Ying Zhu's Press Conference

Ms. Ying Zhu held a press conference on June 22, 2001, at 11:00 am in Montreal. She talked about how she was kidnapped by the Chinese police and how they interrogated her, intimidated her and tried to make her give up practicing Falun Gong.

Ms. Zhu went from Hong Kong to Canton to visit her ailing mother who had just gone through two heart surgeries. She was detained by police while going through customs in Canton. She was taken to a room where there stood over 20 people in uniform. They searched her belongings, confiscated her Falun Gong books and exercise music, and they threw her to the floor while snatching away her personal book of phone numbers.

In the 33 days that followed, Ying was confined to a room of about 20 square meters in size. Three people monitored her every movement around the clock, including when she needed to use the washroom or sleep. As Ying found out after her release, her captors arranged her to meet with her sister-in-law the next day after the Hong Kong Human Rights Information Center confirmed that she had been arrested. It can be seen just how scared the Chinese authorities have become about revealing the truth on what they are actually doing. While in captivity, three people interrogated her daily, persuading her to give up Falun Gong, and tried to find evidence of her involvement with the "Anti-Chinese Forces" by meticulously going through her personal phone book. They wanted to use these to make up a black list to further persecute Falun Gong practitioners overseas. A few days after her arrest, a "Professor of Psychology" whose name was Qiu came to intimidate Ying. He blatantly attacked Falun Gong and claimed that anyone who refuses to give up the practice has mental problems and needs psychiatric treatment. He made it clear that in China the authorities could create evidence to punish whoever they wanted. As an example, he pointed out that a formal Marshall of the PLA, Mr. He Long, died from this kind of persecuted.

Ying was allowed to go home on June 12, although she was still under close surveillance. Before her departure, they intimidated her not to tell the truth when back in Canada, not to tell anyone that they were members of the Security Department of the Chinese government. She even was detained again for 3 hours in Hong Kong while going through the customs.

Ying feels very lucky that she was able to regain freedom. She says that her release is a clear example that international pressure does make a difference and could make the Chinese government change its behavior towards Falun Gong. She hopes that all Falun Gong practitioners could be released soon through intensified efforts of the international community.

This news conference was highly successful and attracted much media attention. Canada's media giants, like CBC TV, CBC National Radio, Radio Canada International, AFP, CP, and Global TV, all came to interview Ms. Zhu. They also interviewed an assistant of a MP who has helped release Ying, as well as some students of Concordia University. Falun Gong practitioners demonstrated the 5 sets of exercises. All journalists present felt angry about the gross violation of human rights against Falun Gong and were happy that Ying was able to again embrace freedom. Some Chinese media also interviewed Ying at the end of the conference.

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