(Minghui.org) Jiang Zemin, former chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), ordered that Falun Gong be banned in July 1999. To justify the persecution, the CCP constantly spread slanderous propaganda demonizing Falun Gong, and inciting hatred against practitioners. The propaganda that most deceived people was the “Tiananmen Self-immolation hoax.”

Five individuals set fire to themselves on Tiananmen Square in Beijing eleven years ago, on January 23, 2001. Within hours of the event, footage of the grisly scene was continuously broadcast over the state-controlled media throughout China, as well as around the world, with reports claiming that the self-immolators were Falun Gong practitioners. The incident shocked the world, and within China, public opinion began to turn from respect and sympathy for Falun Gong, to mistrust and vilification. However, an analysis of the entire event clearly shows that the “self-immolation” was a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) fabrication staged to discredit Falun Gong.

“Self-immolation” Riddled with Inconsistencies

1. Only four days after the “self-immolation,” the little girl Liu Siying, who supposedly had a tracheotomy after being badly burned, was able to be interviewed and was even able to sing.

2. Analysis of the slow motion video sequence shows Liu Chunling, who was supposedly burned to death, receiving a sharp blow to the head, causing her to crumple to the ground.

 
Replaying CCTV's self-immolation video in slow motion reveals Liu Chunling being struck on the head and killed.

3. Police do not usually carry fire extinguishers while patrolling Tiananmen Square. However, within minutes after the “self-immolation” began, police were able to produce over twenty fire extinguishers and fire blankets from two police vans, to deal with the “sudden” incident.

4. In the CCTV video about the "Tiananmen Square Self-Immolation," the entire body of the "burned patient" is wrapped in bandages (not a typical burn treatment), and the interviewing reporter was not wearing protective clothing or even a mask.

5. The plastic Sprite bottle that supposedly contained gasoline remains intact between “self-immolator” Wang Jindong’s legs after the fire. Hair is very flammable, yet after the fire Wang Jindong’s hair appears untouched. The police officer holding a fire blanket behind Wang Jindong appears to wait until Wang finishes shouting slogans before throwing the blanket over his head. These scenarios, inconsistent with a real-life situation, clearly suggest that the entire event was staged.

 
Comparison of the three photos of "Wang Jindong" appears to show three different people.

6. Three different men identified as "Wang Jindong" appear in the state-run media reports. The most recently interviewed "Wang Jindong" looks very different from the one present at the 2001 incident. Voice analysis (by a Taiwan University voice analysis lab) of the most recently interviewed "Wang Jindong" and the original "Wang Jindong" have proven conclusively that they are two different persons.

In addition, the Washington Post published a report on February 4, 2001, entitled “Human Fire Ignites Chinese Mystery.” The reporter traveled to Kaifeng, the hometown of Liu Chunling, one of the self-immolators, to investigate. He reported that Liu’s neighbors said, “...no one ever saw her practice Falun Gong.”

On August 14, 2001, the International Educational Development (IED) organization made a public announcement at the United Nations meeting, “Our investigation showed that it was actually the CCP authorities who staged the self-immolation and destroyed those lives.” They also announced, “The CCP authorities attempted to use the self-immolation in Tiananmen Square on January 23, 2001 to frame Falun Gong. However, we acquired a self-immolation analysis video which clearly showed that the CCP regime directed and staged the entire incident.”

The NTDTV film “False Fire,” which examined and analyzed the suspicious points of the “self-immolation” incident on Tiananmen Square, won an honorable mention at the 51st Columbia International Film Festival on November 8, 2003.

 
NTDTV film “False Fire”

More and More People Are Speaking Up by Signing Petitions Opposing the Suppression of Falun Gong

Intimidated by the CCP's campaign of hate propaganda against Falun Gong and afraid of the Chinese communist regime, most people chose to watch silently as the cruel persecution unfolded before them. Falun Gong practitioners worldwide have been persistently clarifying the truth about Falun Gong over the past 13 years. Many people have come to realize and understand that practitioners are telling the truth about the CCP's suppression and have begun to protest the persecution themselves.

Mr. Wang Xiaodoing was arrested on February 25, 2012. His home was ransacked and his possessions confiscated because he practices Falun Gong. Three hundred family members from households in Zhouguantun Village in Fu Township, Botou, in the Cangzhou District, Hebei Province, placed their thumbprints on an appeal letter to the city's Procuratorate office, demanding that Mr. Wang be released. This thumbprint petition letter shocked the Central Committee Political Bureau.

 
Over 300 heads of households from Zhouguantun Village in Hebei Province put their thumbprints and official seal on the petition letter demanding Mr. Wang Xiaodong's release.

Mr. Li Lankui, a Falun Gong practitioner from Zhengding County, Hebei Province, was arrested by the 610 Office on June, 7, 2012, and imprisoned in Zhengding County Detention Center. He was then transferred to Shijiazhuang Brainwashing Center, where he was tortured further. More than 700 people have signed a petition calling for his release.

 
More than 700 people have signed a petition demanding the release of Mr. Li Lankui.

Incidents such as large scale petition drives are becoming more and more common in China. On May 29, 2012, 562 villagers from Tanghai County in Hebei Province placed their thumbprints on a petition letter supporting the release of Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Zheng Xiangxing.

In another instance, 15,000 people from Yichun, Heilongjiang Province, stepped forward for Ms. Qin Rongqian, placing their thumbprints on her petition letter for her father. Her father, Mr. Qin Yueming, passed away as a result of being tortured in prison because he refused to give up his belief in Falun Gong.

People from Yichun, Heilongjiang Province—15,000 of them—stepped forward for Ms. Qin Rongqian, signing and placing their thumbprints on her petition letter, demanding justice for her murdered father.

In 2011, 2,800 villagers from Changli County, Hebei Province supported local Falun Gong practitioner Zhou Xiangyang's suit against the local government for torturing him. After Mr. Zhou's wife Li Shanshan was arrested, 500 people signed a petition, demanding her release.

Many everyday people have chosen to support innocent Falun Gong practitioners. Despite intense pressure by the tyrannical regime, they have chosen to stand on the side of justice. It also means that people are no longer afraid of the suppression, and that they are starting to awaken and oppose the persecution. More then one hundred and thirty million people have now chosen to quit the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliated organizations. And the number is still increasing as more than sixty thousand people are quitting the CCP and it's organizations every day.