 42-year-old Ms. Ren Shujie was reduced to 88 lbs through beatings, torture and inhumane conditions in a Chinese labor camp. See recent cases of torture victims (CAUTION: Contains graphic material) |
News and Activities from Around the
World -- September 2, 2005
Issued by Clearwisdom Net
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When the former head of the Chinese Communist Party, Jiang Zemin, launched the campaign to "eradicate" Falun Gong in 1999, many China watchers called it a throw back to the extreme periods of the Cultural Revolution.
State-run media outlets ran shrill, continuous programs vilifying Falun Gong, and virtually ever sector of society was mobilized to demonize and isolate those who practice the ancient Chinese exercise and meditation discipline.
All the while, hundreds of thousands were hounded by local police, with most winding up in police detention centers or labor camps where torture, and sometimes death, was the norm.
In recent months, however, the CCP's violent campaign against Falun Gong has taken a deceptive turn: it's gone underground.
A Change in Rhetoric, Not Policy
As the plight of Falun Gong in China has gained more and more attention in the international community, the CCP leadership has faced increasingly difficult questions from government leaders and human rights watchers abroad.
In response, to avoid public condemnation inside China and thwart criticism from abroad, the media blitz against Falun Gong that once flooded China's state-run airwaves have been reduced to a trickle. But the relative silence does not represent a softened policy toward Falun Gong.
More than 100 deaths of Falun Gong practitioners were reported in each of the past several months. For the past five years, and continuing through to today, up to dozens of cases of torture or severe abuse are reported from inside China every day.
To date, more than 2,800 deaths from torture or abuse have been confirmed, with the actual death-toll believed to be 7,000 or more. More than 44,000 cases of torture or severe abuse have been documented.
For the 100 million people in China who practice Falun Gong, beneath the front of relative normalcy projected by CCP propagandists, the terror continues.
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NEWS
- Sept. 01
Falun Dafa Information Center, www.faluninfo.net
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE FALUN
DAFA
INFORMATION CENTER
Contacts: Gail Rachlin (+1 917-757-9780), Levi Browde (+1
646-415-0998), Erping
Zhang (+1 646-533-6147), or Christina Chai (+1 917-386-5068).
Fax: 646-792-3916 Email: 
,
Website: http://www.faluninfo.net/
According to the summer news brief published by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL), at a hearing entitled, "Falun Gong and China's Continuing War on Human Rights" before the House International Relations Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations, the DRL called on China to honor its international commitments and its own constitution in respecting religious freedom.
On July 22, 2000, a Falun Gong practitioners was brutally beaten by
armed
police (AFP photo)
The Department urged China to travel the path to human rights and political liberty at the hearing July 21. The DRL called for Falun Gong practitioners to be accorded their basic rights to freedom of belief, conscience and assembly.
The State Department continues to designate China as a "Country of Particular Concern" over its severe violations of religious freedom. In 2006, the DRL will place priority on funding capacity-building projects for NGOs, human rights awareness for rural residents, labor rights protection for migrant workers and training to strengthen public participation in governance.
The DRL will also continue to promote China's compliance with international labor standards.
The article stated that the calling of our country is to advance freedom, support the allies of liberty everywhere, and help others create the kind of society that protects the rights of the individual and thus promotes the common good. China is no exception to these goals.
The Swedish Malmo Festival started on August 21 2005 and many tourists went to the National Park to watch different activities. On the lawn of the northeastern part of the park, Falun Gong practitioners demonstrated the practice's exercises, performed waist-drum and dances, staged an exhibition and ran a "Folding Paper Lotus Flowers" project.
Beside a sign reading, "Rescue the orphans of Falun Gong practitioners" in Swedish, many adults and children sat around a table. They were listening to practitioners talking about the stories of some featured Chinese children, while folding lotus flowers.
"The boy who is demonstrating the Falun Gong exercises there is Liu Xiaotian. After he escaped from China, he came to Denmark. When he was sixteen years old, both of his parents were persecuted to death because of practising Falun Gong. He once lived alone for one year without anyone assisting or taking care of him. He often weeps for long periods of time and wakes up from nightmares."
"Rongrong, four years old, lost three family members who loved her most. Sometimes, she will climb onto a stool and bend over the table to kiss the urn which contains her father's ashes. Sometimes she will innocently tell others, 'My father is in heaven.'
"Rongrong's father, Zou Songtao, was arrested by the Chinese police because he was not willing to give up the belief of 'Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.' Her father was viciously beaten with electric batons by Wan Xin and Shao Zhenghua, the policemen in the labour camp in Zibowang Village, Shandong Province on November 3rd, 2000. Afterwards, he fell from the building in which he was tortured on the same day. He was only twenty eight years old when he died. Because Jiang Zemin gave the secret order: "If Falun Gong practitioners are beaten to death, the authorities can regard it as suicide," many people believe that Zou was forced off the upper story of the building or was thrown from a window after he was beaten to death to create a 'suicide scene.'
"Rongrong's mother, Zhang Yunhe, was forced to flee from home to avoid arrest because of her belief. Afterwards, she was sent to Dashan female prison in Qingdao and has been imprisoned since then. Rongrong had to live with her grandparents when she was only two and a half years old. However, her grandmother in her sixties could not endure losing her son-in-law and forced-separation with her daughter, and she passed away in August 2001."
"Xuanxuan, five years old, has not seen her father for three years. Since she was two years old, she had to flee from home with her mother and grandparents. One night last February, these three adults were taken to a brainwashing centre in Harbin. Xuanxuan silently sat alone for a whole night."
"Little Kaixin often weeps by herself. Both of her parents are Falun Gong practitioners. When she was one and a half years old, her mother, Luo Zhixiang, was persecuted to death on the 5th of December 2002. Her father, Huang Guohua, was also persecuted and illegally detained by the authorities. Kaixin was raised by her paternal grandparents. She has never revealed her mother's death to her maternal grandmother. With kindhearted people's help, Kaixin and her father have been rescued abroad."
Nearly 2,700 deaths of Falun Gong practitioners have been verified during the past six years of cruel persecution in Mainland China; however, the actual number of deaths is believed to be much higher. There are still hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners imprisoned in labour camps, prisons and mental hospitals, where they are subjected to torture, brainwashing and forced slave labor.
During the persecution of a hundred million Falun Gong practitioners, about ten million children in China have been affected. Many children have been expelled from school, become homeless, discriminated against and detained with their parents, and some have even been persecuted to death. Many children have become orphans because their parents were persecuted to death. The ages of the orphans are between five and eighteen. Some orphans only stayed with their parents for a short time before their parents were persecuted to death. Most orphans cannot get any help from the Chinese society. Some orphans don't even know that their parents have already passed away and are deeply traumatized. They urgently need help.
Many people came to the paper lotus flower folding table. Some parents who had listened to the explanations told newcomers the meaning of folding the paper lotus flowers and the stories of the orphans in China. People left with leaflets and the lotus flowers they had made. Many of them expressed their deep sympathy for the orphans.
On August 27, 2005, the Japan National Fireworks Competition was held in Omagari, Kamioka, and Akita-Shi. Falun Gong practitioners from northeast Japan drove hours to Omagari to distribute Falun Dafa truth-clarification materials to visitors, so as to help people learn the truth about the persecution of Falun Gong in China.
The fireworks tradition of Omagari started from Meiji year 43. It has a long history and has become world famous. Every year on the last weekend of August, the best fireworks makers of Japan gather here to light up their personally-made fireworks and to compete with each other. Visitors from all over the nation and overseas crowd the small city to enjoy the magnificent fireworks. Of course, this is an excellent opportunity for Falun Gong practitioners to clarify the truth.
About 11p.m. the night before the contest, practitioners from the northeast region set off for Akita. At 4 a.m., they arrived. After a short rest, the practitioners sent forth righteous thoughts and practiced the Falun Gong exercises. During the whole morning, practitioners were preparing informational newspapers by folding them in half so that they could be distributed easier.
In the afternoon, the tour groups began to arrive and soon the streets were full of visitors. After a quick lunch, the practitioners carried stacks of newspaper to pass out to visitors outside all the entrances to the fireworks competition site.
Passing out newspaper and clarifying truth
The temperature was about 35 to 36 degrees Celsius (95 to 97 degrees Fahrenheit) and the sun was burning hot. Inside the park, visitors were drinking cold beer and eating ice-cream under the sunshade. Outside the park, the practitioners were passing out newspapers in the sun and they were all sweating. Many people accepted the newspapers, asked about the contents, and listened to the practitioners' truth clarification. Some accepted the newspaper with both hands to express their respect. Some older citizens who spoke Chinese chatted with practitioners in Chinese and happily left with a copy of the newspaper. Some people didn't understand why practitioners chose this date to hand out newspapers. A practitioner answered that there were more people coming on this date, and we hope that more Japanese people could hear the truth of Falun Dafa. There were also some people who had misunderstandings about Falun Dafa, but the practitioners were not affected by this. Bearing a wish to have more people learn the truth, they kept passing out papers until night. When night fell and the fireworks began, the practitioners quietly left the park.
The local police department said there were over 800,000 visitors to the event this year, over 100,000 more than last year. The practitioners were happy to know that so many people had an opportunity to learn the truth of Falun Dafa.
The Falun Dafa practitioners from the northeast region came to Akita to distribute truth materials last year, too. Since then, they had driven over 3,000 km to the counties and cities throughout northeast region to promote Dafa and clarify truth. Whenever there was a large-scale celebration, practitioners would drive there to pass out newspapers. At times when there are no major events, practitioners will drive to areas where there are no practitioners, to promote Dafa and distribute newspapers. These practitioners are from all walks of life and include housewives, professors, and PhD students.
According to the practitioner who organizes the activities, they plan to continue the truth clarification in cities in Fukushima County and in the future, practitioners will promote Falun Dafa in Hokkaido, the north island of Japan.
