been completely ruined.

According to China's official media, the economic loss directly caused by the floods has reached $943 million US.

8 Year-Old has to identify mother's body…

· Sources in China have recently confirmed that Ms. Dai Chunhua's 8 year-old son, in the company of his 70 year-old grandmother, identified his mother's body at the Siping City morgue in China's Jilin Province on March 9, 2002.

· Thirty-three year-old Ms. Dai had been a nurse in Siping's Pear County Hospital before she was detained, persecuted, and eventually died from maltreatment by authorities because she practiced Falun Gong.

Huge Double Rainbow Circles the Sun over the City of Qingdao in Shandong Province

· At about 10 a.m. on the morning of May 23^rd, a rare double rainbow suddenly appeared and completely circled the Sun over the City of Qingdao in Shandong Province. At 11:10 a.m., the outer rainbow weakened, and at 12:00 noon, the double rainbow disappeared. You can see from the photograph that the sky is totally clear. There had been no rain to produce these circular rainbows!

Hong Kong unemployment and suicide rates increase…

· The Hong Kong government recently announced that the unemployment rate from February to April this year was 7.1%. This is a rise of .1% over the previous season.

· Since the Chinese government assumed the leadership of Hong Kong, the unemployment rate has progressively increased.

· More disturbing, however, is the increase in the number of suicides. A recent investigation determined that there is a relationship between financial hardship and suicide in Hong Kong.

· According to the Hong Kong Suicide-Prevention Assistant Organization, 988 people committed suicide in 2001. This is an increase of 106 over the year 2000.

· On average, 2 to 3 people commit suicide in Hong Kong every day and the age of victims is getting younger.

A tale of 2 cities: Changchun in northeastern China, and Karlstad in Sweden.

· Falun Gong practitioners in Dehui city set up thirty loudspeakers to clarify the truth about Falun Gong to people there.

· On May 14, 2002, after the First Division of the Changchun Police Department learned this news, they sent four of their most vicious police agents to investigate and pressure the local police.

· On their way back to Changchun, the four agents were involved in a very serious car accident.

· The driver died on the spot, and the other three were seriously injured. One died later in the hospital emergency room.

· Police officials from Dehui City were shocked and said that this was divine retribution.

· The persecution of Falun Gong by the First Division of the Changchun Police Department has been particularly brutal. Although they know that practitioners are honest and good people, they have tortured and disabled many of them. Those who died after being tortured or who were killed outright by the police have been secretly cremated.

· Gradually, their relatives and friends smuggle details of the deaths to the Falun Dafa Information Center in New York.

Two weeks after the Changchun police were killed, half a world away in Karlstad, Sweden, practitioners there sent this report to Clear Wisdom Net:

· Falun Dafa Day in Karlstad on June 1^st began with a demonstration of the five sets of Falun Gong exercises at the City Square. The Falun Dafa music filled the air with soothing tunes and there was also a picture exhibition. Our presence was appreciated by the passers-by who often stopped to talk with us.

· In the afternoon we headed towards the city park. Several people stopped to learn the exercises. Many visiting Chinese people seemed very surprised when they noticed that one can legally and freely practice Falun Gong in a dignified manner in Sweden. Because of the Jiang regime's propaganda, they are unaware that Falun Gong is practiced in over fifty countries around the world and that it is very appreciated because of its universal guiding principles and simple and beneficial exercises.

· The day ended with a lecture at the Gallery Lars at the city library. Later in the evening, the attendees were presented with some information about Falun Gong's historical background and its principles. We concluded by answering their questions.

· The events of this day will forever live on in our memories. To arrange a day like this is a very valuable gift.

· Changchun and Karlstad. The same peaceful spiritual practice. Two very different stories.

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